Can't decide between soph internship offers (Equity Research at BB vs IB at a Boutique)
I'm a sophomore at a non-target (3rd year of a 5-year program) ultimately hoping to get into IB through 2020 summer analyst recruiting. I have one PE internship and one BB operations-like internship under my belt.
Today, I received two internship offers for this upcoming summer 2019:
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Equity Research Role at a BB in New York (valuable network in NY, front-office role at a great brand name, immensely better pay, better hours. downside is it's not investment banking, and role doesn't allow me to dive deep into companies due to tight deadlines)
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Investment Banking Analyst at a small boutique in Boston (would give me banking/transaction experience which I lack, greater responsibility, no housing required as I'm from Boston. downside is if summer analyst recruiting doesn't work out for me, I'm in a weaker position than if I chose the BB)
Which sophomore summer internship would position me better for 2020 SA recruiting? Would greatly appreciate any advice. I'm indecisive as fuck and can't choose between the two.
Honestly, this will depend a ton on the quality of the boutique in Boston. Are the seniors from reputable shops? Is it known w/in the Boston area or its sector (if applicable)? How many deals are they doing per year? What is the size/ quality of those deals? Did they describe what your roles / responsibilities would be there?
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Any idea where those prior interns went? Leaning towards CS as my first impression, especially since you're a sophomore (guessing Northeastern).
Sorry I'm not much help, but how did you manage to land these as a sophomore? Heavy networking, strong target, connections, something else? Thanks
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I'd go with the CS offer - IMO direct investment banking experience matters much less for Sophomore internship converting to Junior IB than Junior IB converting to FT IB.
Take the best internship with the best brand in a non-regional city - I don't know a ton about HOLT but understand that it is at least quasi-FO
Despite having a BB name already on my resume? And would it be hard to spin ER > IB rather than IB > IB in my summer analyst interviews?
In my humble opinion BB Operations -> BB ER -> BB IBD is a pretty straightforward story to tell and the pedigree stays constant. "I became interested in finance and learned how the operations worked, but wanted to dive into front office / financial statements / equity research -> liked understanding inner workings of companies but wanted to work on transactions -> I want to do traditional IB"
Mergers and Inquisitions has some good articles about how to sell your story but I agree 2 BB IB internships help make up for the non-target school.
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Yes, it still would. Think about it from the perspective of the banks you'll be recruiting at for junior summer. At the top of your resume will be a BB and a front office role, which gives you good credibility that may help them look the other way when considering you go to a non-target. Tbh, tons of kids at nontargets do internships at unknown boutiques, but BB roles are crazy competitive as a sophomore.
I spoke with someone from the HOLT program It’s not traditional ER and there’s basically no exit op However that’s still a brand name with decent pay and hours If I were you I’ll take the boutique IBD
This is probably not what you're looking for but I'd take the Equity Research role simply for education's sake. I'd probably bet you'd learn more about capital markets/finance in that role than going into (2) back-to-back IB roles (assuming your junior summer will be in IB as well).
You're still young and it's important to learn more about the entire field of finance and develop a broad set of skills. I think it would also help you gauge your interests and even help you make decisions post-IB.
Either way, you've got a terrific set of options. Also ER will pay better for this summer!
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