Banking in the Southeast

[nancyagd86]

Banking is its own animal--the best way to get ahead is to leave and come back to the position that you wanted, so start somewhere (any internship in Wealth Mgt should be noted).
It doesn't really matter as long as it's a regional or super-regional bank, even if the one you are with doesn't have a presence in the city/area where you'd like to end up. If this is a confirmed internship, stick with it. They are definitely not a dime a dozen, so don't throw it away! Other opportunities will come from it, and you might find that you interview later with Sun, Regions, BofA, Wachovia, other, larger institutions may offer you a better position because you worked elsewhere and have exposure to various products (account types) and computer systems.
Raymond James is a brokerage house, and a very respected one at that. Same situation: just because you are with one company today doesn't mean that your experience won't buy you a better salary later.
Brokerage firms will offer you more chance to actually use your knowledge outside of the finance realm through the research departments. Banks don't have a lot of research opportunities--those are typically purchased from a vendor (other brokerage house, proprietary research firm, etc).
Short version: hang on to the internship unless something much more glamorous comes along. M&I is a good, solid bank (manager I used to work for is now one of their local execs in Orlando area & is very happy). It would be recognized in banking and financial circles wherever you land.