Sophomore Internship - What to choose?

Currently a sophomore attending a semi-target in the south, but am originally from the west coast. I've reached out to over 500 boutiques and finally scored 2.

One is not an investment bank--its a greentech startup looking for a finance intern. Duties include financial analysis, sourcing for VC partners, industry research, etc.

The second is an "investment bank" focused on M&A Advisory, where I'll spend a good portion of my summer prospecting to ultimately capture those interested parties as clients for the firm. Past July, I'll be working on valuation work until I go back to school in late August.

My question is which of these would be most conducive to the investment banking search starting next fall? I struck out this year and am considering extending my graduation another semester. I've also seen tons of advice on how to get a boutique internship, but now that I've secured one, I realize I don't really know what work is supposed to happen during these sophomore year internships. Many of the internships I reached out to are focused only on sourcing and, frankly, I'm tired of it since I spent all this semester doing the same thing. Is this a normal thing, or are kids actually gaining value out of these boutique internships? 

1 Comments
 

Vel omnis dolorem aspernatur praesentium facilis quisquam et. Ad rem nobis modi magnam amet fuga. Omnis quaerat porro ea qui dolorem at rerum.

Quia inventore ipsa eos corrupti molestiae laudantium. Aut autem assumenda minima. Ex explicabo quo corporis. Nihil debitis dignissimos impedit. Earum rem quo veniam placeat praesentium rerum.

Est recusandae ea est quisquam alias. Aperiam laborum voluptatem minima atque. Veniam ducimus omnis autem. Adipisci non omnis sit natus id.

Quod exercitationem cum repudiandae voluptatibus consequatur. Nostrum quae nulla quibusdam corrupti pariatur esse officiis.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (74) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”