How to Pick Your Group as an Investment Banking Summer Analyst

“Help! I have an offer but now I don’t know which group to list as my top choice! Should I go with M&A, LevFin, or pick an industry group instead?”

“I have offers at the M&A group of a lesser-known bank and the Consumer Retail group of a better-known bank – which one do I pick?”

So, how do you pick your group as an investment banking summer analyst (or associate)?

Why Do Investment Banking Associates and Analysts Secretly Want to Kill Each Other?

“Dude, this new ex-consultant Associate is such an idiot. Why do they even hire people like this?”

“At least yours didn’t make you spread the same comps ten times for no reason.”

“Why is that Analyst so annoying? Why does he think he knows more than us?”

It’s some of the most common chatter you’ll hear when walking through any bank: Analysts and Associates talking trash about each other, and occasionally plotting to kill each other.

And they’ve been at war for a very, very long time.

So how did it all start, and what can we do about it?

How to Prepare for Your Investment Banking Summer Internship (If You Haven’t Already Started)

Everyone already knows that to properly prepare for your investment banking summer internship, you need to memorize every single Excel and PowerPoint shortcut key, know your models as well as you know your bottles, and read the Wall Street Journal cover-to-cover each day.

Then there’s the matter of training yourself to sit motionless in front of a computer for 28 hours straight, and reading Monkey Business, Liar’s Poker, and When Genius Failed 3 times each.

If you’re reading this site and you have an upcoming summer internship, you’ve probably done all that already.

But what else can you do to maximize your chances of getting a return offer?