Deciding between PE and Top IB offers
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Am sure you are a top college student, so you are probably aiming high. Just my two cents here, top IB does not guarantee you a PE/infra PE spot down the road. However, a top infra PE spot will put you easily to another infra Pe or okay PE spot (just wait for laterals, as many shops prefer buyside hires)
Other might disagree, but think IB does not guarantee so much nowadays…
Last bit, if you are good enough to hold two offers at this stage/market, I am sure you will accomplish a lot either way. Congratz man
Worked on a few infra transactions and have to say that you should really like that space to do it (which is not to say that you won’t be able to switch later but it would seem more challenging imo). It’s usually not a gig that results from “I just want to do PE long term” because the assets are different (can be overly complex and boring at the same time) and so are the people (obviously depending on fund).
On the other hand, the IB route will allow you to try more different things after which you can decide what you actually want to do long term. As always, if you’re good you’ll be fine and it boils down to figuring out what you find interesting. If you don’t know (or aren’t sure enough to put your money on infra PE), then IB in a good place provides a lot of optionality once you have a better view.
Edit: Just reread and saw that this is about an internship decision. My points still stand and I personally find it challenging to come up with reasons to skip a banking internship unless you have a real knack for the space.
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