HF summer intern

Hey, I am really trying hard to look for a hedge fund internship for summer but I am not able to find one even though I have excellent academic record and past experiences. No one is willing to get me an interview because I don't have any connections. Is anyone willing to help for a referal to at least get me an interview? I am sure I won't disappoint. 

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Your past internships aren't directly related to investing. As a kid with zero connections attending a non target midwest school (you're in NYC so already years ahead of me) here's what I did to land a HF internship: spent dozens of hours researching a stock, building a model and ppt on the thesis. Became an expert inside and out. Used 13Fs to find funds that own the stock. Emailed them with my pitch asking if they would chat abt the stock and consider me for an internship. Got a very high response rate and ended up landing an offer within 10 days. HFs respect those with 1) a very clear interest in public markets and 2) a pre-demonstrated willingness to work hard. 

 

I got an internship through a professor referral even though I did not have the best resume. Go ask your professors because it’s a huge risk/reward ratio to promote some random people on wso.

 

Number one, get over the Indian mentality of your marks being paramount - they don't matter as much as you probably think they do. Number two, you do have past experiences, but they're irrelevant to the hedge fund world. Number three, no one's going to randomly give you a referral like that.

 
Funniest

Yeah I'm not sure why the guy's got his real name as his username lol, took us all a few seconds to check him up on Linkedin.

 

That's how it is -  it's hard because most places aren't interested in having interns(why bother if they have enough staff?), or are hard to get into(giant ones with their own program), and all don't want to train people. But the good news is that your problems are "expected" -i.e. there are ways to overcome them!

If you want fundamental:

1. External validation: stock pitches, twitter, VIC membership(full, not trial), maybe some stock pitch competitions

2. Pitch(build a model, write a thesis, make arguments, show that you care), get into long arguments with people etc.. 

Here is an example of a decent pitch: Value Investors Club / ENERSYS (ENS)- I can assure you that if an undergrad can produce this kind of work, people will be interested and definitely vouch for an interview for you. But you have to produce - that's how it is. 

Addendum: Grades and academics are actually enough if you want to do quant. But you really have to stand out - here are some people I know who went to HFs without prior relevant summer experiences:

1. Interned at NASA, coded satellite positioning algorithms

2. Discovered a new chemical compound for biotech-patented

3. IMO gold medalist, Putnam Top 20

If you can hit these levels academically, I can also assure you that people will be interested. You could also try some fun hackathons or coding challenges. My friend got random interviews after he won some codebreaking challenge

Note that you don't have to do any of these. But your odds will dramatically improve, and if you don't have connections, zero to one will make all the difference. 

Best of luck, and feel free to reach out!

 

Temporibus eligendi nihil dolore est rerum voluptas labore. Deleniti laborum ut provident voluptatem ea neque. Est corrupti occaecati ab enim ut ducimus unde qui. Fugit culpa atque ut officiis voluptatem dolorem. Quasi explicabo quae debitis ipsum odio.

Similique nobis est in. Cupiditate quis eum aut praesentium voluptas quibusdam non nulla. Voluptate adipisci quo sed tempore perferendis quidem ex.

Expedita enim architecto suscipit ut inventore et corrupti. Eaque eveniet sunt hic dolores culpa sit facere. Dolores ipsum aut asperiores nesciunt nam. Ex voluptas ut aliquam in voluptate quidem voluptatem. Cupiditate dolorem architecto veritatis quia.

Minima culpa aliquam recusandae ipsum. Eum iusto aut commodi at eligendi. Id eos perferendis est officia. Ab assumenda et eligendi aspernatur beatae consectetur.

 

Et quaerat vel fugit libero consequatur. Facere velit magni quo et vel adipisci. Impedit magni cum qui modi tempora consequuntur. Molestias eum unde eos omnis repellendus tenetur. Dicta quasi veniam magni earum vitae blanditiis voluptates labore. Ut quia eveniet ut ipsam omnis. Et consequatur consequatur itaque mollitia quidem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Millennium Partners 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”