How competitive are IB Sophomore SA internships?
I'm an incoming freshman heading to Wharton this fall. I'm genuinely curious about the recruitment process for IB freshman and sophomore summer internships, especially the sophomore ones. I've seen on linkedin people from my school (class of 2026) that have already landed 2024 IB sophomore internships at BBs. I'm guessing recruiting takes place at the end of first semester freshman year, so how would a decent resume look like? I have no idea as to how competitve these programs are. I'm planning on joining a handful of finance-related clubs when arriving on campus but is this enough? I guess some people have finance internships the summer before college starts, but I live in South America and here it's not customary at all for companies to hire students who are 2-3 years into college let alone who just finished high school.
The short answer is very competitive. You have a big advantage being at great school, so expect a lot of on-campus recruiting. Recruiting for SA takes place late Feb - early April of the year before. You should be trying to make coffee chats soon to build relationships before recruiting starts. It generally takes 2-4 months to be solid on the technicals required for interviews, depending on the intensity and efficiency you study at. Wharton can place at any firm, just a matter of luck and preparation.
Decent resume is 3.75 + GPA (3.5 absolutely minimum), a few finance clubs and orgs, and hopefully some other experience from a finance-adjacent internship in Freshman summer/ concurrent with school. Consider joining SEO/MLT/BLK if you are eligible. Don't sleep on the importance of people skills + interest/hobbies on the resume, this will split the decision between you and someone else at a superday. If you know what group you want to join, could be worth creating or joining an tech/ energy/ healthcare club for the optics.
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