Wall Street's competitive and rigorous internship process could use a facelift

Hey there. It's Dan DeFrancesco, and I'm thinking about this Hugh Grant fan who stalked him for three days at the San Diego Comic-Con convention dressed as a hot dog.

Today, we've got stories on bulge bracket vs. boutique bank pay, the return of the IPO, and why that New Year's resolution diet of yours might actually be a terrible idea.

But first, the interns are coming.

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1. The long road from intern to analyst.

Wall Street's version of the Hunger Games — nabbing a summer internship at an investment bank — is about to kick off.

Thousands of college students are eagerly refreshing investment banks' careers pages awaiting applications to open for internships for the summer of 2024. (Yes, you read that right, this summer's internship spots have already been wrapped up for a while.)

In an effort to ease some anxieties, Insider's Emmalyse Brownstein spoke to Danielle Dodgen, head of US campus recruiting at Lazard, about tips she has for candidates.

From how much you should rehearse beforehand to navigating tricky questions, Dodgen shared five tips that every aspiring summer analyst should know heading into interview season.

It's a unique thing, the investment bankers' career path. The majority of people these days don't work in a field that correlates to their degree (if they have one at all). Most peoples' résumés aren't straight lines, and include plenty of stops along the way.

But investment banking has a fair bit of tradition and structure. It's a process that results in young people making decisions that will set them on a certain path for years to come.

Just see if you can follow this timeline:

• A sophomore in college picks an internship in the spring.
• The internship starts the following summer, after their junior year.
• At the end of the internship, and before the start of their senior year, most candidates receive an offer for a job at the same firm.
• That job, which they won't start until after graduating, will ideally be one they hold for at least two years (the traditional length of an investment-banking analyst program).

What that all means is that you essentially have a 19- or 20-year-old college sophomore picking a job that a 24-year-old person will still be working at.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let 19-year-old me pick out my socks, let alone set me up on a four-year trajectory.

And we wonder why so many young bankers are burning out? Perhaps Wall Street could do with a bit more flexibility early on instead of locking people into roles they might not even full understand.

But in the meantime, may the odds be forever in your favor.

Click here to read more about how you can nail your interview for an investment-banking internship.

In other news:

2. Does a bigger bank mean a bigger paycheck? Compare what type of base comp and bonus you can expect at a bulge-bracket bank vs. a top boutique as a younger banker. Further proof bigger doesn't always mean better.

3. The University of California is all-in on Blackstone's real-estate fund. Blackstone's BREIT, which had to halt redemptions in late 2022, just got a massive endorsement in the form of a $4 billion investment from UC Investments, The Wall Street Journal reports.

4. Don't knock living in your parent's basement. This 25-year-old's crypto business minted $7 million in after-tax profit in 2021 despite being based in his parent's home. More on how some of mom's meatloaf can help you hit it big.

5. It's not all bad news at Wells Fargo. Despite a difficult end to the year for the bank thanks to a costly fine, Wells' investment bank was actually among the top 10 advisors in M&A in 2022, Bloomberg reports.

6. Fidelity hasn't been a fan of Twitter's Elon Musk era. The firm decreased the carry value of its Twitter stake by 56% in November, which was Musk's first full month as its owner.

7. Honey, wake up. The IPOs are back. Yes, companies are planning to start going public again. Check out these five startups that seem primed to end the IPO winter.

8. Please don't ask Sam Bankman-Fried who's helping bail him out of jail. The disgraced FTX founder's lawyers requested to redact the names of the two people planning to back his $250 million bail package. More on the mystery benefactors.

9. No more free lunches for startups. Venture capital's appetite for fundraising isn't very high, forcing startups to consider taking on debt. Here's why it might actually be a good thing for them in the long run.

10. Here's the best, and worst, ways to diet. If you're like most people, you probably set a goal for yourself in the new year to shed a couple pounds. But before you jump on another fad diet, check out what got ranked the healthiest and least-healthiest diets for 2023.

Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email ddefrancesco@insider.com, tweet @dandefrancesco, or connect on LinkedIn. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet @jeffrey_cane) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.