Choosing between Internships

Other options like small private equity firms ourselves could be a good option. Over the last few years I've been working with and mentoring interns at my firm- most have successfully landed another internship with BBs. Our first intern got a full time offer from a big PE firm (he went with the latter). We are fully staffed for the summer but there will likely be many firms that can use some help.

Thanks ^Searchfunder member‌ for the tag. My background - I was in a niche product group at a large bulge bracket bank for 5 years. During my time, I considered lateraling MANY times into a traditional IB group. Sometimes it wasn't the right time to lateral, other times it felt like it was too late to move to traditional IB and I would get knocked down a year (or two) in the promotion cycle. I am a strong advocate of taking a role you want and not have the thought in mind when you join that you are going to lateral once you are in.

BUT - this all depends on your goals - from what I can read into (and like many other students). I'm guessing you probably want a traditional investment banking experience working in some form of the two 1) industry team (industrials, CNR, TMT, healthcare, ect.) 2) product group (M&A, DCM, ECM, Lev Fin ). If your goal is to go from IB >> PE, it is always best to optimize for that path out of the gates so you have the least amount of friction. These days, PE shops are recruiting and signing IB analysts 2-3 years in advance of their start date at the PE firm (which is absolutely insane by the way). In general, it's easier to move laterally to "better" IB shops if you have direct IB experience vs. syndicate experience. Its harder to go from syndicate to IB role the farther you get into your career (say 2-3 years into syndicate role for example). That not to say it cant be done because many have, but its harder. This isn't a one-size-fits-all, but here is my lame generalizations of each role:

Syndicate is different in the sense that your role is more limited to the end of the process of an IPO/debt issuance/secondary issuance. Depending on the syndicate desk you sit in, your primary responsibilities will be facilitating the process between issuer and investor - raising capital from investors, market update calls, coordinating roadshows & investor meetings, documentation, compliance, ect. Your daily schedule and exposure will be more tied to the markets (get in at 6-7am pre market, wrap at 5/6/7pm at market close depending on the team).

In an IB group, the role is multi-dimensional in the sense that you serve as an advisor at the base of the companies needs. So whether they want to sell to a strategic, do an IPO, issue debt, acquire a competitor, want to expand into a different market - an investment banker is there to serve all those needs and pulls in all the necessary internal/external partners (sometimes including a syndicate desk) to make it happen. Your primary responsibilities will be creating pitch decks & presentations, roadshow materials, financial modeling, industry research to name a few. Your daily schedule/hours, well, I think you probably can imagine, its not tied to opens and close of financial markets and likely more intense.

Now to my advice directly on your question - 100% agree with what folks are saying it's all about who you surround yourself with / mentorship. What you also need to consider here is will the syndicate internship really lead to a full-time IB role? You could be a year or two in before you lateral. But sometimes its better to get your foot in the door at a large bank. Don't get sucked into false promises, make sure they have a solid mobility program and you can see a path to IB if that's what you want. The other opportunity at a small shop I like, you will get hands on experience with a lean deal team with probably a flat structure. Everybody will be doing everything. I think here its important to understand how the team operates, the experience of the current members, what types of deals they work on, and expectations of analyst/intern. I know this is very EARLY in your professional career, so you are in a great spot either way. But if I were you, I think I would go with the small shop which will set up your trajectory in IB a bit better. Of course this advice is all based on you mentioning you want to get into IB and me assuming that's the standard coverage/industry/product group route most students pursue.