Can Anyone Explain Commercial Real Estate Banking Credit? What are the exit ops, comp, and work-life balance?

So first off, as a sophomore in college, you don’t focus on exit ops - just focus on learning how to interact in the workplace and chat with people. That’s what it’s about. 
 

Now, onto your actual question. So the banks are split between originations and credit / structuring. Originations bring in the deal and manage the relationships, and usually write up the term sheets. But credit and structuring do the deep dive underwriting and diligence on the deal, work on loan doc negotiations, and close the deal. Generally speaking, think of it like two hands with checks and balances. The credit / structuring team makes sure the originator doesn’t promise things that can’t be given (low rates, poor structure on the loan, etc.) while the originator pushes the credit team to accept standards to help get the deal done. You can very easily move from credit / structuring to originations. Many banks require you to start on the credit side before you move to work in originations as you’ll need to learn how to underwrite loans properly, what structure is, when certain structures are appropriate, and how to diligence a loan. It’s a great starting point.