Over the last few months, students applying to investment banking firms for summer internships have gone through a hectic cycle of networking, interviewing and negotiating offers. While successful applicants received internship offers for the upcoming summer, several students spoke to The Herald about their reservations regarding the early and time-consuming nature of the recruitment process.
According to Lecturer in Economics Bradford Gibbs, “There's a recognition across Career Services that these recruiting processes are being increasingly brought forward to a ridiculous degree.”
“It's become a bit of an arms race,” said Gibbs, who teaches ECON 1720: “Corporate Finance.”
Kevin Masse ’25, who recently went through the application process and accepted an offer in late March for a summer internship with Lazard Ltd, said high burn-out rates may be one of the reasons firms are beginning to recruit earlier.
“Most people think of investment banking as a stepping stone to go somewhere else, so banks have a hard time finding talent and then retaining it,” Masse said. He added that the profession is notorious for 100-hour work weeks that drive many to quit.
Masse, who plans to concentrate in economics and political science, was already interested in investment banking when he entered Brown, seeing it as a “rite of passage … into the finance industry.”
Masse began reaching out to Brown alumni who worked in investment banking during his second semester as an undergraduate. After just a few months of being on campus, Masse described a pressure to start building his “network.”
“A lot of people just don't come in with an understanding of how it works,” he said. “That's one of the major barriers to entry.”
Addie Ahlstrom ’25, who plans to concentrate in International and Public Affairs and economics on the business track, decided to pursue investment banking at the beginning of her sophomore year after learning more about the industry through Brown’s Women in Business club. In March, she accepted an offer for a summer internship with Morgan Stanley.
“I'd just figured out I wanted to do this, and then there were deadlines I already missed in December,” Ahlstrom said, adding that first-years shouldn’t need to feel certain about their career path out of fear of missing important opportunities.
Students applying for investment banking summer internships begin by submitting applications, which are usually open by December of the previous year, and receiving interview offers. Major investment banks typically conduct the first round of resume-based interviews via HireVue — a platform that allows interviewees to submit recorded answers to questions.
Based on those interviews, applicants are narrowed down and invited to a “Superday,” where they participate in a round-robin style of interviews. These interviews include both a behavioral component and a technical component, which can feature questions like “Can you walk me through a back-of-the-envelope, leveraged buyout analysis based on these statistics?” Gibbs said.
Applicants then negotiate their offers, which are often “exploding”: Once received, the offers typically have to be accepted or declined within two weeks.
Ahlstrom said that studying for the technical interviews was like a “fifth class.” She self-studied through Training the Street, an online resource for studying financial theory.
Masse said he referred to chat rooms like Wall Street Oasis and the book “Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A and IPOs” by Joshua Rosenbaum and Joshua Pearl, which he called “a holy thing” in the world of investment banking.
Beyond the actual application process, students stressed the importance of networking and establishing relationships with potential recruiters. “You want people to know who you are, so when your resume hits the deck, they give you an interview,” Masse said.
Ahlstrom followed what she called “the LinkedIn approach,” where she reached out to Brown alumni who worked at banks to set up calls. Alumni advised her on what to expect from the recruiting process and walked her through mock interviews.
Ahlstrom also attended one of Gibbs’s “finance prep” sessions — just one of the resources he offers to students interested in investment banking recruitment.
Due to the investment banking timeline being pushed earlier every year, Gibbs said it’s difficult for students to take “Corporate Finance” before applying to internships. To help students fill gaps in their knowledge, Gibbs works with CareerLAB to offer sessions on the technical aspects of investment banking, including a session on breaking down jargon.
Gibbs also acts as an academic adviser to many students pursuing investment banking, helping them navigate the recruitment process, negotiate offers and prepare for interviews.
“I try to instill in Brown students the confidence that although they're not eating discounted cash flow analyses for breakfast like their peers at Wharton might be, they have this super viable skillset with respect to interdisciplinary thinking,” Gibbs said. He cited “intellectual independence” and the “ability to communicate and collaborate” as Brown-specific skills.
Students expressed that the pressure of the ever-intensifying recruitment process affected other aspects of their lives.
“For a period of time, I definitely prioritized banking over my academics,” Masse said. “My recommendation (for students) would be to block off that semester and devote yourself to it.”
Gibbs acknowledged that stress over securing a junior internship can be “a very heavy burden,” but said he hopes that students don’t let that stress consume them. “It's not the end of the world if you don't get a job at Goldman Sachs,” he said. “Life will go on.”
Anisha Kumar is a section editor covering University Hall. She is a junior from Menlo Park, California concentrating in English and Political Science who loves speed-crosswording and rewatching sitcoms.
