Investment Banking - Life as an Analyst.

From the link: http://www.careers-in-finance.com/ibanalyst.htm

(Please read the full article from the original link above - this is only an excerpt)
Analysts are typically recent undergraduates who work long hours and do a fair bit of grunt work. A good analyst helps his or her boss get their job done and done well. Analysts are not normally expected to contribute in meetings but often can. After the typical two-year analyst program at a major investment bank, many analysts return to school for an MBA before coming back to investment banking. Others choose to try other opportunities. During recruiting out of an MBA program, former analysts will be at a significant advantage over others without experience.

Key analyst skills include:

the ability to work with Excel spreadsheets

write macros in VBA

track and generate weekly newsletters (weeklies)

keep schedules

generate prospectuses

get burgers

put in and retrieve pitch books from the copy center

and answer client phone calls.

Read the full article from the like above for details. Those with MBAs, those who know their Finance course material and those who are specialized in Finance MBA get better treatment and better offers.