Sophomore internship PE vs IB

Hey everyone. I recently got extended a PE offer for my sophomore internship at a very good and relatively large firm (75 bill AUM) on the Direct Co-Investments group and am unsure if I want to take it. Will it properly set me up for a BB IB internship my junior year? I do want to break into PE eventually, so I really like this PE offer but I am just not sure if I should take it or reject it and wait to get a BB IB offer for my sophomore year.Im part of multiple recruiting pipelines and programs at BB's such as BofA, CS, GS, Citi.My brother who works in IB tells me that I should take the offer, that its a very good firm and that I could skip banking entirely.What does WSO think?Will it hinder my ability to secure s junior year BB IB offer?

9 Comments
 

Take the offer 100%. With an internship like that you'll easily be on the radar for BB IB roles next year. There's no guarantee you'll get a BB sophomore IB position either (I'm sure you would but still). Either of them put you in a great place for recruitment. Also, if the role isn't just sourcing and PE is where you want to be eventually just stay there. Just make sure analysts do actual technical work rather than just cold calling/emailing

 

As someone who reneged during the SA recruiting process, I would be very careful about reneging from buyside to sellside (PE firm to BB IB). Doing so could have consequences in the future if you ever want to return to this firm or possibly PE in general (PE is a very small world among the top funds).

That being said if it’s for sophomore summer then I think it matters less, no one is going to care or remember you 4 years later when you’re recruiting for PE, so if you have an offer at GS/MS/JPM and you want to do banking I would probably take it.

Just my two cents as someone who reneged.

 

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