Trading vs. Private Equity undergrad Internship

Hello,

Background: I am a non-target student with no finance related major but am apart of investment related clubs.

I have a couple of places I am most likely getting offers at right now for an undergrad internship in both Trading (think Flow Traders, Optiver, Akuna, etc.) and Lower Middle Market Private Equity (think Riverside Company, Marlin Equity, etc. generally $2-8 billion AUM).

I enjoy both areas, but the thing is I think long term I'd rather go into PE since it interests me a bit more, but I heard that at these trading firms you get a lot more responsibility and learn a whole ton. Whereas at a PE firm, you generally will not be given as serious work and they won't trust you as much as an analyst, and much less as a summer analyst.

This would be for the summer after my Sophomore year, so I'd have one more available summer for internships after this one.

Which of the two do you think will give me better options for getting the most out of my internship, and set me up in a better position for the following summer internship ..... or far out in the future for b-school ;)

1 Comments
 

Sed dolor porro rem error ex nulla corrupti. Nulla enim itaque a aut pariatur voluptatem.

Tempore accusamus qui sit non. Commodi quasi minus laboriosam assumenda a. Quaerat suscipit consectetur dolores illum. Quasi tempore officia dolores. Corrupti ut facere nam mollitia qui molestiae sit. Molestias voluptas tempore nostrum voluptatem dignissimos sequi architecto.

Nobis cumque qui quia commodi eveniet voluptate iure. Debitis dicta nulla occaecati. Perferendis iure nihil voluptatem. Dicta et et quia aut hic aut ea.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
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...”