The Official 2014 Summer Internship Feedback Thread

1. Rising sophomore. Asset Management (worked with both the mutual fund group and direct) for one of the largest AM's in the world
2. 4, the work was great, but a lot of downtime on the direct side in the middle of the summer
3. Received return offer to come back and intern next summer, although I will be keeping options open
4. Company was great, culture was fantastic, hours were ~55 a week, and the work was interesting, so yes.
5. Had constant communication with my manager throughout the Summer, so no official exit interview. Multiple interview type settings throughout the internship with the CEO, CIO, and other executives
6. I'd like to work for a hedge fund after seeing how mutual funds are run, as it is more aligned with my interests.

1. Rising junior, interned at a FOHF in NY
2. 4, Great people and amazing exposure to the hedge fund industry. A bit boring/slow at times, though
3. N/A
4. 5, Probably about as good as it gets in terms of learning experience after sophomore year (unless you're at a BB)
5. Both a final presentation and an exit interview
6. AM, and FOF's specifically, is a great industry, but it has a more cerebral/academic vibe, so it isn't perfect for everyone. Probably going to go after S&T next summer, as it's a far more vibrant, exciting atmosphere, in my opinion

1. MM AM S.F.
2. 4
3. 1
4. 1
5. presentation
6. AM sucks, IB here I come

1. ER, BB, NYC
2. 5, worked on a really great team that valued the junior guys. Got interesting work that will be presented to clients. Worked extensively on a tech initiation report we did. Lots of modeling exposure too.
3. No idea here. I know I did a good job and my senior analyst said he would recommend me, but hiring is done as needed. Not like banking where you know you are going to need 50 more analysts in a year. They told me I would hear back in early september.
4. 5, absolutely. Although in research it is entirely dependent on your team. You need to have a good team to have a good experience. I was fortunate to be placed on a good team.
5. Final presentation and sit-down with the director of research, my senior analyst, and an HR person.
6. I like sell side research and would absolutely accept the offer if given one, but I would like to go to a HF long term.

1. Senior in 3 weeks!!, Fundamental Crude Oil analyst, trading arm of a very large international oil producer, AB Canada
2. 5, My bosses gave me so much responsibility and I never felt like I was wasting my time here. I learned so much
3. 4
4. 5
5. exit interview I think
6. I was really nervous that i would not fit in at a trading shop but after this summer I know could never do the banking life at all

1) Rising Junior, Middle Market Investment Banking

2) 3 - lots of downtime but the busy times were good experience, fit wasn't the best as everyone is extremely passive aggressive or take themselves so seriously you'd think they worked at GS M&A

3) 5 - got return offer on the last day

4) 4 - decent experience, very competitive pay, hours are less than BB, but name recognition is lacking

5) Exit interview

6) IB is definitely not glamorous nor is it challenging work. It just comes down to who is willing to grind for 90hrs a week for 2 years

Probably the first posting here that didn't do IB this summer

1 - Rising Senior, Logistics and Operations. F15. Northeast (50/50 chance of getting it right ha!) 2 - 4. Good, love my team the department and everything else. Taking 1 pt because I had a lot of downtime 3 - Offers in my dept will roll out later this year. There's always a greater chance to come back by simply applying (+ references within) 4 - yes 5 - yes, all set with everything 6 - It was great to work and have contact with a new industry. Would most likely come back

1. Rising sophomore, small venture capital, not NYC or SF
2. 4. Started out slow but eventually got involved with due diligence. Team was small so I was handed a good portion of analytic work for each one we did
3. 5, not sure if I'll go back
4. 3, depends who
5. not done yet
6. good ideas in the start-up scene are truly a dime a dozen. It's absurdly hard to execute an idea well and the failure rates are so high. If you want to start your own company, you're competing with the best of the best in any field at any time. From the VC's point of view even with this, it's still harder to find good dealflow and the only way to not lose money is to be continuously pessimistic

Not sure if I'll do it for the long haul because investment cycles are so slow. The most interesting parts are meeting some of the brightest (and most egotistic) people across all industries and hearing their ideas.

1. Tier 2 Management Consulting. East Asia
2. 4
3. Already got the offer from the same firm in my sophomore summer
4. 5
5. Final Presentation
6. This is my 7th internship overall and 3rd at the same MC firm. All of the projects I was involved in were of very different variety and this project was quite different from what I am used to. I actually had time outside of work to do things (meaning not leaving office at 3am everyday with no weekends for 10 weeks) as the project was a year long one with around 60 consultants involved.

Consulting in the country I was in is extremely diversified and throughout the three projects I experienced many different industries. I already hold a return offer from the first time I interned here from partner of strategy group but I believe I will still try to find an offer in London or NYC when i get back to school in 4 weeks.

1. Rising Junior, Fund rating & advising in Frankfurt, Germany
2. 4 - Good experience modeling, researching, and data mining. Lots of down time though, as evidenced by the fact that I am writing this at work.
3. N/A
4. 5 - Really helpful for those considering working in Germany at all as it provides great help with technical German language skills, as well as insight into office culture, lifestyle etc.
5. N/A
6. It is fun to look at different funds and analyze them for clients/the firms. It is a lot more fun, I think, to be the fun and actually have some skin in the game. Not a lot of adrenaline in advising.

AndyLouis:

Questions:

1. What type of internship did you have? What type of firm? What area of the country?
2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = great, 1 = horrible), how was your experience?
3. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = very likely) - how likely are you to get a return offer? and when do you expect to hear back?
4. On a scale of 1-5, would you recommend your internship to others?
5. How did/will your internship come to a close? (exit interview, final presentation, etc.)?
6. How has your opinion changed regarding IB/S&T/ etc?

Additionally, feel free to share any stories, e.g. the best/worst times of the summer, things you learned, the people you met, the culture at your firm, etc etc.

1) MBB 2) 5 - challenging, dynamic work with some of the brightest people I've ever met 3) 5 - very transparent career development (promotion, hiring, etc) process 4) 5 - it's not for everyone but would highly recommend to those who think they might be a good fit 5) Might be a final presentation, but the majority of my internship was in the trenches with the team (not a "go research this and give a presentation in August"-style internship) 6) Had very little idea of what consulting would be like when I received the offer. Having gone through this internship, I cannot imagine a better place to accelerate your personal and professional development. The learning curve may be very steep but climbing it is an incredibly rewarding experience

1) Rising sophomore, RE/Investment Mgmt.,Southwest 2) 3, lots of down time, work was not intellectually stimulating 80% of the time 3) 5, received offer to return as intern next summer. Keeping my options open 4) 4, learned a lot, pay was good, very relaxed atmosphere with little/no expectations to perform excellently 5) Final presentation of research study with the CEO & CFO. Casual exit interview with direct superior 6) Ready for a change in pace at IB/S&T/Consulting will bring. RE is super slow & the people that work in it are normally in their second or third major career-type in their life.

1. Top BB S&T in NYC.
2. 5.
3. 5, already received a return offer.
4. 5, but it's not for everyone. If people have the right personality and are willing to work very, very hard, then yes.
5. Exit interview.
6. S&T has a lot of different personalities, and the groups all do very different work. I didn't expect it to be so diverse.

1.rising senior, goldman ny, rotation 2. 2.5 3. 5 (tho not likely to take it unless hf options fell through) 4. 2.5 (for the name obvioulsy) 5. not sure what u mean, probably dine with a bunch of assholes 6. ib not for me, s&t maybe, but need more polish on cv

What do you guys mean by "exit interview", is it just like a couple senior guys sit down with you and ask you about what you thought of the experience was?

1. Rising Junior. Working as a "Data Analysis Intern" for a F500 manufacturing company in Midwest.

2. 4

3. 4 (I'm staying part time through the school year, full time offer possible but the department is not anything close to Finance/Accounting related, and there's more or less a mutual agreement that this isn't permanant for me. Will possibly talk to HR about a Financial Analyst role in the future.)

4. 3, it's not for everyone. Engineering & Analytical heavy, but not by any means an internship for engineering majors. Puts it in a weird place, but it also makes it relevant to a lot of things.

5. Presentation to a VP next Thursday, hopefully it will go well.

6. None? Culture here is really, really laid back. No one works over 40 hours per week, some work less even. And surprisingly, the starting pay for anyone here is about what fldps pay, with a really low cost of living here. If anything, made me realize that money is pretty relative to where you're living, and making more isn't always worth it.

For background, I'm an Accounting & Finance major NOT interested in IBD.

k

removed

1. Rising Junior. Mutual fund family working in the HF and Large Cap funds. NY
2. 5. Great mentoring and I got exposure to a lot of things I wasn't sure I was gonna get to do. Was really intense, but the hours never went past 5:30.
3. N/A
4. 5. Great culture, and it was a head first dive into buyside research. Lots of problem solving on your own, but the freezer was always stocked with frozen reeses cups.
5. Final pitch/presentation.
6. Compared to doing SS ER last summer, this was awesome and I liked the experience a lot more.

1. 3rd year, VC Analyst internship
2. 4, small team, everything depends on who you work with, if you're lucky enough to be on a team with great people it's smooth sailing
3. 2, they are not looking to hire right now but great references into IB from team
4. 4, VC is different, you get to do all the usual modeling, research but there is a twist to it because of the private nature of the business, def a good learning experience even for prepping for public markets 5.Final pres to partners 6.VC was a not very clearly defined before in my mind, realized that the work itself is awesome except that there are way too many tech startups with bad ideas, luckily I had a lot of exposure to healthcare VC which is more interesting in my opinion

1. What type of internship did you have? What type of firm? What area of the country? What year in school are you? Investment banking summer analyst, top ten global investment bank, NYC, entering my senior year
2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = great, 1 = horrible), how was your experience? 5
3. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = very likely) - how likely are you to get a return offer? and when do you expect to hear back? Just received an offer this morning at my final review so I guess 5 ahah
4. On a scale of 1-5, would you recommend your internship to others? 5
5. How did/will your internship come to a close? (exit interview, final presentation, etc.)? Final review 10 minute meeting (like an exit interview), thought they would discuss feedback from my team like the midsummer review but just went right to the offer letter and that was it
6. How has your opinion changed regarding IB/S&T/ER, etc? My opinion has improved, it was positive before but the experience made me realize how perfect of a match it is, definitely best internship I've had (three previous internships, two of them directly in finance)

Loved the culture, growing firm that still has a feeling of community. They celebrate each other's victories, say thank you for even completing seemingly small tasks, and make you feel excited to come to the office everyday. Definitely a great place to be

I m a B.A final year student . presently working in shipping as a sailor.want to change in my career. As so willing to go for GMAT.

1. SA at a boutique restructuring-focused firm in NY. Entering my senior year.
2. 4 - Great people and I worked on really cool deals, but there was a lot of downtime. I suppose there are worse things though, haha.
3. 5 - yes, I got a return offer today. Almost definitely taking it.
4. 5- Phenomenal place to work.
5. Short exit interview, then lunch with an MD and two VPs
6. Made me definitely get more into restructuring, I want to stick with this for the time being

1. PWM, Boutique, CA, rising Senior
2. 5 so far
3. 1, not offering entry-level jobs
4. 5, if you want to break into finance (like myself) and want to learn a lot from experienced advisors, and keep an open mind
5. Breaking bread with my supervisors
6. Respectable, although my intentions have always been to settle into VC

It really is what you make of it. There was that one morning where I opened up the attorney's mail instead of the company mail (we share the same building). But to my credit, I arrived at work before the senior staff most of the time and haven't fumbled that badly since.

AndyLouis:

Now that summer internships are wrapping up, we'd love to hear your feedback!

Questions:

1. What type of internship did you have? What type of firm? What area of the country? What year in school are you?
2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = great, 1 = horrible), how was your experience?
3. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = very likely) - how likely are you to get a return offer? and when do you expect to hear back?
4. On a scale of 1-5, would you recommend your internship to others?
5. How did/will your internship come to a close? (exit interview, final presentation, etc.)?
6. How has your opinion changed regarding IB/S&T/ER, etc?

Additionally, feel free to share any stories, e.g. the best/worst times of the summer, things you learned, the people you met, the culture at your firm, etc etc.

1. BB IB, JP/MS/GS, going to be a finalist next year
2. 3 - not horrible, but wasn't amazing
3. 4 - hiring is good this year. last day of the internship
4. I wouldn't recommend it at all
5. Presentation in penultimate week, but that's not the be-all-and-end-all
6. IB is not worth the hype

1. MM ECM (rising senior)
2. 3 -- it's what you made of it. had to hustle to get staffed, otherwise much downtime
3. 5 -- received return already; didn't want to work in the particular office (regional)
4. 3 -- meh
5. Program date ended when it ended.
6. Capital Markets was okay; nothing to be incredibly excited for -- looking for ER/AM for FT.

Party with the traders. They know all the right people who can hook you up - networks, ladies, and druggies ;)

1. MM banking internship in the Midwest, rising senior.
2. 5
3. 5, already heard back
4. 5
5. Got thrown in taking over an analyst role as one of the guys left early so I just took over all his tasks. Didn't have time to have some random project.
6. About the same.

AndyLouis:

Now that summer internships are wrapping up, we'd love to hear your feedback!

Questions:

1. What type of internship did you have? What type of firm? What area of the country? What year in school are you?
2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = great, 1 = horrible), how was your experience?
3. On a scale of 1-5 (5 = very likely) - how likely are you to get a return offer? and when do you expect to hear back?
4. On a scale of 1-5, would you recommend your internship to others?
5. How did/will your internship come to a close? (exit interview, final presentation, etc.)?
6. How has your opinion changed regarding IB/S&T/ER, etc?

Additionally, feel free to share any stories, e.g. the best/worst times of the summer, things you learned, the people you met, the culture at your firm, etc etc.

1) MM IB Summer Analyst - Regional Office - Rising Senior but graduating a semester late.

2) 3.5. Great guys and fun to work with. Really opened my eyes to another side of IB since the office was small and I would work in close proximity with the MDs. But not a fan of the downtime and the sloppier structure of a regional MM internship.

3) N/A since I talked to the MD about my interest in working in a bigger city and I won't be graduating in May.

4) 4. Great to get your feet wet and get real live deal experience.

5) Exit Review, shoot the shit

6) IB was a little different than what I expected (good and bad). Will be aiming for either a BB/EB internship next summer or a VC internship.

1. MBB. Very large office. MBA intern.
2. 4
   • Pros: The work was challenging. My team was awesome. Loads of partner and client face time.
   • Cons: Based on the type of case, my experience was a little light on raw problem-solving/creative thinking. The office/region is incredibly busy so hours and quality of life were atypically mediocre. Still better than banking though.
3. 4-5. Will know officially in 1-2 weeks, but the firm takes a their "no surprises" commitment pretty seriously.
4. 5. Love it.
5. Exit interview. Multiple end of summer BBQ/dinner/roast type events. National weekend retreat. Full-time OCR and sell events start shortly thereafter, so there's not much down time; I'll just be on the other side of things.
6. Validated that most of what I was told during recruiting was accurate (i.e not just lip service). Also realized that you can't have everything you want on every case (see #2 above). In the span of a few cases, I should be able to hit all the areas I want in terms of skill development.

This is gonna be a bit different from most internships on here, but may as well post in case anyone reading is interested in pharma/biotech. 1. Rising sophomore, clinical/pre-clinical strategy at a top biotech company 2. 5 - The company's size was perfect, providing me the opportunity to network with many senior people while also being able to contribute to a top tier company of its type 3. 4 - I wouldn't have a tough time getting another internship there, but I'm looking to explore different things next summer 4. 5 - It really depends on what you're interested in doing. Obviously this is not the internship for anyone who is pure finance, but anyone into biotech finance would benefit from being at a company like this. 5. Final presentation to my group 6. I have definitely grown fond of the biotech industry--I could see myself working at a company like this, consulting for a company like this, starting a company like this, or investing in a company like this. For someone who is studying science and business, this internship was a great experience

1. Small middle market investment bank in the midwest (unpaid), rising junior.
2. 5; it was everything I could have asked for and then some. It gave me an opportunity to learn w/out the pressure of working at a more well-known shop competing for a full-time offer. The people were great and extremely helpful, and the hours weren't nearly as bad as they would be at a BB or well-known boutique.
3. N/A. Although they said I was welcome to come back next summer, they understood and encouraged me to get experience at a bigger place and told me they will help me throughout the recruiting process.
4. 4.5; the only downside was that it was unpaid. However, it's a great opportunity as a rising junior to have, and the people are more than willing to help you out if you show initiative and put in the effort.
5. Went out for lunch/drinks.
6. Confirmed my interest in pursuing IB long term, although it was a little skewed since I wasn't getting killed hours-wise. Because it was a smaller firm, it was fascinating attending morning meetings and getting a glimpse of the nuances and challenges of different deals.

1. Emerging market fund-of-funds, NYC, rising 2nd year in b-school
2. 3, it was OK. Great hours, super smart bosses, good exposure to managers, and a solid overview of the investing landscape in emerging markets. However, it wasn't as analytical as I had hoped, and the firm is too small for my liking.
3. 5
4. 3, FoF is not for everyone.
5. exit interview
6. Got to learn more about how FoF industry works and the dynamics underlying it.

1. Boutique IBD internship, TMT, West Coast, incoming sophomore
2. 4/5
3. No return offer because I'm an incoming sophomore
4. 5/5
5. Exit interview
6. Considering IBD at a larger firm next summer, but also considering HF, VC, and F500 tech internships

@"Stryfe" you sound like you've got a solid resume so far, keep us posted on your path

1. MM focused PE in Dallas, entering senior year
2. 5- Super lean team gave me great exposure to all elements of the investment process
3. 4- Expecting a return offer sometime in Jan-Mar, may not b/c they know I'm pursing IB
4. 4- I would recommend this to anybody with questions about whether IB is the right path or not. Definitely opens your eyes to a different world.
5. Presentation on last day
6. IB seems like less fun, more work, and different people but it is hard to argue with the golden stamp of approval and upward scalability of the experience.

1. Consulting, in-house consulting for a major conglomerate in the country, Seoul (Korea), Rising Junior
2. 3, good people, lots of downtime
3. n/a
4. 3
5. Still doing it. There will be no exit interview/final presentation.
6. None