Should I accept my offer? Is it bad to intern in Asia?
Hello WSO community and thanks in advance for reading my post!
I'm a sophomore at an Ivy Target looking to break into IBD. Recently, I received a fully-funded fellowship to intern at a well-known American Capital raising/placement agent with a branch in Shanghai. I was interested in the role because it is very transaction and intermediary focussed, and the company acts as sort of an investment bank in the PE world. However, the internship is situated in Shanghai.
Given that I am Asian but was not born in China, is it bad for me to take this internship for sophomore summer? Do BBs really dilute the value/prestige of an internship done abroad?
At this point I have accepted my offer, but am interviewing for better/comparable offers in NYC. In the case that I will have to work for a very small PE shop (NYC) instead, should I take it over the placement agent?
Thanks so much and sorry for the barrage of questions! I am honestly just a little lost as to what I should do.
I interned in Asia and loved it. Admittedly, it was tough to get a FT offer here, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.
Being thrown out of your comfort zone at 20 is amazing, and plus, it looks great that you took a gamble and did something a little differently.
I say go for it.
zerojb34 Thanks for the reply! I am glad to hear that you had a great experience working in Asia. I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit on what made Junior SA recruiting more tough? Because one thing that concerns me is that as a female candidate, diversity recruiting is probably my best shot at IBD and I feel like I should stay in NYC and network my butt off during the summer.
Sorry - just briefly skimmed your post.
If this is sophomore year this is an easy decision. Go to Asia.
Ivy_Student, I think you're being short-sighted. I would definitely do this internship and forget about working for some tiny PE shop in NY.
Sophomore internships largely only serve one purpose: to check the "this kid is serious box". This is especially true since you're already at an Ivy League target school. So, as long as your GPA is high and you network, where you actually intern as a sophomore is not as important as you think (for junior SA purposes).
That being said, the reason you should accept this internship is because of how much personal growth it can offer. While you might not be studying abroad and will probably spend most of the time in the office, this is a great opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture and forge some friendships that will last past your internship. There are dozens of "should I study abroad" threads on WSO if you're doubting me.
Also, for simple job-hunting purposes, this gives you another arrow in your quiver for connecting with an interviewer. If you put together a Venn diagram of bankers who either studied abroad or were born in another country, many would be in the middle. Worst case scenario, you hate the internship, hate China, but at least can have a conversation about working abroad with an interviewer.
Again, don't forget to network and keep your GPA as high as possible.
Hi Sil,
Thanks so much for the great insight! I couldn't agree more - I was really happy to receive my offer with the company (and know that I will learn a lot about the transactional process), but began doubting myself as upperclassmen friends told me that it may be a better idea to decline the offer and work at a smaller shop in NYC (I also go to school in the city), since working in Asia will make me seem like a "fob." For family reasons, I have tried to stay in Shanghai over the summers as often as possible, so last summer I also worked in corporate strategy at a F500 company through a fellowship as well. I am just a bit worried that my experiences will make it seem like I am unsuitable for work culture in New York.
Additionally, diversity recruiting takes place during the summer and if I do decide to go to Shanghai, I guess I will have to network very, very hard before leaving. I really don't want my excitement to work in Shanghai for this summer to overshadow some more practical aspects for SA recruiting, since that is my ultimate goal.
I know I am second-guessing myself way too much, but I've just been hearing so many different opinions and I am honestly in a limbo.
You could always try to get an internship during the fall semester when you return if you're worried about the "FOB" appearance. That being said, I don't think interning in Shanghai as an Asian makes you look bad.
Congrats on your offer. I wouldnt say its bad. There are some places that fall in prestige (just like how in US, some random Midwestern city is not great) but shanghai isnt one of them . Shanghai is very respectable.
Hi SirSmeagol,
Thanks so much for your reply! Shanghai is an amazing city, I really love it :)
As a counter argument, I would rather get really good experience and understanding of transactions and valuation in a podunk city than get really meaningless experience in Shanghai.
Hi Charizard,
Thank you for your insight and I definitely agree with your sentiments. The aspect that is drawing me to the Shanghai internship is that it is focussed on capital markets and is very transactional-based/client-facing, which I think would be great for me to talk about in an IBD interview. But again, the fact that I am Asian (though Canadian-born) and doing internships in China seems to be a red flag to HR - I am wondering if I could get past this barrier through networking and weaving a good story/rationale that will convince them that I want to stay in the States long-term.
I would look for a boutique IB / PE internship in a U.S. city. That is better. The hesitancy around Asian candidates is that sometimes they literally try to transfer to Asian offices at the first opportunity.
Since you mentioned you're Canadian - do you also have US citizenship? I was recently in a similar situation (Canadian attending US target) - one thing to consider is that if you intern in the U.S. this year, you'd use your CPT time this summer, rather than saving it for next summer. Doing that is manageable if you're planning on going to a BB for SA then FT, but it's definitely something to consider.
Also, if I were an Asian candidate, I wouldn't do an internship in Asia. It weakens your own candidacy by calling into question whether you want to stay in the US long term. A PE job in NYC would be much much better.
fully agreed - lots of respect for Sil, but I think he's wrong here. If you have a very Asian profile, you definitely don't want to check the fob box. That said, a FT career in Asia banking is really solid, and having lived in HK, is a lot of fun too.
Hi PE_Reaper,
Thanks for your reply! What does a "very Asian" profile entail? I have never attended school in Asia.
if you intern in your home country, ppl might see it as you not being able to hack it in the US
Your name and academic slash internship experience
I agree that the "very Asian" profile can be an issue. I ran recruiting at a semi-target for a BB at a school with a huge Chinese population. A major issue we had was that a lot of the FOB Chinese students could barely speak English. They had stellar resumes, but they couldn't make it through the interviews. It was unfortunate because we'd have ~24 slots for on-campus interviews, and we'd inevitably get 4-5 kids who didn't possess the necessary language skills. That said, on name/resume alone you can't determine who grew up in Chicago versus China.
It creates a hard situation in resume reviews because we wanted to see the best qualified candidates, but you don't necessarily know who is a native or proficient English speaker and who isn't based on a resume. For candidates on the margin the student that had too many Asia-related resume topics might get cut due to uncertainty around language skills if a similar candidate was available with local market experience.
This can all be avoided through networking for the individual candidate, but when you are reviewing hundreds of resumes for on-campus recruiting you inevitably won't have met most of the students so all you've got is what is on the resume.
Interned in Asia as well, great experience, but I remember many networking calls at 1am. It was an unforgettable experience in terms of culture
Hi BullsBearsHighsLows,
Thanks for your reply and glad to hear you had a great experience. If I could ask, did you intern in your sophomore summer?
No I actually did it my junior year, I had no idea I wanted to investment banking, my internship was finance related, but no IB
The concern of being a FOB will be completely mitigated if you network with the BBs correctly prior to Junior SA recruiting. If you are relying on getting an IB offer from a resume drop alone where you are only evaluated based on one piece of paper (and the FOB conclusion one may/may not draw), you are not going to make it.
You have the opportunity to work in one of the coolest cities in the world (and from your description have a meaningful experience) in your early 20s while growing personally and learning about an amazingly interesting country / culture. You would be an absolute clown to not take this internship.
The idea that people are debating this is irking me. If you have a check-the-box resume for IB (which it seems like you do = Ivy + good GPA) the only thing that matters to break-in is networking well and then crushing the interviews. Do you think someone is more interesting having done a summer in some sweatshop tiny PE shop in NYC or a kid who went to Shanghai and lived it up + gained a solid work experience? No-brainer.
God forbid you actually enjoy the internship/city enough to debate taking an offer post-grad...
Hi!
I definitely agree. I've talked to some more people from my school who've worked in Asia during the summer, and the problem they saw wasn't that they were "fobs" but rather that they had a lot of issues with networking (firewall, internet connectivity, international calls) etc. That is what's worrying me the most right now when I'm looking at the big picture unfortunately.
Really, that is what is worrying you about taking this offer? There are at least five solutions to that problem I thought of within 30 seconds of reading it.
It seems like you posted this question wanting people to convince you not to go. It makes sense if you are nervous to head to another country by yourself for a summer, but don't let self-doubt hold you back. You will survive and the amount of confidence you will gain will be incredible. Not to mention this sounds like a strong internship and not some BS.
By the way, who are these people from your school? Are they close friends who have your best interest in mind? Do they now work in IB in the group you want to be in? It sounds like their advice is completely misguided and you have taken it as gospel.
Issues with International calls is the reason to not take it...c'mon you have to be kidding.
Here's an idea - try to do both. I don't know how long your summer break is, but you could try to do 2 internships, and maybe take off from school as soon as you get your last final done. It's possible to, say, do 2 8-week internships or so. You have an amazing chance to get international experience and present yourself favorably to an employer. Why not take it and go to SH? If you have concerns you're missing out on US opportunities, try to get a second summer internship, or an academic-year internship. But don't miss out on the chance to go to China and experience something new.
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