IB Internship without seeking Full-time offer?

Ummmmm no. Just go for the company or position you want to work for after graduation. If you can get a SA spot then you can definitely get a big 4 or corp spot.

There is not point in becoming an SA if you don't want to work there FT.

only thing i can say differently or add to what bearing said is maybe getting the FT offer would look good when going for the other jobs

The main thing that comes to mind is 'why in the world would you do a banking internship to then go to a big 4 accounting firm?'

That said, the experience is likely to prove beneficial/useful generally speaking. Make sure you get an offer. Otherwise, people will know you simply had no choice but to lower your standards and go big 4.

Also, you will have to lie through your teeth and convince several I-banking interviewers that you do intent to become a full time banker (post-internship opportunities do not count as "exit opps"...). And if you are good enough to lie your way through several rounds with several interviews each, why not just do consulting?

Again, the most important thing is: if you take a summer internship in IB--DO GET AN OFFER.

Whyt the hell would you do an IB internship if you definitely know that you will want to pursue full-time opportunities in another field?

Why not just get a summer internship in corporate finance or transaction advisory? Doesn't make sense...

I just wondered since IB is looked so highly upon and seems to offer an unmatched experience, maybe an IB internship would both allow me to gain some skills and a certain amount of desirability from other fields.

It does... but by going to a big 4 afterward it says that you couldn't cut it in banking (or didn't get an offer). As far as prestige and difficulty of entry go, it is considered a step down (although certainly still respectable).

FYI... if you do a summer in banking... do not ever say one word about your intentions to your summer classmates. there were guys during my summer who "confided" in our peers that they weren't really 100% into banking and may not take the offer if they got it. those guys didn't get offers. to no surprise.

You can get a Big 4 job without a ton of trouble nowadays. The amount of auditors and tax accountants needed after SOX have caused those companies to explode in terms of hiring. If you are at a respectable school, show some interest in finance, and have a good GPA you will get a job at one of the Big 4.

If that is what you want to do, just intern there. It makes no sense to go spend 80 hrs a week doing banking if that is not what you want to do. It's like a kid taking a banking job knowing he really likes consulting.

I've done both a Big 4 internship and an IB internship at a BB since I had no idea what I was doing as a soph. in college... got offers in both by senior year but ended up choosing banking for full-time after having both experiences. For me it was a good route since I was undecided and just trying to understand what was out there while I still had the chance.

However, since you already know where you are leaning, if you want to go the Big 4 path, get the internship and the offer is basically guaranteed (you also get a bigger signing bonus if you take the offer after the summer internship rather than applying via campus recruiting, and you're also given more flexibility with choosing which office you'd like to be in). I'd also say it depends on which year in college you are. If you're a soph., I'd say explore if you feel that it would help you make a better career decision... If it's your junior year, chase the place where you'd like to get that FT offer, it's just a better path and makes more sense.

Finally, I definitely agree with those above about not going the IB path if you're not that into it. It's extremely different from interning with the Big 4...why bother?

If you wanna go Big 4, go Big 4, if you can get a BB or MM IB SA then I dont see why you cant get a big 4 internship/offer. If you end up doing IBD this summer you'll be so bitter and resentful you may not get the offer and thus in doing so end up worse off than you started

Hey guys I am a legal graduate seeking an IB internship preferably in a boutique firm as they are easier to get in to. Any suggestions? Do the grades matter?

Sabrina WC.

EDIT: Just noticed that this thread is eight years old -.-. I'll leave my response down for future reference below anyway.

I'll go against the grain here in terms of responses and say that you should still go for the IB internship considering:

1) It will give you useful experience to help you make a more informed decision about whether you want to do IB, corpfin or big 4. While you think you may know what you want to do now, experience will only make that inkling better grounded.

2) If you want to end up doing Big 4 TAS, then I'd argue that doing IB will be similar, but more interesting and better paid work anyway - so you probably shouldn't discount IB if you want to do TAS rather than audit at the big 4.

3) If you convert the IB summer but decide to do something else, just write as the final bullet point on your CV / LinkedIn that you received a full-time offer. This will show anyone who is important (interviewers / HR) that you turned down IB in your own terms

4) Even if you do not convert your IB internship, it will still be useful experience when applying for other i-banks or big 4 TAS schemes. Many interns fail to convert, it honestly isn't the end of the world.

Good luck!