Tell Me About a Deal: How Undergrads Answer Without Deal Experience

"Tell me about a deal that interested you" shows up in HireVue, first rounds, and superdays. Undergrads panic because they have never been staffed on a live transaction. Interviewers know that. They are not asking for confidential CIM details. They want proof you follow markets, can explain a transaction in plain English, and have a point of view when the facts get contested.

This is one of the highest-leverage prep items in recruiting because one well-built deal story can carry you through an entire cycle, while a shallow one collapses under the first follow-up.

What a good undergrad answer sounds like

Aim for 90 seconds to 2 minutes on the first pass:

1. What happened (companies, size, cash/stock, announced date)
2. Why it happened (strategic rationale in one sentence)
3. How it was valued / structured (multiple, premium, consideration)
4. Your take (would you do it, what you would diligence, what could go wrong)
5. Optional hook (why it relates to the group you are recruiting for)

If you only recite press-release facts, you sound like Google. The judgment in step 4 is the grade.

A fuller timing map

How to pick a deal

Keep two deals warm: one M&A, and if possible one financing, activism, or restructuring story. If you only have one, make it excellent and current.

Sector strategy by group interest

If you are recruiting healthcare, pick a healthcare deal. Same for TMT, industrials, FIG, consumer. Interviewers notice when your "favorite deal" has nothing to do with the group you claim to love. If you are open on group, pick a simple strategic acquisition with clean disclosures rather than an exotic structure.

Research checklist (build a one-page deal sheet)

Before interviews, write one page, then compress it to memory:

Facts

• Buyer, target, announce date, expected close if known
• Enterprise value / equity value if disclosed
• Premium to unaffected price (1-day and/or 30-day if available)
• Cash vs stock vs mix
• Financing (new debt, cash on hand) if disclosed
• Stated synergies and timing
• Multiple paid (EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, P/E) if available

Context

• Buyer strategy over the last few years (bolt-on machine? new adjacency?)
• Target competitive position in one sentence
• Recent comps or precedents you can cite roughly
• Regulatory angle if any (antitrust, CFIUS, etc.)

Your view

• Bull case (3 bullets)
• Bear case (3 bullets)
• Decision: do the deal or pass
• Price sensitivity: still yes if premium 5 points higher? still no if synergies cut in half?

Sources that are fine for undergrads: company 8-K, investor presentation, reputable deal press, earnings transcripts for color. Do not pretend you saw the banker model. Do not invent synergy numbers that were never disclosed.

Sample skeleton (customize hard)

"I have been following [Buyer]'s acquisition of [Target], announced in [month]. It was roughly a $X billion deal, mostly [cash/stock], at about a Y% premium. Strategically it gives [Buyer] [product / geography / capability] they did not want to build organically on the same timeline. On valuation they paid about Zx EBITDA, which sits [above/in line/below] recent transactions I looked at in the space. The part I would diligence hardest is [customer overlap / integration / regulation / margin bridge / customer concentration], because the thesis depends on [assumption]. I would still do the deal at that price if [condition], but I would get more cautious if [synergies slipped / multiple paid moved up / financing markets worsened]."

That structure works even if your only experience is reading the 8-K carefully.

Worked mini-example of how deep to go (illustrative pattern)

You do not need this exact deal. You need this depth pattern:

• Setup: "Strategic buyer acquires a smaller niche software/data company for $2.1bn, 70% cash / 30% stock, 28% premium."
• Strategy: "Buys a distribution channel and data asset that would take years to build."
• Valuation: "About 15x forward revenue / or Xx EBITDA if profitable; premium looks rich vs trading comps but closer to precedent takeouts in the niche."
• Diligence: "Retention of top customers post-close, salesforce overlap, and whether cost synergies require cutting the product team that makes the asset valuable."
• Decision: "Yes at announced terms if retention covenants and integration plan protect ARR; no if the premium assumes revenue synergies that management cannot operationalize in 18 months."

The point is specificity. Replace every bracket with something falsifiable.

Follow-ups they will ask

"What multiple did they pay?"
Have a number or explain how you estimated it. "I do not remember" kills credibility.

"Would you invest / would you advise yes?"
Pick a side. Fence-sitting sounds unprepared. You can be conditional ("yes at this price, no at a 10% higher premium").

"What are the risks?"
Name two real ones. Integration, customer concentration, multiple paid vs growth, financing markets, regulatory clearance, key person risk, culture clash.

"What are the synergies?"
Separate cost vs revenue synergies. Say timing. Say what you do not believe.

"How would you value the target standalone?"
Bridge back to comps/DCF/precedents briefly. This is where your valuation interview prep pays off.

"How does this relate to our group?"
Make the link explicit in one sentence.

"What would you ask management in the first diligence call?"
Prepare three questions. Examples: customer cohort retention, pricing power, integration roadmap for overlapping products, working capital seasonality, quality of earnings issues.

If you interned but only did pitches

You can talk about a live deal or pitch your group worked, but be honest about your role:

• Good: "I supported the comps and kept the process tracker current."
• Bad: inventing that you led valuation for the committee

Then add your investor view of the economics so it does not become a task list.

For PE interviews later, this honesty still works. Funds hate fabricated ownership. They like clear thinking about risk and price.

Common failure modes

A weekly system that keeps you ready

Monday: skim announced deals in your target sector
Wednesday: update one deal sheet (facts + view)
Friday: record a 90-second summary once
Sunday: stress-test: argue the opposite of your view for two minutes

During heavy interview weeks, do not add new deals. Deepen the one you are already telling.

How modeling practice makes deal talk better

If you have built an accretion case, you can speak intelligently about cash vs stock and EPS impact. If you have built comps, you can contextualize the multiple. If you have built a DCF, you can talk about what assumptions a rich premium embeds.

That is why deal discussion is not separate from technical prep. The story is the verbal layer on top of the same skills.

Practice on SheetRank

Use a Harborview-style M&A case to get fluent in accretion, consideration, and pro forma thinking. Then pick a live announced deal and write your sheet using the same vocabulary. The interview answer should feel like summarizing work you understand, not performing a memorized article recap.