Still trying to find internship in ER - Should I network with associates or analysts?

Ok, unfortunately I am an idiot and am still looking for an internship for this summer. Things are looking just a bit grim but I have a big spring break week planned, during which I have set up/am setting up some informational interviews with professionals at the firms I am looking at. The goal this summer is to find a gig at a boutique ER firm. I would also be fine interning with a boutique IB or a small HF.

I know it can be valuable to network at all levels of seniority in IB, but with the different hierarchy/hiring structure in ER is there any point in networking with freshly graduated associates. I have set up/am setting up several informational interviews with people in the industry in a large financial hub in the south and I wasn't sure if associates had any pull in terms of their teams taking on interns. Even if I connect with the teams associate, there is no formal internship program so its not like he can help me by just passing my name on to HR.

So the question is, focus on networking/getting informational interviews with the analysts only... who I assume are the ones who decide if their team takes on an intern, or spread my net as wide as possible and disregard position and go for associates?

So far most of my contacts are associates, as these have been the only alumni I have found. If the Consensus answer is that associates have no pull in taking on interns, should I try to ask for a referral to his analyst somehow. How would that work?

One last (less important) question: if there are alumni with non-research roles (at small 5-15 man, tight-knit shops) should I ask them for referrals to their research guys, or just go straight for asking for informational interviews with the non-alum research guys directly?

Thanks for all responses, SB to anyone who helps... (especially with the "analyst or associate" question).