M&A Micro Boutique vs RE Financing Micro Boutique

For context, I just finished my freshman year at a Canadian target. 

I got two offers from boutique investment banks ( < 20 employees, deal sizes between 10mm and 100mm). One of them will have me working on M&A deals while the other is largely real estate financing (it sells deals to accredited investors, which are often high net worth individuals and sometimes corporations).

Here is my dilemma. I want to go into M&A IB in the future, but, regarding the M&A position:

  1. It would be unpaid except for commission I received on any fees the IBank earns from deals I work on (I'm fine financially, but an hourly wage would be nice if I am to work my ass off).

  2. A big part of my job would include outreach to potential clients. I would basically be pitching our services and seeing if they may be in a position to require a sell side or buy side M&A advisor. I am not sure if this is relevant / useful for a future career in M&A IB. I would still get modelling and pitchbook creation experience

The real estate financing gig has an hourly pay, and overall it may have more deals / larger deal sizes (by ~10mm), but:

  1. The office is depressing af I shit you not its a poorly lit shared closet. It is hard to imagine being there for 8h/day for 4 months.

  2. It does not deal in M&A pretty much at all, just financing and private placements for real estate developments.

  3. Does not have as much of a network of past interns (M&A place sent people to top IBanks).


I feel like writing this post I've almost answered my question: where should I go? I appreciate any advice or insight, though. 

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