Need IB Offer Advice

I have been given offer by Wells Fargo Investment Banking. I have stalled from giving a response for two weeks but must give them an answer by Monday. I also have Superdays with Barclays IB, BofA IB, UBS IB, Morgan Stanley Equity Research and first rounds comming with Credit Suisse S&T and Citi S&T later this month. I wish to have all relevant information before making a decision, but obviously, I am hesitant to turn down Wells Fargo and risk coming away with nothing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Take it and continue to interview. Relax because you know you're all locked up. If you get one of the other gigs and like it better than the Wells opportunity, call Wells and tell them that you regret that you won't be showing up. DO NOT tell them where you are going instead.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

Well, what you should have done was two weeks ago, inform the other banks that you are really interested in interviewing with them, but you have received an offer from XYZ, but you really like their firm. Since you're left with a 3 day ultimatum, go with Wells Fargo if you think you lucked out for the offer. If you think you can interview effectively and land the gigs at the BBs, reject and go for it.

Banking.
 
MrV:
Well, what you should have done was two weeks ago, inform the other banks that you are really interested in interviewing with them, but you have received an offer from XYZ, but you really like their firm. Since you're left with a 3 day ultimatum, go with Wells Fargo if you think you lucked out for the offer. If you think you can interview effectively and land the gigs at the BBs, reject and go for it.

Do NOT reject it... as CapK mentioned, accept and continue to interview, or if it is possible to get an extension, then do that but don't turn down an offer in hand and risk coming away with nothing (I speak from experience on this one having turned down a return offer because I couldn't get an extension, luckily I landed an offer for FT after doing so but it is a very, very risky thing to do and I only did it because my return offer was for a different division)...

 

^^^ I wouldn't recommend the move. The guy has been waiting up to respond, and if he needs another extension, I think there is a good chance that Wells Fargo won't appreciate the move. He will appear uninterested and is only using the firm as a backup

Let's be honest here - who wants to be a backup? If WF knows they are only a backup to him, even if he ends up interning at WF, they will likely not to convert him because they were not his first choice.

 
Best Response

All due respect to everyone saying you should take the offer and continue to interview, but I think that would be in extremely bad taste.

The world of finance is a small place, and if you accept WF only to reject them later and go somewhere else, they will not appreciate the move. If word gets out to the other firms that you did this, it may be grounds for rescinding any other offers you get. Hell your career services center probably has a policy against doing that. You should have leveraged the offer 2 weeks ago to get earlier interviews - that usually works.

Is this for SA? If so, accepting WF isn't the end of the world - in fact, it's a good place and getting a FT offer from them will allow you to be more effective in FT interviews with other places in the future.

For you, the question is: do you really want to be in IB? If so, I would take WF. You only have 3 other IB interviews, and there could be a dozen or more guys competing with you for each. If you are very confident in your ability to land an offer at one of the other places, then feel free to keep interviewing, but I would not accept WF. I'd try to extend and explain to them that you are interviewing at other places. They will be pissed off and that door will pretty much close for you, as LeBron06 explained.

At any rate, remember this is a good problem to have. I've seen better problems, yes, but this is still a good one.

Wall Street leaders now understand that they made a mistake, one born of their innocent and trusting nature. They trusted ordinary Americans to behave more responsibly than they themselves ever would, and these ordinary Americans betrayed their trust.
 

Thanks to everyone who offered input. However, I agree with Beef. The Wells Fargo crew has been excellent to me throughout the entire process, and I find myself increasingly convinced that an intern's exposure to dealflow and mentoring environment is more imporant than basing a decision soley on firm prestige. I have also been given assurance that my alumni base within the New York office will help me move into the group of my preference, a certainly valuable thing to consider. With regards to the ethics of accepting an offer and then continueing to interview, well that is simply wrong. The financial world of NY is much smaller than it appears and I do not wish to start off my career with a tarnished reputation. I will choose Wells Fargo. Again, thank you all for your comments and best of luck in your search.

-Bears

 

Do NOT sign with Wells Fargo. All they're good for is handling deposits. If you want to do that, go ahead. You have interviews with many GOOD banks with REAL investment banking divisions. You'll land an offer. Do NOT sign Wells Fargo. I'm from Europe, and no one even knows that place over here. It's dull and boring.

 
Il Cavaliere:
Do NOT sign with Wells Fargo. All they're good for is handling deposits. If you want to do that, go ahead. You have interviews with many GOOD banks with REAL investment banking divisions. You'll land an offer. Do NOT sign Wells Fargo. I'm from Europe, and no one even knows that place over here. It's dull and boring.

Dude, you realize it's not all about prestige, right?

  1. This is for an SA position. He can leverage his experience to move into a "top tier" firm later.

  2. How do you know he will get an offer? He may be going against 5 or more people for every position during a superday. How can you make a statement about how qualified his competition is? Getting hired is about luck, too. It's not just about whether or not you're smart - it's about whether the guys sitting across the table LIKE you, and there is an element of randomness in that.

  3. He is lucky to have a job lined up - I know dozens of students who are still desperately trying to find something - ANYTHING - and they are bright and motivated from good schools.

OP: you are right that mentoring and networking is more important than prestige by itself. Prestige IS important, don't get me wrong. But if you staple papers and get coffee for your analyst all day at Goldman Sachs, that experience won't help you. What are the bullet points on your resume going to say? "Aided in acquisition of caffeinated products to boost group productivity"? On the other hand, if you have a good mentor at WF, he/she can open some doors for you later on down the road when you want to move somewhere else.

Wall Street leaders now understand that they made a mistake, one born of their innocent and trusting nature. They trusted ordinary Americans to behave more responsibly than they themselves ever would, and these ordinary Americans betrayed their trust.
 

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