Difficult Summer Internship Choice

Hi everyone,

I am a freshman at a target school on the West Coast intending to major in finance, and hoping to land a good investment banking internship junior year. For reasons I won't get into I sort of missed the boat on summer recruiting in the fall (not that most freshman have much luck), but I hustled and managed to get two relevant offers this summer. The first is an internship at a very small (~5 man) restructuring shop; the MD and I have an absolutely bizarre amount in common and he loves me. The people at this shop are all from top-tier restructuring shops (think Lazard/PJT/HLHZ), HYPSW schools, and are really close with C-level people at major banks. However, they are sort of semi-retired and don't see tons of deal flow, so I may or may not get good deal experience and may end up doing a lot of pitching/marketing stuff.

My other offer is from a larger boutique in a nearby city with a ~20 person IBD team and ~60 people total (I doubt anyone would recognize the name). The people at this firm are a little less impressive but still went to respectable schools and seem like smart people. The thing is though, that this firm sees really solid deal flow for its size, and I have been told that I will get staffed on a $1B+ merger they recently landed (if not, they have plenty of other projects to staff me on).

What would others do in this situation? I really like the people at both shops but the first would be more convenient from a commuting perspective, and the MD would definitely do his best to help me get a good gig next summer. I really believe in having a good mentor and this guy would be a great one to have. However, I am leaning towards option 2 because I'm not sure if I prefer restructuring vs. traditional M&A long-term, and I want to get some deal experience on my resume.

What would others do in my situation? Thanks!

 

I forgot to include some more relevant considerations: for the first internship, I would be able to take a few summer classes to boost my gpa before sophmore recruiting season from low 3.7 to high 3.7/low 3.8, but I wouldn't be able to do this for the second option.

 
Best Response

First off - good fucking job landing such impressive internships your freshman year. I would also go with the second choice, reason being that if you are given assurance that you will be staffed on a live deal, you will learn infinitely more than being at a boutique with measly deal flow, no matter how impressive the team's background.

If I were an analyst looking at your resume for your soph/junior year internship 1) I wouldn't care about the name because like you said no one has probably heard of either and 2) the difference between writing a few bullshit lines (most likely outcome of option 1) and having "selected transaction experience" (high possibility of option 2) as a freshman is invaluable.

Note that your status as a freshman means that you will almost automatically be relegated to doing stupid and menial tasks, but why not do a stupid task related to a real, tangible deal? (inb4 snarky comments about how everything ib analysts do are stupid and menial)

 

Tenetur laudantium ducimus quia laboriosam explicabo sit nesciunt autem. Nisi nam ea harum consectetur. Aut dolorum est nostrum id.

Libero voluptatem occaecati est. Aut voluptatem quo nesciunt iusto aliquam. Porro et odio rerum dolor velit sequi. Omnis magni aut sed molestias ea mollitia minima. Voluptas non est repudiandae.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”