Got a live first round at Bank of America after your HireVue? Here is which offices run one, the format, how to prepare and how fast the superday follows.
Key facts
- Who runs one: San Francisco ran a live first round after the HireVue (Feb 2025), and Los Angeles had one by Feb 9, 2026. New York and Menlo Park went straight from the HireVue to the superday.4,5,6
- Round 1: At most schools the selective HireVue works as the first round and leads straight to the superday. A live round is an extra filter that some school teams and offices add.4,7,9
- Format: Bank of America runs first and second rounds, where it has them, by phone, on-demand video, on campus or at a Bank of America office.1
- When: At some schools, a live interview about a week after the HireVue.9
- Run by: School-specific recruiting teams control their own HireVue invites, extra rounds and superday places. Schools without one go through a central team, with the same stages.9
- Interviewers: NYU's recruiting team runs its live round as a mock superday with one or two interviewers at analyst, associate or VP level, working from a set question list and scoring each conversation.9
- What it asks: Expect paper LBOs, questions that carry tax effects through the three statements, and follow-ups that keep going past your prepared material.9
- Technical screen: A Chicago group sent HireVues and a technical screen in February 2025.4
- Next step: Los Angeles called on Feb 26, 2026 to set superdays for the following week.5
Bank of America uses its interviews to learn about your aspirations, character and values and how they fit its own, and you hear about its products, services, history and mission along the way.2
What the Bank of America interview looks like
Will you have one?
It depends on the office and your school, and most schools go straight from the HireVue to the superday. For summer 2026, San Francisco ran a first round after the HireVue while Menlo Park went straight to the superday, and a New York Industrials applicant went from HireVue to superday. For summer 2027, Los Angeles ran first rounds in February 2026.9,4,6,5
The invite
School-specific recruiting teams decide who moves on and add their own rounds. At some schools the live interview comes about a week after the HireVue. HireVues and superdays both go out in waves, so classmates can hear on different days.9,4,5
On the call
Bank of America runs first and second rounds by phone, on-demand video, on campus or at one of its offices, so check the invite for which. At NYU the school team runs it as a mock superday: one or two interviewers at analyst, associate or VP level work from a set question list, score the conversation and use the scores to fill the school's superday slots.1,9
What to prepare
Prepare as you would for the superday. Expect paper LBOs, tax effects carried through the three statements, and follow-ups that keep going until your answer stops holding, so state your assumptions as you go. Have the fit questions ready too: tell me about yourself, why Bank of America and a time you worked in a team. In Chicago the extra step was a technical screen.9,6,8,4
After it
Pass and the next step is the superday: Los Angeles called on Feb 26, 2026 to set superdays for the following week. Bank of America contacts you by email or through a recruiter, so check your spam folder too.5,1
Before your first round
- Your story in about a minute, plus why Bank of America, why investment banking and why this office.
- Guide-level technicals out loud: the three statements, a DCF, WACC and a simple paper LBO.
- Two or three stories of about two minutes: a team, a hard decision, something you learned fast.
- One deal the office or group worked on that you can explain in two sentences.
- For a phone call: a quiet room, your resume printed in front of you, the phone charged.
- For video: camera at eye level, light in front of you, laptop plugged in.
- Two questions for the interviewer about their own work.
The questions
Where a school team runs a live round, it leans technical: paper LBOs and tax effects through the statements, with deep follow-ups. Prepare your story and motivation too, from what Bank of America says it looks for and what its superdays ask. A Chicago group made its extra step a technical screen.9,2,6,4
- Fit and motivation: Tell me about yourself, why Bank of America, why investment banking, why this office.
- Behavioral: A team you worked in, a difficult decision, something you learned fast.
- Technical: Paper LBOs, tax effects through the three statements, DCF and WACC.
- Deals: A deal on your resume or one the office worked on, explained simply.
Which division question you get
- School recruiting team (NYU)
- A mock superday about a week after the HireVue: one or two interviewers at analyst, associate or VP level, paper LBOs and tax effects through the statements.9
- Investment Banking, San Francisco
- Feb 2025 (summer 2026): a live first round after the HireVue, while Menlo Park went straight to the superday.4
- Investment Banking, Los Angeles
- Feb 2026 (summer 2027): a first round by Feb 9, and superday calls on Feb 26 for the following week.5
- Chicago (GIG)
- Feb 2025 (summer 2026): HireVues and a technical screen.4
- Investment Banking, Industrials, New York
- Mar 2025: HireVue straight to a superday of two 2-on-1, 30-minute interviews.6
- Investment Banking, New York (analyst role)
- Sep 2026: the HireVue was the first round, then a superday of one technical and one behavioral interview.7,8
- Houston, Miami and Palo AltoBest guess
- Expect the office to decide. Ask your recruiting contact whether a live round comes before the superday.
The Houston, Miami and Palo Alto line is our best guess from the office-by-office pattern above.
Using Bank of America's values in your answers
Bank of America names four core values, and its interview process is where it looks at how your character and values line up with its own.3,2
- Deliver together
“We believe in connecting person-to-person with empathy and understanding.”3
Why this office. Show you know the people and clients the office works with.
- Trust the team
“We believe great teams are built on mutual trust, shared ownership and accountability.”3
Teamwork questions. Show what you owned and how the team won.
- Act responsibly
“We are aware that our decisions and actions affect people's lives every day.”3
A difficult decision. Name who it affected and how you weighed that.
The quotes are Bank of America's own. Matching them to questions is Intervyo's advice: use one value as the reason your story matters, rather than reciting the list.
Example questions and how to answer them
Fit and motivation"Tell me about yourself."6,8,10
- 1Open with where you are now: school, major and year, in one line.
- 2Two or three steps that led you to banking, one sentence each on what you did.
- 3Make the link explicit: why each step led to the next.
- 4Close on why Bank of America and this office.
Tip: Asked in a New York Industrials superday (Mar 2025), and the top trending question on Aced's Bank of America summer analyst page. Keep it to about a minute on a live call, and order your resume so the entries you want to talk about come first.
Fit and motivation"Why Bank of America, and why this office?"6,8,9,1
- 1Why the office: the sectors or clients it covers, in one line.
- 2Why Bank of America: something specific, such as a group, a deal or a conversation you had while networking.
- 3Why you: one experience that fits the office's work.
- 4Close on what you want to learn there.
Tip: Why BofA was asked in New York (Mar 2025). Outside New York, the office is the point: each regional office takes its own applications, and you get one office a year.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. I applied to Los Angeles because I want to cover media and consumer companies, and the people I spoke to in the office described small deal teams on exactly those clients. Bank of America in particular because one analyst walked me through how her team advised on a sale where the balance sheet behind the bank mattered to the buyer's financing, and that mix of advice and capital is what I want to learn. My own fit is a summer at a music startup, where I built the revenue forecast for its seed round. In the summer I want to learn to model a full sale process, end to end.
Technical"Walk me through a DCF."6,8,9
- 1Project unlevered free cash flow for five to ten years: EBIT after tax, plus D&A, less capex and the change in working capital.
- 2Find the terminal value, with a perpetuity growth rate or an exit multiple.
- 3Discount both to today at the WACC.
- 4Add them up for enterprise value, then subtract net debt for equity value and divide by shares.
Tip: One of the "typical techs from the guides" in a New York Industrials superday (Mar 2025), and on Aced's list of recent superday questions, with the main drivers. In a first round, aim for a clean two minutes, then expect a follow-up on what moves the answer most.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. A DCF values a company on the cash it will generate. First I project unlevered free cash flow for about five years: EBIT less taxes, plus depreciation and amortization, less capital expenditure and the increase in working capital. Then I estimate a terminal value for everything after year five, either by growing the last year's cash flow at a long-term rate or by applying an exit multiple to EBITDA. I discount the yearly cash flows and the terminal value back to today at the weighted average cost of capital. That sum is enterprise value; subtracting net debt gives equity value, and dividing by diluted shares gives a value per share. The terminal value is usually most of the answer, so the growth rate and the discount rate matter most.
Technical"How do you calculate WACC, and what does it mean to lever and unlever beta?"10
- 1WACC: the cost of equity and the after-tax cost of debt, weighted by their share of the capital structure.
- 2Cost of equity from CAPM: the risk-free rate plus beta times the equity risk premium.
- 3Unlever the beta of each comparable company to strip out its own debt.
- 4Relever the average at your company's target capital structure, then use it in CAPM.
Tip: One of the trending questions on Aced's Bank of America summer analyst page, which does not name the round. Say the formula, then what it means in words.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. WACC is the cost of equity times equity over total capital, plus the cost of debt times one minus the tax rate times debt over total capital. The cost of equity comes from CAPM: the risk-free rate plus beta times the equity risk premium. Beta measures how much a stock moves with the market, and debt makes equity riskier, so comparable companies' betas include their own leverage. To compare them, I unlever each beta, which is levered beta divided by one plus one minus the tax rate times debt over equity. Then I take the median and relever it at my company's target debt to equity, using the same formula in reverse, and that beta goes into CAPM.
Technical"Depreciation goes up by $10. Walk me through the three statements, with a 40% tax rate."9
- 1Income statement: pre-tax income falls by the extra depreciation; net income falls by that amount less the tax saved.
- 2Cash flow statement: start from the lower net income, add back the non-cash depreciation; cash goes up by the tax saved.
- 3Balance sheet: PP&E falls by the depreciation, cash rises by the tax saved, and retained earnings fall by the drop in net income.
- 4Check that it balances: assets and equity both move by the same amount.
Tip: Written by Intervyo in the style of the live school round, which asks questions that carry tax effects through the three statements and then keeps following up. This is the simplest version; expect the next question to build on your numbers.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. On the income statement, pre-tax income falls by $10, and at a 40% tax rate taxes fall by $4, so net income is down $6. On the cash flow statement, net income is down $6, but I add back the $10 of depreciation because it is non-cash, so cash from operations is up $4. On the balance sheet, cash is up $4 and PP&E is down $10, so assets are down $6. On the other side, retained earnings are down $6 because of the lower net income, so both sides fall by $6 and it balances.
Behavioral"Tell me about a time you worked in a team."6,8,3
- 1Situation: the team, the goal and your role, in two sentences.
- 2The difficulty: a disagreement, a deadline or a gap someone left.
- 3What you did yourself. Say "I", not "we".
- 4The result, and what the team did differently because of you.
Tip: Asked with tell me about yourself and why BofA in a New York Industrials superday (Mar 2025). Bank of America names "trust the team" among its values; show shared ownership, not only your part.
More Bank of America interview questions
Fit and motivation
Technical
“Walk me through a paper LBO: entry and exit, the debt paydown and the returns.”9,6,8
The live school round; also a New York Industrials superday topic, Mar 2025
“Accounting and valuation questions from the standard guides.”6,8
Topics, not exact wording
“A technical screen.”4
Chicago, Feb 2025; the questions were not given
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How long to hear back after the interview
Where an office runs a live first round, it sits between the HireVue and the superday, and both of those go out in waves. Bank of America contacts you by email or through a recruiter once a decision is made.4,5,1
Feb 2025 (summer 2026)
Investment banking, US
On Feb 6, one applicant had a phone interview set for the next day.4
Feb 2025 (summer 2026)
Chicago (GIG)
By Feb 11, the group had given out HireVues and a technical screen.4
Feb 2025 (summer 2026)
San Francisco and Menlo Park
On Feb 17, San Francisco was running first rounds, and Menlo Park's superdays were already out.4
Feb 2026 (summer 2027)
Investment banking, Los Angeles
One applicant had a first round by Feb 9 with no news yet. On Feb 26, Los Angeles called to set superdays for the following week.5
Apr 2026 (summer 2027)
Corporate banking, San Francisco
A corporate banking superday invite for San Francisco on Apr 1.5
Notifications from the application system can land in your spam folder, so check it after the call.1
Best guessIf a week passes after a live first round with no news, send your recruiting contact one short, polite email. Superday waves have run from late January into April, so a quiet week is not a rejection on its own.
What happens after the interview
Online application
One office and one division per year, through the campus application system.1
Online assessment (July-cycle programs)
Technology and Quantitative Data Analytics postings say assessments often begin before the deadline, and the fall 2026 Campus Insight Forum ran an online assessment before the video.13,14
HireVue video interview
A selective on-demand video, 30 seconds to prepare and up to three minutes per answer, primarily behavioral. It works as a first round everywhere.1,4
First round (some offices)You are here
This page. A live round that San Francisco and Los Angeles have added after the HireVue; New York and Menlo Park have gone straight to superday.4,5,6
Superday
Final interviews with people from the business you applied to: two to four back-to-back interviews in investment banking, about 30 minutes each.1,4,6,11
Live first round vs superday
The first round is a filter run by your school's recruiting team in some offices. The superday is the final round with people from the business.
Where
Every office and program.1
Format
Phone, video, on campus or at an office.1
Who
Your school's recruiting team decides who moves on; at NYU, one or two interviewers from analyst to VP.9
FAQ
Does Bank of America have a first-round interview?
At most schools the HireVue works as the first round. Some offices and school teams add a live round after it: San Francisco (Feb 2025) and Los Angeles (Feb 2026) have, while New York and Menlo Park have gone straight to the superday.4,5,6,9
Is the Bank of America first round on the phone or on video?
Either. Bank of America runs first and second rounds by phone, on-demand video, on campus or at one of its offices. Check your invite, and prepare a quiet room either way.1
How soon after the HireVue is the first round?
At some schools, about a week after the HireVue. HireVues go out in waves, so the timing depends on yours.9,5
Is the Bank of America first round technical?
Yes, where a school team runs one. Expect paper LBOs and tax effects through the three statements, with follow-ups that keep going. A Chicago group made its extra step a technical screen (Feb 2025).9,4
Who interviews you in the Bank of America first round?
At NYU, one or two interviewers at analyst, associate or VP level, working from a set question list and scoring the conversation to fill the school's superday slots. Other schools' teams set their own format.9
Who decides who gets a first round?
School-specific recruiting teams control their own HireVue invites, extra rounds and superday places. Students at schools without one go through a central team, with the same stages.9
Interview at other firms
Sources
Firm pages first, then dated candidate reports. Last checked Nov 4, 2026.
- 1Bank of America: Application process (US and Canada)
- 2Bank of America: Hiring process
- 3Bank of America: Bank of America's Mission, Vision, and Core Values
- 4Candidate discussion on a public forum: BofA SA IBD 2026 Megathread (Jan to May 2025)
- 5Candidate discussion on a public forum: BofA SA 2027 (Jan to Apr 2026)
- 6Candidate report on a public forum: Investment Banking Summer Analyst interview, Industrials, New York (Mar 2025)
- 7Candidate report on a public forum: Analyst interview, Investment Banking, New York (Sep 2026)
- 8Candidate reports on a public forum: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Interview Questions (listing, page 1, Nov 2026)
- 9Aced: Bank of America Investment Banking (IB) Summer Analyst Interview Guide · prep site
- 10Aced: Bank Of America Investment Banking Summer Analyst Interview Questions · prep site
- 11Extern: Bank of America Internship 2027-2028: Programs, Deadlines & How to Apply · prep site
- 12Candidate report on a public forum: Summer Analyst interview, Investment Banking, New York (Mar 2025)
- 13Bank of America: Quantitative Data Analytics Summer Analyst Program - 2027
- 14Candidate report on a public forum: BofA Campus Insights HireVue (Aug to Oct 2026)
- 15Extern: Investment Banking Internships 2028: When Each Bank Opens · prep site
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