A day in the life of an investment banking research analyst intern

The following is an outline in the day in the life of Ammon Baldomero, an investment banking intern at InvestmentBank.com. His experience as an intern is non-traditional. Just like many of today’s jobs that allow for remote and flexible work schedules, internships are also following suit. Ammon works part-time on analyst, research, reporting and writing projects while maintaining a hefty school schedule.

As a student, days filled with work, networking, homework, internships, and social life entirely depend on class schedule. For example my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays encompass completely different tasks compared to Tuesdays and Thursdays; on those three days I have no class and therefore dedicate more time to work, internships, and school work. On a Tuesday or Thursday, classes begin 8 AM and end 3:15 PM with half an hour breaks scattered throughout the day then late afternoon through evening are usually dedicated to networking, club meetings, and more school work. To be more specific, following is a run through this past Monday, February 22, and Tuesday, February 23.

Monday: 6:50 AM, wake up, get ready for the day, and get out the door by 7:15 AM. 7:25 AM, arrive at the library. Respond to emails, brief through the main articles on WSJ, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and check the latest soccer news and highlights on ESPN FC. 8:00 AM, begin Finite Math assignments 4.3 and 5.1 early because later in the week I have a religion exam. 10:00 AM, catch bus 830 to work in Orem at Sergio Centro Latino, specializing in tax, payroll, and wealth management for Latino clientele.  10:43 AM, arrive at work, input information from forms W-2, W-4, 1040, 1098, 1099, various expenses, and verify dependents of over 15 clients. During my 20 minute break, eat a granola bar from the jar in the break room, read a little on DealBook about current M&A deals. 4:00 PM, leave work, catch the bus back to campus. 4:30 PM, conduct an informational interview call with a fellow high school alumni working for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Honolulu. 5 PM, meet with five other team members for an internship underwriting properties for Peak Capital Partners, Utah real estate developer. 6:15 PM, conduct another in person informational interview with a junior heading to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment Group in New York. 7 PM, head to a group Church activity right across the street from campus. We made root beer floats and watched Mulan to celebrate the Chinese New Year. 8:45 PM, head back to the library, finish the Finite Math assignments started in the morning, study the role of pricing in marketing products and services then finish the ten question topic quiz. 11:35 PM, head home, eat dinner, read, and catch up with roommates. 12:35 PM, go to sleep.                        

Tuesday/Thursday: the day begins again at 6:50 AM, wake up, get ready for the day, and get out the door by 7:15 AM. 7:25 AM, arrive at the library. Respond to emails, brief through the main articles on WSJ, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and check the latest soccer news and highlights on ESPN FC. 8:00 AM, learn how to compute the costs of equity and debt then aggregate them to find the WACC of a company or project. 9:15 AM, go back to the library to work on finite math homework touching calculating the least squares line in given data points. 10:00 AM, take detailed notes in religion class about prophets in the Book of Mormon. 11:00 AM, conduct an informational interview with a junior heading to real estate firm, Hines Interests Limited Partnership, in Houston to learn about the different types of real estate markets in the United States. 12:30 PM, head to marketing class covering methods of marketing intangible services. 2:00 PM, attend the last class of the day, Finite Math, how to solve linear systems using the echelon method is taught. 3:15 PM, take the elevator up to the "Quiet Zone" of the library to take the ten question quiz on calculating the cost of debt, internal and external equity, and WACC. 6:15, conduct an informational interview with an Investment Banking incoming Summer Analyst headed to Wells Fargo's Leverage Finance and M&A Group in New York City. 7 PM, participate in a Investment Banking Club Underclassmen Academy 15 minute mock interviews covering my "story," high-level technicals, why banking, and resume. 8 PM, meet with my five member team responsible for launching the LunchBox app, a platform for University clubs and local restaurants to promote themselves through free food offerings, at Utah Valley University in Orem. 9 PM, return to the library to complete more homework. 11:35 PM, head home, eat dinner, read, and catch up with roommates. 12:35 PM, go to sleep.

Everyday varies but the general schedule is the same depending on whether it’s a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday. Most activities, where most my time is dedicated, are directed towards the furthering of my career ambitions in investment banking and private equity. That is not to say I know or can do a lot in the respective fields, however it gives my life direction, organization, and structure.