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.
1 sounds better because of pedigree, the GPA makes a difference and you'll feel better/less stressed with a cushion. Both are stellar options, nothing to worry about
Deleted
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.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...