An analyst is typically a back office or middle office role, typically in an investment bank. There is not considered to be a pay differential between analyst and associate positions. Most types of role, e.g. trading, investment banking, investment research will only offer either associate or analyst roles but rarely both.
There is a misconception that the real work in investment banking involves deals, and that pitching to win deals and doing general administrative tasks is just grunt work. This is untrue, as everything you do as an Analyst involves a high degree of grunt work.
On deals, Analysts do a lot of meeting scheduling, note taking, and formatting Excel files and PowerPoint presentations. Although the work involves a lot of administration the subject matter is the core of investment banking.
Many pitches will only take up a few days, and involve administrative tasks such as researching companies and collecting reports for senior bankers.
As a Summer Analyst, you won’t be doing exactly the same work as a full time Analyst, but you will be doing many of the same things. You will spend most of your time supporting full-time Analysts.
During your internship it is important to develop your skills and gain experience that you can discuss in the future, when you are interviewing for full-time Analyst positions. It is important to learn about Excel, in particular as much about modeling and valuation as possible as these are very good topics to talk about in interview. Volunteer as much as possible and try to work in as many areas as possible.
Whatever you do, do not leave the office as early as you can during your internship. If you do this you will be pigeonholed into constantly doing administrative tasks that will not increase your chances of employment.
For more information about investment banking and working as an Analyst visit the WikiJob forums.