Choosing between internship offers: BB Trading or ER at large LO AM?

Hi guys. I'm a UK Humanities student who got lucky during spring week applications and emerged with a few decent springs. I managed to convert two of these and have ended up with two very different conflicting internship offers. I'm kind of at my wit's end about which one I should choose and I really don't want to fumble. Please knock some sense into me.

BB Trading: this is at a BB that's very good for markets (JPM / GS) in London. The intern cohort will be much bigger and I'll definitely have lower chance of grad scheme conversion with how cutthroat getting ROs can be. I don't know what desk I'd be on and would have little input, although I did position myself as someone more interested in distressed credit so that might have some bearing. I don't have a massive maths background, I've never done trading before outside of a few sims, and I have no idea if I'd be good at it or terrible; the interviewers liked me but that's literally the only proof I have that I'd be non-awful. Having said that, it's a Big Bank and rejecting that name feels genuinely insane. I don't think I'll ever get another shot at trading with my humanities background, especially somewhere so well-known for it.

ER at very big (500bn+) LO AM, also London. Kind of the opposite story. I've already completed a mini-internship of sorts with the firm as a follow-up from the spring week so I know people from both the hiring and the research teams quite well. I know I'm decent at the role because I performed well in the mini-internship and was explicitly prioritised r.e. the summer. I'd be part of a much smaller cohort and would stand a very strong chance at converting. The firm itself has a great upwards pipeline into PM roles.

Both have similar comps (trading a little higher but the internship is shorter by a week and sign-on bonus is lower so it evens out). 

I know I'd like ER, and I like the firm too. I don't know if I'd like trading. But I don't know if I'll ever get this chance to try it again, and the Big Bank is That Big Bank and I feel like a madman to turn them down. Maybe I'm just getting horribly prestige-dazzled? 

I appreciate this is a bit of a lobster-buttery situation but the two are so different and I really, really don't want to fuck this up. Any advice as to what the better choice is would be so appreciated--I feel like I'm fumbling in the dark at the moment.

1 Comments
 

Sunt debitis aut et aliquam quia sed assumenda soluta. Eligendi laborum nemo sed maiores sapiente. Et ipsum earum ipsam magnam.

Reiciendis dignissimos sit est eum iste explicabo. Vitae quibusdam atque sint cum quasi voluptas iusto natus. Qui rem impedit iure et deserunt sunt.

Voluptatem nihil nihil aut accusantium magnam quia quam. Nostrum quisquam perferendis dolorum in et aut. Ullam quas praesentium nihil ut nisi eius dignissimos. Et voluptates accusantium molestiae nostrum. Itaque cum a quia explicabo nemo voluptatum nihil.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”