Which internship to choose? MBB, BIG 4 M&A or MM M&A Boutique

Dear Fellow monkeys.

I am facing the though decision between three summer internship offers. This would be my first internship in any related field as I come from a completely different backround originally (arts/sports). I am going into my penultimate year studying finance at a top european target next fall. Next September my recruitment efforts will be focused on BB/EB IBD SA as I am aiming for a London FT-offer in BB/EB IBD following my graduation. I am also a CFA Level 2 Candidate for what it's worth. These are the options I have right now:

1) MBB internship in European capital (think Stockholm/Berlin/Milan). Strong presence in the country and obviously the most prestigious offer I have

2) Big 4 (EY/Deloitte/PwC/KPMG) internship offer for M&A Advisory in a European capital (think Stockholm/Berlin/Milan). They are making quite a lot of MM-deals locally and also cross-border. So very strong presence in the country...

3) Solid MM-boutique in a European Financial capital (think Paris/Frankfurt/Milan). A lot of deals in the 25-100m range in Europe

So what do you think? Should I just go for the most prestigious offer (MBB) of these? Would it put me at a disadvantage against people who gained financial modeling experience at boutiques this summer? I could be learning the modeling with WSP on my own while completing a MBB-internship but I would obviously have no practical experience...

 

MBB. brand name is very important early in career, can't stress it enough. investment banking is not about a set of skills, is about a type of people. so once have MBB on your resume, you can move into brand-name bb later in career, they'd think you are good enough to be one of them. BB don't particular treat big 4 candidate as worthy, the same goes for no-name boutique. prestigious boutiques (centerview, Evercore .....) are treated in the same light as bb.

 

I believe his comment above is more applicable to the US. From what I've read here, Big 4 is viewed much better in Europe than the US when it comes to exiting to banking. FWIW, if I were in your spot and dead set on BB IBD for FT then I would take the Big 4 M&A internship, unless 1. the MM boutique is a well known shop (check LinkedIn to see where past interns ended up) or 2.You aren't 100% sold on IBD for FT in which case take the MBB internship as that is easily the most 'prestigious' offer

 

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