Which offer to take?

Hey guys, so I’m a freshmen at a semi-target school (think Notre Dame, Emory, Vanderbilt, USC) hoping to land a IBD SA at a BB or MM by my junior year. Even though a decent handful of banks do actively recruit at my school, I feel that I do not have the same opportunities as students at classic targets, so I feel compelled to start early with internships. I invested a lot of my free time this past year cold calling for summer intern openings at WM/IM/AM firms (turned out to be a lot more difficult than I imagined) and was able to land a few offers. Right now I’m choosing between 3 options:

-Merrill Lynch Summer Intern (unpaid)
-RBC Wealth Management Summer Intern (unpaid)
-Boutique Investment Management Firm Summer Intern ($500mm AUM; $10/hr salary)

I know that what you do during your freshman summer is pretty extraneous for the most part. However I think it could be a good resume builder especially when I don't have anything else except for working in retail. Which of the choices do you think would be a good way to spend the summer? Right now I’m kind of leaning towards the Botique given the paid salary, but I feel that having a brand name firm (ML or RBC) on my resume could be more beneficial in the relative long run.

The commute to each office is about the same (20 mins). 4-5 days per week, 10 week long each.

Thanks in advance!

9 Comments
 

"ML (everyone and their mothers have worked there)" Hahahahaa. This is so fucking true!!!

Do anything, but don't do ML.

"I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."
 

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