I have to choose between 2 internships for my sophomore summer. I am leaning towards the PE firm because it is a great opportunity to network and start doing relevant work (pitch books, LBOs) but am I an idiot for working for free? Looking to work at at a BB/EB internship my junior year coming from non (semi?) - target
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If you want to do IB or PE in the long term then take the PE offer. Even if you work for free, it is going to be a good learning opportunity.
Is the PE internship remote, as in do you work from home? Also, do you know exactly what type of work you will be doing at those firms?
The PE firm is not remote. For PE I will mostly be doing research and analyze potential investments, and modeling. For the financial analyst role it will be working with loans, and also some internal audit work.
I would do the PE internship unless someone at the retail bank has serious connections to IB (very unlikely). Being at the PE shop you will see CIMs, models, IC meetings, management presentations, etc. You will be on the same deal as the IB just from the other side. This is what I did, and it was invaluable when interviews came around (I virtually only talked about deals I saw throughout interviews).
As for the money, if you can manage then don't worry about it. If it helps you land an IB internship next summer, the pay from the summer alone (disregarding FT pay, etc.) will offset what you "lose" from working for free this summer. Here is the article I wrote about doing an unpaid internship in ATL/CLT/DC, which I imagine would be similar COL to Chicago (http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/the-economics-of-an-unpaid-intern…).
Well given all the monkey shits I guess it was a bad question. I guess having a job for the last four summers and getting paid made it feel strange working without a paycheck every week.
It's not a bad question. I have just been seeing a lot of monkey crap being thrown around in every forum topic nowadays, especially the good but blunt advice. The PE firm sounds interesting and more relevant. Are you in the Chicago area? Most of the cost of an unpaid internship is just the housing
Yes, I am from Chicago and plan to live at home with my parents. I had a job for the last for summer making $3-4k which really helps with daily expenses, so giving that up for experience sounds unusual.
I would take PE. I don't quite see how loans and internal audit can be spun into landing an SA role next summer.
Make sure the PE firm is a legitimate shop. There are a couple sketchy Chicago firms that this sounds like and they are NOT worth working for under ANY circumstance.
See: Blackmore Partners
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/blackmore-partners-chicago-knowle…
If you can afford to do the PE internship do it.
Take the PE firm offer if it's a legit firm. If you are unsure if it is a legit firm or not, feel free to PM or post like 3-4 firms (including the firm in question) and people can give you reviews on each one. That way it's a little masked.
I'm relatively familiar with PE firms in Chicago (I live there now, 2nd year IBD analyst, recruited). You can PM me with questions on whether it's a real firm.
I'm sure others can give you similar or better answers to mine though.
If it's not a name bankers will recognize, don't go PE. If they've never heard of it, it won't mean much to them.
What reputable firms do unpaid internships?
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