As everyone gears up to start their full-time investment banking jobs or summer internships in a few months, I’ve been receiving more and more questions on background checks.

What can background checks actually reveal about you? Should you be afraid if you told a slight fib and they find out? Who will these background check agencies actually speak with?

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This is a question that always seems to pop up after people have secured their full-time investment banking jobs.

“I’m done with school a semester early and have nothing to do between now and when I start my full-time job at Goldman Sachs / Morgan Stanley / (Insert Other Prestigious Firm Here). Should I just start in January so I can get a leg-up on other Analysts and get an additional 6 months of work experience?”

No, you shouldn’t.

I always recommend starting at the same time as the other investment banking analysts in your “class,” and not just so you can spend those months sitting on the beach and drinking Piña Coladas.

It can hurt you both financially and in terms of work experience if you go outside the norm and start in January or February before everyone else.

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For new Mergers & Inquisitions readers, I thought it might be helpful to do a recap of February 2008, just as I did for January 2008 and December 2007.

The investment banking internship recruiting season continued in full force in February 2008, and many readers asked questions on how to decide on summer internship offers and also how to get them in the first place.

I covered a good amount of investment banking lifestyle material as well, as including the perennial question of just how high investment banking salaries are.

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What is Investment Banking?: Ari Gold: What Bankers Actually Do, Why NOT Do Investment Banking

Investment Banking Lifestyle: A Day in the Life - Worst Day and Best Day, How to Stay Fit, Investment Banking Wardrobe for Men, Investment Banking Lingo Part 1 and Part 2, A Week in the Life (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Breaking into Finance: How to Get an Investment Banking Job, Networking into Investment Banking, Recruiting in a Tough Market, Breaking in from Engineering, Breaking in from Law, Breaking in from the Back Office

Investment Banking Resumes: How to Write an Investment Banking Resume, How Investment Bankers Read Resumes

Investment Banking Interviews: Investment Banking Interview Guide, The Interview Selection Process, How to Close Your Interviews

Summer Internships: Summer Intern Success Guide, How to Dominate Your Summer Internship, Tips from a Former Summer Analyst, What You Do as a Summer Analyst, 10 Summer Internship "Don't's", How Summer Interns Get Full-Time Offers

Investment Banking Salaries: Investment Banking Salaries vs. McDonald's, Why Investment Bankers Make So Much Money, 2008 Analyst Bonuses

Private Equity / Buyside Jobs: Private Equity Resumes, Private Equity Interviews, The Myth of the Buyside Job, Headhunters: Friend or Foe?

Specific Groups: UBS LA, Boutiques, Restructuring, The Back Office

Quitting Finance: The Conference Room: How You Get Fired, The Farewell Email, A Day in the Life of a Former Investment Banker