Winding Down!

Its amazing fast the summer program's gone that I can’t believe it’s all coming to an end this week. I presented my summer project to a team of hard core bankers and got very good reviews. Seems they were impressed by my understanding of the strategic rationale of the deal I analyzed (I wonder why I didn't take up the Corp Strategy offer I got instead, maybe I’d have aced it). At this stage in the program, the vast majority of my fellow interns are obsessed over who'd be receiving an offer from which group. Funny how your perspectives change: I have finally realized that contrary to my enthusiastic first post in this blog, I don't want to spend the next four years building models and prepping presentations in the concrete jungle that is NY. So much for mastering the universe - I'm now quite relaxed and taking things in my stride and trying to savor these last days. I spent a good chunk of last week networking with various people here at, including having an hour-long debate with a Managing Director on the merits and demerits of Obamacare (aka healthcare reform bill). Of course I was the unyielding liberal while he played the role of the rational free market advocate.

I'll be having my end of period review on Wednesday and I look forward to receiving all the superlative comments on my performance on the second half (yeah right). However the real treat would be the freedom to explore NY for a few days afterwards and hopping on a plane to Atlanta with a couple of friends before deciding whether to go back to AA for more learning (just kidding).

Let me closeout my participation in this blog by offering some tidbits of advice to incoming MBAs: if you do find yourself in a generalist Investment Banking summer internship program, bond quickly with the very first group you work with, be flexible in your group preferences (I was not, for personal reasons) and spend a boatload of time with as many people in your group as you can. May the force be with you!

P.S. Kindly forgive any typos you see in this post..... I'm typing on my iPhone keyboard and needless to say, my thumbs are quite arthritic now.

Nearly There!

How time flies when you’re having fun! I've been very busy since my last post and a lot of things have happened. Last week, we had our golf day outing, where we spent the whole day schmoozing with the big guns i.e. Managing Directors. It was pretty hilarious, watching people who'd never played golf as they went through 18 holes. We didn't get back to Tribeca until 9:30 PM and although some of us had to go back to work, there'll be no brownie points for guessing that the summer associates' section on my floor was relatively quiet (and empty) as we'd worked muscles we never knew existed.

Another major event was going to a nice restaurant with the family on my birthday. They were surprised that I was able to take a break from work to do dinner (thanks to a wonderfully understanding Director that ordered me out of the office). I'm shamelessly advertizing here, but if anyone reading this is ever in New York, be sure to try out "La Sirene" on Broome Street. It’s a delightfully cosy French restaurant (just blink and you’ll miss it) and they make the best hanger steak ever. Of course that wasn’t the only thing good about the day – getting to have a family dinner for the first time in 7 weeks was definitely a treat by itself. Other than this, I have very little perspective to offer in the way of life in New York as practically all of my summer has so far been spent with the (four?) hallowed walls of the bank. Maybe if this blog stays open until after my last day at work, I'll be able to regale you all with detail of the culture and entertainment I plan on taking in. But until that time, please bear with me.

I need not tell anyone that my industry is pretty tough, but nothing could have prepped me for the reality. That said, there's something to be said for the people I work with and their resilience. Networking has been pretty exhausting and despite our best efforts (I've been told I'm very reserved), a number of us are still not sure that we've made that critical "aha" connection. Although I will keep on bringing my “A” game to the pitch, I definitely no longer worry about not getting a full time offer as I now see that I win either way. In any case whatever the end is, all I can say is that “I’m nearly there”.

More Than Halfway Through!

It kinda feels like our HR staffer’s reading this blog. Within about 24 hours of my last post, I started getting staffed on projects with my preferred groups. These were not just ordinary, run-of-the-mill pitches and such - I’m talking about the more sought after live IPO and LBO deals. Now that we’re sort of over the hump of the summer internship, things are starting to gain momentum. The mid-program reviews came up during the week and while there were loads of positives, some of us realized that being strongly opinionated is a useful trait on Wall Street. I was therefore encouraged to demonstrate that I have pretty strong ideas on just about everything.

We had our volunteer day a couple of weeks ago and I went straight to the event from an all-nighter at work. I had a lot of fun as it involved all summer interns in the New York area and caught up with some old friends. The downside was that we were somehow required to return to the office (yes it was a half-day event) and I was running on empty the rest of the day.

While we investment banking interns started out meeting at local Tribeca hot spots, we’ve had to devise new ways of incorporating a social element into our demanding schedules. We now find ourselves ordering and eating dinner together while working late (making believe we're in some swanky restaurant), getting into lively debates on just about any random topic (who happens to be the strongest intern?) or trading oldies and rap tunes at 3:00 AM (anyone remember “Can’t touch this”/MC Hammer?). It might sound a bit sad, but it’s pretty much fun and we’re getting to know each other in a more unstructured manner. On the other hand networking with the full time associates and more senior bankers goes on apace during the day. 2 weeks ago, I had lunch with a very senior banker and found that our paths had crossed at a former client company of mine in Oklahoma - shows how small the world has become.

Still Good!

So a lot has happened since my last post. I’ve sort of undergone some metamorphosis to become something akin to an investment banker. It’s been an interesting two weeks with prime ringside seats to the unique spectacle that’s Wall Street. I’ll give you a sneak peek into my world: (1) practically anything that comes to my desk is urgent and the fate of American democracy… no, modern civilization rests on my ability to turn in that piece of work by “yesterday”. (2) The IB Summer associate program is also interesting in the sense that it’s an opportunity to be bossed around a bit by some of the analysts (who are lower in rank than you, but vastly more experienced). When reviewing some of their analyses, it’s typical to get long academic lectures in response to basic questions. There are a few more interesting sides to the summer program and I can only say that I’m loving it.

We were given our summer project at the end of the first week. This involves using the firm’s tools to analyze a potential deal and prepare a presentation for a company management. We are expected to this on our own time (difficult when you’re working from 9:00 AM to 3:00AM, weekends inclusive), turn it in by 1 August and be ready to give a presentation to a panel of Managing Directors. Needless to say the full time offer may be dependent on performance at this session.

Now, I’ll give some color on some of my specific experiences so far. I have a feeling I’m fast becoming the “King of Debt” as it seems I’m getting a bit more than my share of those types of deals. I also think I have the dubious distinction of having worked with practically every group except the ones I expressed specific preferences. While that gives some cause for concern, I’ve been assured that I’d still get the opportunity to work with my chosen groups in the course of the summer.

It’s not all been doom and gloom. Granted it’s a tough job, but the people here are so nice that it becomes quite palatable. The Associates, VPs and yes, the Analysts on my deals have been very supportive and engaging. There have also been a slew of events, speaker series, and a fun exercise to predict where major economic indicators would be by the end of the summer. We also had an ice-cream break and will be doing a volunteer day this Friday. So far I’m finding this more enjoyable than I’d dared to expect.

So it begins!

I found out I couldn’t sleep well at night on Sunday. In my excitement at commencing the first day of the summer internship program, I fell out of bed at about 6:00 AM (after turning in at around 1:30 AM) and proceeded to get ready for the day. Prior to this I’d developed some pet peeves with the on-boarding process, the biggest one being that I’d had to complete seemingly identical forms, in different media (i.e. online and print) and at different points in time. However my frustrations were ameliorated by the fact that the HR reps are super nice.

The first day of orientation began with a general breakfast for all MBA Interns after which we broke out into different rooms for the training. The first day of training turned out to be a bit anti-climactic as our day ended at about 5:30 PM – not quite in line with the long hours of work and intensely cerebral debates we’d all come to expect, though it’s a safe bet that the intensity would rise exponentially over the next day or so. We ended the work day with trips to our permanent desks and my impression of Citi as an atypically friendly investment bank was reinforced when so many different people stopped by our cubes to talk to us and offered to help answer any questions or make us comfortable. I hope this feeling/impression lasts throughout the summer (knocking on wood).

From the summer schedule, we learnt that we’d each be assigned individual research projects to be presented at the end of the summer (we’re yet to know what these are). We also have tons of “Speaker Series” sessions with key officers including Vikram Pandit, a golf outing day with some of the Managing Directors as well as the opportunity to attend a Mets game at the eponymous Citi Field – wouldn’t it be nice to sit in one of the platinum or club seats?

A census of the 31 MBA interns in the class of 2010 (apparently the smallest class in recent times) revealed an interesting and impressive fact: Ross – with 5 students - has the biggest representation amongst the business schools. Another cool thing about the first day is the high level of camaraderie displayed by the summer associate class. Individuals who’d never met before promptly bonded and broke into spontaneous interactions that belied any notions of rivalry that may be expected from people vying for limited full-time offers. We had quality discussions at breakfast, saw a world cup soccer match as a group over an extended lunch and capped the day with drinks at a local watering hole - “Puffy’s Bar”. I’d say that was a pretty auspicious day one.

Raring to go!

I’m a first year MBA student from Nigeria, West Africa. As a background, I majored in pharmacy at undergrad, switched careers to public accounting with PwC (including a two year stint in Texas and Oklahoma) and will now be spending the summer with the Investment Banking Division of Citigroup in New York. As the more perceptive reader might be able to tell, I’m kind of interested in finance and look on the summer program as an opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time – become a bona fide “master of the universe” (aka investment banker).

I’m pretty excited about the timing of my sojourn as the economy’s rebounding and I expect there’ll be many exciting deals to work on. I’m hoping fervently that on my return to Ross in the fall, I will be able to point to some major deal and say “hey, I helped to make that happen”. I also hope that I make a huge impression and secure that coveted full-time offer. The major downside lies in the fact that my chosen industry is extremely intense. For example, there is an expectation that I’ll frequently be required to work 16-20 hour week days as well as long hours on weekends. This would somewhat limit the opportunity to properly explore the good things that New York has to offer. I guess my attitude is that if all those other people can do it, so can I.

All told, I’m raring to go and “I’ve got a feeling….. that [this summer’s] going to be a good one”. I look forward to the prospect of sharing my experiences with you.