Identify the team and its mandate
JPMorganChase's corporate-banking internship describes work with corporate bankers and product partners supporting clients. Ares' careers material separately identifies credit and other investment and corporate functions. Neither source makes every internship at those firms a credit-underwriting role.
For a private-credit search, inspect the strategy and team: direct lending, asset-based finance and other credit approaches need not involve the same work. For corporate banking, inspect how the role combines borrower analysis, client coverage and product collaboration. Avoid confusing corporate banking with investment banking or private banking simply because the employer offers all three.
Compare the questions you would practice
Use this original comparison to choose a work sample. It is not a universal description of either industry and does not imply that an intern makes final lending or investment decisions. In both settings, the exact documents, authority and review process depend on the team.
| Lens | Question | Useful evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Borrower resilience | Can the borrower meet obligations under a weaker operating scenario? | Cash-flow assumptions, debt schedule and sensitivity |
| Investment or lending structure | What terms and protections matter to the risk? | Clearly defined terms and unresolved diligence questions |
| Client relationship | Which financing or other product addresses the client’s needs? | Business context and a reasoned comparison of alternatives |
| Monitoring | What change would require further investigation? | A consistent reporting measure and exception log |
Work a ratio, then explain its limitations
A fictional borrower has $6 million of cash available for debt service under a stated definition and $4 million of scheduled debt service. The ratio is 1.50 times. In a downside scenario, available cash falls to $4.2 million while debt service remains $4 million, producing 1.05 times.
These figures do not establish that the loan is acceptable. Ask how cash available is defined, whether the schedule includes all required payments, whether interest can change, and what liquidity is available when payments fall due. Annual totals can conceal a shortfall within the year.
Do not substitute EBITDA for cash without explaining the definition and omitted items. Do not treat a ratio threshold from a hypothetical exercise as a universal covenant. A covenant uses the actual agreement's definitions and terms. This is arithmetic practice, not an investment recommendation.
Write a two-sided credit memo
Give the fictional borrower a short business description, state the base and downside assumptions, and list the evidence still required. Include why the business might perform better as well as why it might miss the plan. A memo that only repeats risks is incomplete, but a memo that dismisses them with a growth story is equally weak.
Separate the operating forecast from the financing assumptions. If you change sales, costs, interest and working capital simultaneously, show which changes drive the result. Include a sources-and-assumptions table so the reader does not mistake a modeling choice for a verified fact.
Data and worked inputs
Match the project to a real opening
Search the exact strategy or corporate-banking program and retain the requisition, location, term and degree requirements. A general careers page may link to full-time and internship roles together. Use the employer's classification rather than assuming every early-career opportunity is a summer internship.
Ares describes its summer internship as a paid ten-week program, but that does not supply a numeric pay rate or guarantee a particular group assignment for a reader. Ask about the actual role rather than borrowing compensation or eligibility from another team.
For interview preparation, be ready to reconcile your numbers and explain what you do not know. A clear downside model with honest assumptions is stronger evidence than an unsupported claim that a borrower is safe.
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