Investment Banking Summer Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Morgan Stanley with 3.7 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 62% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Common stages of the interview process at Morgan Stanley as a Investment Banking Summer Associate according to 3 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 29%
Personality test: 14%
IQ intelligence test: 14%
Phone interview: 14%
Skills test: 14%
Background check: 14%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
Met MS at a campus info session, had 1 coffee chat with associate, 2 technical interviews with associates and EDs, one super day with office head, MDs, VPs, and associates.
I applied through college or university. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Morgan Stanley (London, England) in Feb 2026
Interview
Coffee Chats with as many associates as possible
2 x 30 Minute VP & Associate interviews (Behavioral + Technical)
2 x 30 Minute MD & Head (Behavioral + Technical)
Overall a pleasant process
3 hours in total. 30 mins each, back to back with no break in between
4 MDs chat, each 30 mins.
1 cognitive test.
1 writing test.
You will begin by taking the cognitive test, which is the same as you took prior to Round 1 interview. Not really sure why they were asking us to redo,
Then, you will be chatting with 4 MDs.
At the end, it's a writing test. You are given a basic financial and business information and ask to write a executive summary
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. what tech industry trend you are following?
2. if I let you meet 2 CEOs this summer, your goals are to pitch them your ideas to win deals, who are you meeting with? what are you pitching them about?
3. a company with $100m EBIT and NI is also $100m. is it possible? why?
4. what financial line item most describes you?
5. deal pitch, basically what deals you are following
Multiple coffee chats before a first round then second round interview. Second round was with two different MDs in their New York HQ. Overall a very organized process despite the difficulty.