I need help choosing between offers!!

Was looking on getting yalls inputs on what 2022 SA offer to take. My options are:

Bridgewater Investment Associate - BW is weird but global macro seems super interesting to me

Fidelity Investment Associate (Fixed Income) - Path to PM + Top AM name hard to pass up

Mid-tier BB in NYC (Citi, Barc, BAML) - Would provide most flexibility, most clout (probably)


Thanks guys!

 

Top = GS/MS/JPM

Mid = Citi/Bofa/Barclays

In between/TBD = CS (has strong groups though and good product groups as well)

Low = UBS/DB

Also you were commenting on the PWP thread as if you were super knowledgeable about the industry... did you not have a view on BB rankings? Seems like this hurts a lot of credibility you claimed in the other thread

 

Intern, I was being facetious but as usual it went right over your head.

It’s absolutely ridiculous to say Goldman, JPM and ms are top bb and Citi and BofA are not.

In fact Citi and BofA balance sheets dwarf those two. I used to work at two of these banks and internally BofA was ranked ahead of MS and GS, especially when it came to lev fin lol. MS and GS are not able to lend as much especially to revolvers for example.

You’re so eager to “own” someone on an Internet forum instead of learning lol. Oh man I actually chuckled at your response thinking you thought I really wanted a top tier bb list. I guess this forum is just overrun with analysts and college kids desperate to give their two cents instead of sitting back and learning.

 

Tell me about it man. You try to help out new kids, and they just scream and yell and try to tell you how it is when you’ve been working in the industry for over a decade and their vying for 1st year roles.

 
Most Helpful

Are you okay? Legit question.

First, you're arguing that BAML > GS/MS because the balance sheet is bigger. Wouldn't it be obvious that GS/MS is better because they get more deal flow without even needing a bigger BS. Some clients go to you guys because of your balance sheet but take that away and you have nothing whereas GS/MS don't need a BS to get more deals than your bank. Also, that's only one group being levfin lol, doesn't even include the actual coverage groups.

Second, nothing about your original comment indicated being factitious, it was just weird. 

Third, on another thread you posted a similar thing with an argument with some intern and said the same "you're just trying to own me and it looks bad because i'm just trying to help you guys" just like you did here. Looking from your post history you're a new user, relatively, as you've only been around for a week but you have a fuck ton of posts. It seems like you've just been trying to stir up drama and use your being a VP in levfin at BAML to win an argument that you started for no reason arguing some stuff that isn't even relevant or makes sense.

 

You are literally out of your mind, you're trying to win an argument with college kids about BofA/Citi being GS/MS level? Get real. Everyone knows that most mandates Citi/BofA get are because of the balance sheet and nothing else. The fact that GS/MS/JP can 2x your M&A value without a balance sheet should say something to you. Be honest with yourself - BofA and Citi celebrate when they win one-off mandates against GS/MS/JP despite losing 90% of their other bakeoffs to them.

 

Yeah my long-term goal is to become a PM so wouldn't it be better to jump straight into the buyside where there is a path toward that?
But BB IB is for sure hard to pass up so just asking for advice.

 

Yeah, kill IB then. The prestige is great but the actual experience sucks if you're not interested in transactions/PE. You have two great options left with much clearer paths to where you want to be.

I think BW fits your interest and if you don't like their culture, you have an excellent name on your resume and are interesting to other buyside shops. 

 

I have heard from people in PE that it is generally seen as a negative to having started your career on the buyside and then try to lateral to another buyside firm because they don’t know what your experience was like

 

Fidelity RA program is one of the toughest seats to land in buyside/AM. If there is a direct path to PM without business school, you would be a fool to turn it down for IB. PMs there can easily crack $5M+, heard someone hit $20M this past year. However, if you are sure you're not interested in FI (though you can rotate between asset classes in the RA program) then go with BW. 

 

Unless you want to do PE or maintain optionality, I would remove IB. IB might have more clout to your uninformed friends in college, but both BW and Fidelity are far more respected and difficult positions to get than any IB. Would still take them over GS/EVR. Between Bridgewater and Fidelity, it’s really up to where you see yourself. 

 

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