Need Help with 2017 SA

Ok, so I am a Junior at a semi-target school with a 3.6 GPA, and for some reason, I totally tanked my SA opportunities and haven't gotten an offer so far. I did couple interviews with RBC and JPM and even passed JPM superday. Long story short, I have sorta been in the panic mode since January and try to grab on to any opportunities that I can find.

Just today I got a call back from a tiny boutique in NYC who's happy to offer me an unpaid SA role but here's the catch, the internship is only going to be four weeks. When thinking about it four weeks is too short to go over a deal or even half a deal. So should I take it?

 
Best Response

I suppose the obviously questions are: What is your alternative? Do you need to work over the summer to make money for next year? Or would you have to take out loans or live on credit cards to accept the unpaid offer?

If you have no alternative, and you can afford to live in NYC for the summer, you should obviously take it over playing video games and masturbating. We all have these skills, and to this day, I've never been paid for it. That said, if you can get paid for playing video games and masturbating, tell me your secret--I'm wildly overqualified for that job.

No one cares that the internship only lasts 4 weeks. They are never going to know. No one gives a shit about your deal experience during your internship. If you stayed at the firm another 4 weeks, that wouldn't matter at all. If you're worried about how it looks on your CV, just request a start date 3 weeks or less from the end of the month so you have (what appears to be) an extra month on your resume of internship experience.

 

Money is not a particular issue in my case but I do have alternatives. I could get an IB gig from a major Chinese firm (not CICC or CITIC) using some family connections. However, I DO want to stay in U.S. after graduating and I honestly don't know how the chinese bank experience is going to help me in terms of full time recruiting.

 

It's an absurdity that for a relatively well-educated American of Chinese descent (I assume first/second generation since your family seems to have ties in China) that going back to China for a summer would in any way be seen as a detriment for full-time recruiting. I was in China a few weeks ago with an endowment from the US speaking with a few funds. My client/friend is going to be investing in several. There are a lot of 'sea turtles' that get their education and experience in the US, and then return to China to replicate the same shit they've already seen in the US. THEY MAKE A FORTUNE. KUDOS TO THEM!

While it's easier to get a return offer from an internship than to compete with the entire general pool, it's WAY better to have INTERESTING experience on your CV than just taking a job with a 'small boutique'. Given this new knowledge, I would take the position in China. I'm a super well-educated white man, and I've lived in China. It's a virtue on my resume. It should be a virtue on yours.

And any firm that doesn't value that experience--fuck 'em.

 

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