So... Morgan Stanley and Citigroup 1st rounds next week

make sure you know every question they are going to ask and make sure you have a well-rehearsed answer for every single question. preparation makes perfect. face a mirror and answer the interview questions at least a couple dozen times before the interview. make sure you use the exact same tone every time.

I don't know what they're going to ask, and I only have a couple of days to prepare, so would you say more focus on technical or "fit" for 1st rounds?

if you don't know what they're going to ask, how are you going to play their game? you're not going to be in the same ballpark.

firm specific knowledge is important too. Know the stock price of both MS and C, they love asking for those. You need to convince the interviewer what it is that attracts you to his firm, not what attracts you to i-banking. Vault has employer profiles and a guide on top 50 banking employers - recommend you peruse through both.

What if your a sophomore finance major and have basically just taken intro to business courses? do these places know that you probably wont be able to answer really technical questions? that would be like saying, on top of all your school work and responsibilities, we want you to know everything about what your going to learn in college before you even learn it!

This is in reference to a summer internship by the way

yeah, they probably will know you won't be able to answer highly technical questions if you're only a sophomore. But you should know the basic techniques of valuation because if a junior/senior majoring in History at Harvard knows that stuff then you better know it too - its your major, sophomore or not. I wouldn't expect them to ask a sophomore anything a whole lot more complicated than whats in the vault. But if you have the time, doesn't hurt to go the extra mile and learn a little more. It'll make the quality of your answers that much better, the answers will come to you faster, you'll exude more confidence, and if the interviewer modifies the typical 'vault-type' question a little bit, you'll be better prepared to break it down and make sense of it. Again, all this is time-permitting.

One thing though, if you're a second year, are you even eligible to apply for internships?

Thanks for the advice sexonwax, lots of really helpful tips there. My uni is a target school, and we don't actually offer a major in finance. In fact, there is only one undergraduate finance course, and that is open only to juniors who are majoring in business/economics.

Also, the interview is only 30mins long, so I'm tempted to think its more of a fit interview with a bit of technical... would you say this is usually the case for summer intern 1st rounds?

If you aren't a finance/accounting major, the first round questions will usually consist of some easy technical questions; more of your interview will be based around "fit" and walking them through your resume.

That's the way it was for my SA interviews (target/economics major). That is also how my associate and I conduct interviews nowadays.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks! I'll be sure to post all the questions i got asked next week.

I know this is probably asking a lot, but if any of you have a few minutes to spare, could you post a couple possible technical questions that they would ask for an SA internship? I ask because my exposure to questions are pretty much all from the vault guide, and I'm sure the interviewers are going to rephrase and modify them a bit.

Hmm I also read somewhere (might have been this forum) that if you don't know something, its better to just smile and say "I can't answer that" than to stumble around with some BS or apologize for not knowing. It just seems to me like it might make you sound cocky, and if you apologize it makes you seem unconfident. I'd really like some advice on this because I'm sure there's going to be at least one question that I won't be able to answer...

i wouldn't go with that approach. i've heard interviewers say that they get annoyed when students are grinning away while they are giving stupid answers to a tough question or say they don't know. seems weird i know, but i guess they are looking for a serious answer.

if you really don't know, you probably should say so rather than make yourself look cocky/ignorant. the approach i used is: "well, i don't know too much about (insert random subject) but i'd like to take a shot at it" and try to reason it out your answer out loud to the interviewer. even if your answer still sucks they can see that a) you have a logical train of thought and b) that you're not afraid of a challenging question.

chances are that you will likely have answers to most technical questions. the above scenario only happened to me once out of all past interviews (summer and FT).

Don't say 'i don't know'. And definitely don't grin if you do choose to say it. I completely agree with north56, thats the approach I would suggest anyone to take. Acknowledge that you're not too familiar with the topic, break it down, and show your thought progression. Can't stress that enough, show them your logic.

A few questions that I got asked:

• In a period of rising prices, what happens to net income if a firm shifts from FIFO to LIFO.

• What are deferred taxes?

• What is an income trust, and how would you value one?

• Basic Dilutive Accretive question

• How is ROA different from ROE (in terms of their utlity, not their formula!) Was asked to expand on this.

• How would you modify a DCF model if you were a PE investor launching an LBO?

• Whats wrong with the P/E?

• Why do we look at EBITDA and not Net Income?

I think I can answer most of them, except the one for DCF and PE LBO. So in the case of a PE launching a LBO, would you use the APV method for calculating the discount rate and make sure to take into account the DTS since its an LBO?

Oh, and also how do you value an income trust?