Still haven't decided what to do this summer! Help me choose!?

Hey everyone, a little info on myself:
Soph. Non-Target, GPA:3.9, Math & Econ Major

I had final round interviews with both GS and DB; none of which I got an offer. However, I have been able to get some offers on the table:

1) Non-paid internship at a hedge fund capital-raising firm. I was told that I would have the opportunity to meet various hf managers and hopefully network my way to a full-time job at a hf upon graduating. The problem is that I do not think I can afford to live in NYC without a pay check......

2) Summer trade-support analyst at Group One Trading (an equity derivatives trading firm). This seems like a great opportunity to learn a ton of information as well as earn a decent paycheck as a summer intern.....

3) Corporate research internship at CorpU, which is a fortune 500 corporate benchmarking research firm. From what I hear, research internships look great on resumes for anyone who wants to go to graduate school, which I do want do someday. The downside is that it's in Harrisburg :/.....

4) Possibly a summer internship at Trenwith group, which is a decent boutique investment bank. The reason I say possibly is because I was really put on hold and I am still waiting to hear back. And I don't even know if it's a paid internship yet.....

As of right now I’m leaning toward the Group One Trading internship because I liked the culture of the firm and it seemed like an excellent place to work at for the summer. The problem is that I’m not exactly sure what I want to do yet. I originally wanted to do I-banking, but now I’m indifferent between I-banking & trading. At this point in my like I could care less about the pay, but I do need some income to be able to live so I’ve ruled out the hf opportunity. Everyone tells me I should get into trading because I’m good at calculating things quickly, but if I take the trading internship at Group One would I still be able to get into an IBD stint after graduating? Any advice would be appreciated, sorry for the long length of the post. Thanks guys!

 

accept the trading offer because thats what you are leading towards and it seems to be the better opportunity relative to your other offers (except the boutique).

Than continue to think about which you prefer, banking or trading. If you decide to do banking and you get an offer from that boutique, accept it and reneg on the other place. Otherwise stay with the trading offer if you feel thats where you want to be next summer.

If I was in your shoes I would do whatever it takes to get that boutique IB as a sophomore because your other offers seem to be more back office ie. trade support. I'm still in university though so seek other advice.

 
Best Response

if you want to go to grad school for economics, and esp if youre coming from a non target, that type of research is not what youre looking for.

if you want to get a phd in econ or whatever, go find the best econ professor in your school (or at hte best university around where you live) and get a research position with him/her. if theyre well funded, theyll usually pay you 10-12/hr, which is pretty decent.

academic research is not the same as corporate research--you need to either be doing research with a prof or doing research at a thinktank. (there are obviously exceptions--but CorpU is guaranteed not one of them).

if you want to go into trading/banking, then obviously its a different story...and then do what people above are saying

if youre looking to go to grad school in econ after working for a few years, then the internship matters considerably less (theyll go off your undergrad gpa, your scores, etc, but even in this case youd prob need good recs from your old profs...which you cant get unless youve done research for them)

 

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