<p>I'm not sure if there are any other message boards dedicated banking so I brought my question here. Basically I have offers to join any group within investment banking at either firm. I have asked many people and received varying answers. My biggest concerns are landing at a place where I will see many large deals, play an actual role in the deals (possibly modeling), and a place that will set me up well if I choose to pursue a different avenue within finance. If I choose MS I will probably intern in their m&a group, which is a very hard group to get into that has a great deal flow.</p>
<p>So far the pros and cons I have gathered are:</p>
<p>Lehman:
pros: Incredible people and atmosphere, firm that is growing extremely quickly, significant work for interns.
cons: Not as significant a market presence as MS, not as well-perceived.</p>
<p>Morgan Stanley:
pros: Truly at the top of the industry, good people, great reputation.
cons: Lots of turnover at the top of the company.</p>
<p>First off I would like to say that I would kill to be in your position.
But to answer your question I think you should go with Morgan Stanley. Who cares if theres lots of turnover at the company...your an intern! For an internship I think its important to just go to the most prestigious firm, whatever looks better on a resume that way when you get a offer to return you can leverage it or w/e to Goldman, lehman etc.</p>
<p>Also, care to share your stats ex. year, gpa, school, ecs etc. Thanks alot</p>
<p>For me personally, the M&A aspect itself would lead me to choose that firm, regardless if it were MS, or some slightly lesser known players such as Banc of America Sec., Barclay's, Bear Stearns. The fact that it's Morgan Stanley makes this position even more desirable. My question is: how the hell did you get an M&A Summer Analyst position at Morgan Stanley?!?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies everybody. I was already leaning towards MS and all things considered will probably go with them. </p>
<p>Sammy101: My stats are:</p>
<p>Princeton 08, Econ/finance 3.4, 1500
VP of two clubs (co-founder of one which has really done well in less than 2 years)
Various other community service activities
Last Summer: Interned at BlackRock
Summer after freshman year: Interned at Chicago Investment Group (didn't get paid, but hey it was a Wall Street experience)</p>
<p>It's good to have nice stats, but I feel like once you get the interview all the resume stuff doesn't matter anymore.</p>
<p>dpa38d2u: I am currently studying abroad so I contacted hr to interview early. I don't have a spot in m&a for sure, but because I have the Lehman offer and a Citi offer I've been able to leverage those into promises that they'll do everything in their power to get me m&a. One of my interviewers and the head of MS princeton recruiting was a VP in m&a so I was also able to talk to him and tell him that I was interested in his group. Their policy is to not assign specific groups upon giving out the offer.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the input and you all have any questions about my interviews or anything else about the process feel free to ask. I did 2nd round interviews at a lot of the banks and some of them seem to have different interviewing styles.</p>
<p>y2yankees99, why do you think you got offers at all these banks? I realize that you go to a target school but your gpa seems to be a little on the low side. So was it your past experience at BlackRock & CIG that impressed these ibanks the most or was it your ecs, past knowledge?? I'm currently a first year student trying to get an internship, do you have any recommendations as to the type of experience I should be aiming for this curent year and next summer that will eventually lead to a BB internship 3rd year.</p>
<p>P.S This is a pretty important decision that you have to make. I think you should visit another forum ibankingoasis.com (They have alot of people with ibanking experience) and ask the same question.</p>
<p>I would actually argue that because of grade deflation a 3.4 at Princeton is on par with a 3.7 at other top schools. But regardless it's all about getting that first interview and then performing well from there. Have a story as to why banking and make sure your resume fits the story. I also believe that I just am able to connect well in interviews.</p>
<p>My BlackRock experience definitely helped. The firm is very well liked and respected in the industry, but relatively small especially before the merger. It is perceived as being very difficult to get into and not too many know somebody who has worker there. There is a certain mystique about it in the industry. I had a great experience there. I stayed over 14 weeks and got to work on great projects. </p>
<p>It's difficult to get good business experience as a freshman, but it's possible. If you have good grades and to a good school you may be able to pull something at a big bank (prob not i-banking). If not then I would suggest going for anything finance related even if it's not the most glamorous job because it will give business experience on your resume and thus be a part of your overall story going into next years interviews. I worked at the Chicago Investment Group cold calling cfo's and high ranking execs and pitching the services of CIG to them, and did not get paid. However, I believe that going into my BR interviews the next year that they appreciated my efforts and saw that I was truly interested in the industry.</p>
<p>btw, thanks a lot for the link. Keep the q's coming if you have anymore.</p>
<p>you're so lucky. I'm such a loser by comparison.
<em>No you're not</em>
<em>Yes, I am</em>
<em>Snap out of it, anything is possible</em>
<em>Anything?</em>
<em>Well maybe not anything...</em></p>
<p>y2yankees99, I'm currently a freshman at Princeton looking for internship opportunities in finance myself, and as you noted, getting one hasn't been easy so far.</p>
<p>Is there any way I can contact you - could you PM me your email address for example? Any guidance would really be appreciated.</p>
<p>my cousin interned at MS between his junior and senior year, and at the end of the internship was officially offered a starting position there once he graduated. He graduated from Cornell last year, and has been working there since. He said that it has been an incredibly experience thus far. So I would highly recommend MS if you're really looking for job placement after you graduate. Their internship program provides a really good outlook into what your job would be as well. =] Good luck with your choice!</p>
<p>Interned in AMG at BlackRock at NYC headquarters. I loved it there. The people were absolutely awesome and if I do decide to go back to asset management eventually it will undoubtably be at BLK. However, from my POV it didn't make sense to do the same thing two summers in a row. This is really the time for me to explore different aspects of the financial world and see what I enjoy the most. With that being said, by the end of my internship I was enjoying my experience, but I felt like asset management was a little bit to laid back for me, especially after coming out of college. I did however enjoy working on the deals that I got to at BLK, but I wanted to have that opportunity on a more frequent basis. That is basically how I came to the decision to try out investment banking for this summer. But for traditional asset management, in my mind BLK has sthe market presence, the expertise, and incredible people. You can't go wrong with BlackRock if you are looking to get into this line of business.</p>
<p>Wondering why you are not considering Citi. I know someone being flown there for an interview, so truly curious about firms rank in student's eyes.</p>
<p>Go to ibankingoasis.com if you want to learn more about what more (usually) experiences people think about the different tiers. It also depends a lot on which division or group. </p>
<p>I agree with those groups, but would replace Credit Suisse with UBS. Actually, perhaps even put them with Deutsche and BoA.</p>