Soph summer: no name IB vs no name HF?

Hey monkeys, 

I am a sophomore at a target and I need to decide what to do over the summer. I have two offers at the moment: 3ish people HF and 15ish people lmm IB 

These are data and considerations, what do you guys recommend doing/considering?

-pay: basically same - not a factor

-I am done with recruiting so I do not need to worry about SA recruiting

-will be heading to top EB group that sends most class to PE, and maybe an HF internship will look better?

-hours: think that the HF is gonna be lighter and give me more freedom to work whenever 

-work: I am not sure I like investing and this could be a nice chance to figure that out

-I am worried it will be hard to have something to put on my resume for the HF while with the IB place I will most likely have deal experience

-IB shop is west coast so I would need to live with 3 hours shift 

What do you guys recommend?

11 Comments
 

Since you've already done SA 2022, I'd take the HF offer. It would give you a broader scope of what you're interested in within finance, and you could leverage this as apart of your "Why HF/Public markets?" if you decide to interview for HFs after banking. Plus having the experience of thinking like an investor will be something you can bring up in PE interviews too.

 

You already have an EB offer. I got a boutique IB internship my soph summer to add weight to my resume when recruiting from a nontarget. You're in a different situation coming from a target already lined up with an offer at an amazing firm. Pay is negligible as you said. What are your LT goals? Do you want to do IB long-term? Do you want to leave high finance after 2 years? If yes, do the boutique bank. If you're interested remotely in PE or HF then do the HF. Either way you can't lose so you can't make a bad decision here.

 

I am pretty set on finance, really wanted a boutique, but not sure at all if I want to stay in IB or HF/PE, I think you’re right the HF might be a good try since the IB would add so little considering my junior SA

 
Most Helpful

I interned at a pretty solid boutique. Not a boutique like Liontree, but a true no-name boutique, but it had solid deal flow and not street, but close to street comp. Again, solid place. And I mainly spent time updating their CRM software, packaged mail, and did a ton of book binding. I helped on the occasional ppt and model here and there, but it was mostly junk work. Not saying your experience would be the same, but everyone I've worked/networked with that had experience at a boutique definitely empathized with that experience. To be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if the work at the HF would be similar, but at least you'd have the opportunity to observe an investing role and what the buy side is like. Best of luck!

 

I wouldn’t worry about the time zone. I worked at a boutique and ‘went’ to class on the west coast from DC for part of 2020 and it wasn’t bad at all. You’ll stay up late, but it’s all relative. Mornings will be chill if you’re up before 9am.

I would take the hedge fund role, though, since you’re already done with SA recruiting. It would diversify your resume and it’s a good way to verify if you like that investment style.

 

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