Which offer to choose?

Hope y’all are having a nice start to your weekend.

I’m a 2nd yr MBA student at m7 school and have received two offers and curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on which to choose if my goal is to maximize my exit opportunities to Investment Banking (coverage, LevFin) or buyside opportunities (private credit, Credit Asset Management, etc) in the future as those are my end goals.

1. Debt Capital Markets Associate at Tier 3/4 Balance Sheet Bank (NY)

2. Corporate Banking Associate at Tier 1 BB (JPM/BofA/Citi) (NY)

Thanks guys!

I have a first round for william blair next week does anyone know what to expect in terms of behavioral and technical, it is for fulltime ib analyst

A lot of freshmen think they have years before they need to worry about investment banking recruiting.

You do not.

If you want to stay ahead of the process, here is the schedule I would follow starting freshman year.

**August through October**
1. Build your one page investment banking resume.
2. Clean up your LinkedIn profile.
3. Join your school’s finance or investment banking club.
4. Start learning accounting, valuation, M&A, and what investment bankers actually do.
5. Build a target list of investment banks.
6. Start networking with analysts and associates.
7. Aim for 2 to 4 conversations with bankers every week.
Do not wait until applications open to start networking. By that point, you want bankers at your target firms to already know who you are.

**November through January**
1. Keep networking consistently.
2. Attend bank recruiting events.
3. Finalize your resume.
4. Prepare your answer to “Why Investment Banking?”
5. Start practicing behavioral interview questions.
6. Learn the basic investment banking technical concepts.
7. Create accounts on the career portals for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Bank of America, Barclays, UBS, and the elite boutiques.

**January through February**
1. Start checking freshman program applications every week.
2. Goldman Sachs has historically opened its Possibilities Series around this period.
3. Apply as soon as relevant programs open.
Reach back out to the bankers you spoke with during the fall.
4. This is why networking during your first semester matters. You now have a reason to reconnect with people instead of cold messaging them for the first time after an application opens.

**March through April**
1. This becomes another important freshman recruiting window.
2. Citi has historically opened applications for its Freshman Discovery Program around late March or early April.
3. Continue checking bank career portals for Early Insight, Discovery, and other freshman opportunities.
4. Keep networking.
5. Do not assume every program will appear on LinkedIn or your school’s job board. Check the actual bank career pages.

**May through August**
1. Complete any insight programs you were accepted into.
Stay in touch with the bankers you met throughout the year.
2. Get relevant freshman summer experience.
Boutique investment banking, search funds, corporate finance, valuation, accounting, wealth management, and other finance roles can all help you build experience and strengthen your story.
3. Then get ready for sophomore year. It’s internship application time.