Intern Review

Great use of a summer - I wasn't sure if IBD was for me at the start and wanted to try things out, but this summer has sold me on the idea. Really felt like I was doing work that mattered, and felt like I integrated well with the team. Got a lot more deal exposure and what felt like proper analyst work than I sort - much less make-work than expected

Fantastic deal exposure - teams on individual deals were usually small in my case and led to lots of exposure and work on stuff analysts would normally do. Things stepped up when people started leaving for summer holdays which was challenging but rewarding. Colleagues and team members would always make sure I was involved in meetings and make the effort to include me on client calls.

As someone starting out not knowing much about I Banking, my supervisors were invaluable mentors - everyone was very approachable and open, always people would take time to explain things and not just the analysts, but associates, directors and MDs in meetings.

Starts off slightly slowly, but really starts picking up after week 3 or 4. There's no denying that hours are tough - a lot of what you hear is exaggerated, but only slightly. However, the work is pretty fascinating especially for a rookie like myself, and you learn quickly. Weekends I tried to preserve but this was only possible 50% of the time - it is inevitably part of the trade off.

Lots! Started off slower, but in the last couple of weeks I essentially became the analyst in the team, especially because people would go on holidays. Our team was very busy this summer apparently, so by the end I was running with the valuation for one of the projects I was on. Was put on one of the coolest live deals around, which was very intense, but immensely rewarding and I got to see the whole deal process from start to finish.

My Excel and Powerpoint skills are off the charts compared to this time two months ago. I've learn time management skills, the ability to ask better questions, the ability to think on my feet through talking with very smart people. I also developed my ability to work productively even if hours did become tough. Also got a better appreciation of the disconnect between economics and the markets.

Hard working, but very friendly, expect some very good chat to fly around. Team was very big, but close know at the same time - everyone knows each other. Big team meant lots of chances to switch up who you work with, adds variety. Lucky to have an amazing AD and analyst who I worked with a lot who were very good at judging when I'm close to my limit - literally once after a bad night they were pushing me out of the office early.

Social events not so good because they happened on Tuesdays - most CCS (IBD) people had to go back to the office afterwards. Talks were good, but often took place in a sauna of the room that would send people falling to sleep. Talks were incredible though - they ran a speaker series that had a world cup winning rugby player, a Rio Olympic rower fresh from winning gold, and one of the top South Pole explorers around.

First week traiing week was useful, though not so much for me because I was working in FIG so EBITDA etc. become useless. However, most training came on the desk - everyone was very happy to explain how to do things, and were very tolerant of stupid questions! Felt like I've learnt so much over the last 9 weeks - Excel and Powerpoint skills, and also a much better understanding of how the markets think

UBS is a bank back from the brink - a few years ago everyone thought they were going under the bus. Now they have recovered - with Credit Suisse, Deutsche and Barclays all shaky, there's no question in my mind that they are the kings of European investment banking. Hiring relatively aggressively (though no idea how Brexit will affect things) - the FIG team for example has poached lots from BAML, CS, etc.