Investment Banking Intern Review

Having never interned before I was a bit apprehensive, but everyone here took the time to explain things to me whilst still giving me a lot of responsibility, and made the atmosphere largely very pleasant. It could be stressful at times, but that's to be expected and people generally were very understanding if you explained the situation before it became a problem. The work was interesting and none of the expectations of us was unreasonable

Some of the analysts and associates that I met really looked out for us, but also invited us to informal drinks and gave us really constructive feedback. The intern structure of having a buddy, staffer, development officer and mentor also means you have a support network set up when you come in, which makes a huge difference

As I direct result of the structure for the interns, support is very easily accessible, should you need it. In my experience, the analysts and associates more or less across the board were very friendly and approachable, so were more than happy to point you in the right direction or sit down and fully explain something to you if they had time

It fluctuated - one week I had nothing to do at all, but the next week I was insanely busy. Even during the day you could spend the whole morning waiting for someone, and then get a million things to do that afternoon. When you were busy, it was actually quite enjoyable - it's the periods that you're just waiting around with nothing to do that were tough

There was nothing that I was given that could have been disastrous if I got it wrong, but there were often slides and documents that I would update or create that would go into books for clients, or be checked directly by someone very senior, which was quite a lot of responsibility. It was never too much though, as you were almost always able to ask an analyst or associate for help as and when you got stuck

I don't know how applicable the actual skills will be for my degree, but certainly the work ethic and attitude will be. Post-degree, if I go into banking/finance long term, this training will be not only relevant but also necessary so definitely helpful

Generally pleasant as the interns got on, as did the bankers. There was generally an emphasis on teaching people things, so you didn't feel like you were annoying bankers by asking them questions, although there was a feeling that you should always look like you were busy, which could be exhausting at times.

The structure of having a buddy, staffer, development officer and mentor really helped once in the bank. Prior to joining, the information we got from HR could be a bit contradictory or short notice, but nothing that caused any problems or couldn't just be rectified by emailing and asking for clarity. During the internship they organised a lot of events which were generally informative and enjoyable

We had a training week, which was enough but not a huge amount, but as mentioned, the analysts would happily explain concepts to you. There were two days of technical training, aimed at those of us who had no financial background, and then another two days of "introduction to the bank" so you were familiarised with the structure and systems in place.

After the internship, those of us who decided that we were still interested in finance had no difficulty understanding why BAML would be among the best places to start a career. The experience was eye opening, but overall positive and the bankers here speak highly of their experiences, which make it very easy to visualise yourself working here

Yes - there were a lot of meet the team events over drinks, including unofficial events with the junior bankers, or even just among interns. Bankers were very keen to take us out to bars, clubs and/or restaurants so we could meet the rest of the team, which were always enjoyable and a nice "low-pressure" way to meet people

Being in central London, nothing was cheap but given that it was a paid internship we weren't usually overly concerned by this if it meant you got to meet people. At team events, the full time analysts often would pick up the cheque so you weren't thinking about that and could just enjoy getting to meet the team. Rent was a bit extortionate, and if you didn't look for accommodation before the recommendation letter from HR, you could find yourself with ridiculous rent

It's central London, so everything you could want was there - it was expensive, and often it would get to the end of the week and the last thing you wanted to do was drink/go out, or sometimes you'd be stuck in the office until quite late, but when you did want to and could go out, that option was always there

We had a number of networking talks where we got to meet members of eg the women's network, or the iGen (intergenerational) network so you could get to meet people and potentially get involved in that as and when you start working. There was also a 5.5km charity run, and the opportunity to play touch rugby if you wanted