Best Internships to increase chances of landing a job on Wall Street?

Hi.

I'm not quite sure whether I am using this site right, as I'm not certain if its supposed to be used as a medium to ask questions. Therefore, I apologize in advance if this does not fit the idea of the site at all. I'm currently a freshman in university at Western University in Ontario, Canada. We don't really have Ivy league schools here, however the Ivey School of Business which I will be attending, is supposed to have a great reputation, but nothing compared to Harvard or Yale. So, considering that I don't have that Ivy league education, I was curious as to what internships would increase my chances of landing a job on Wall Street for Investment Banking? Do they look for diversity of experience ( Internships with oil companies, banks, etc ) , or would they prefer experience directly related to the field of purely banking/ investment banking? I would have to get my first internship in Calgary, AB my home town, as I currently don't have the money to stay in Toronto for the summer. So, in sum, would it be beneficial to get an internship that is purely in a financial setting ( Calgary Stock Exchange) or try for an internship with various oil companies as this is what Calgary is known for ?
It's always been my dream to move to New York and work on Wall Street and I want to do anything I can to get the competitive edge. Thanks (:

 
Best Response

Hi, I'm just a freshman as well, but based on what I've read on WSO, it seems that it is generally better to find experience directly related to finance. In the summer after first year of university, I understand that many students find work in private wealth management, with a few landing internships at boutique investment banks.

With that said, freshman finance internships are pretty rare, and I don't think it would be bad to work in another area of business or a different field altogether -- in fact, doing something like studying abroad or working for an oil company might help differentiate you down the road. I think if you do something productive (and cool) you will probably be ahead of a fair number of your competitors.

On a side note, with Ivey's 2+2 structure, it is even harder to find internships in first and second year -- I know of several Ivey grads who got internships (and full-time offers) at great firms on Wall Street without any prior finance internships.

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