Went through the Morgan Stanley onsite last quarter for a senior SWE role (think VP-equivalent on their internal ladder). This was a full virtual "onsite" meaning a full day of back-to-back video calls. Here's the breakdown so you know what you're walking into.
Schedule I had: 9:00am: Technical coding round 1 (45 min, one interviewer, one medium DSA problem with discussion) 10:00am: Technical coding round 2 (45 min, different interviewer, algorithm + complexity discussion) 11:00am: System design (60 min, principal engineer, financial systems focus) 12:00pm: Break 1:00pm: Behavioral (30 min, hiring manager) 1:45pm: Behavioral + culture (30 min, peer from adjacent team) 2:30pm: Done
Total: about 5 hours including the break.
Pacing notes:
The two coding rounds were both medium difficulty. They're not trying to stump you, they're confirming you can actually code. One was on a shared IDE (CoderPad), one was on a whiteboard tool I hadn't seen before. Worth asking ahead of time what tool they use so you can practice in it.
System design was the hardest round and took the most prep. See other posts in this thread for what to expect there.
The behavioral with the hiring manager felt like a real conversation. He was clearly trying to figure out if he'd want to work with me, not just running through a checklist. The second behavioral was more structured.
Wait time after onsite: I waited 10 business days before hearing back. That felt long but apparently is normal. The recruiter confirmed they do panel debriefs and it takes time to align hiring committees.
Offer letter timing: Once they gave verbal offer, written offer took 4 more days. Reasonable.
Overall the process felt more organized than some FAANG loops I've done. Each interviewer had a clearly defined scope and didn't step on each other's toes.