As A Soon-To-Be College Freshman, What Should I Do This Fall?
For context, I am a straight asian male attending a non-target/very low semi-target state school in the midwest. I understand that good grades are a given, but what should I do to secure a freshman year internship? With how competitive this field has gotten and how early recruiting starts, I feel a freshman year internship is something I have to do given my background. What internships should I target if I want to eventually get into IB? Should I go for unpaid internships at small 10-man boutiques in NYC? How can I prepare myself so I can maybe add some value (although I have heard that summer interns are a net drain on resources)? Should I target boutique AM roles instead? What should I be doing this fall/next spring to be successful? Also I don't want to sit around at home, I want to learn. I was going to go all WSO-Hardo this year and try to get a post HS senior year internship, but I wanted to kick back and relax this summer before the real work started.
Honestly man freshman internships don’t matter as much as you think. Get good grades, start a LinkedIn, join useful student organizations so you can get more exposure to the industry as well as network, talk to as many people as you can.
Tbh I don’t even think banks let freshman intern so your best bet Imo is getting a financial analyst type of internship (if possible) to have something on your resume for sophomore year IB recruiting. That can help you get interviews and have experience to talk about during them.
If not, attend webinars at banks (please do not brag about them/post on LinkedIn about it). Learn as much as you can, join little programs like GS insight series to get your resume down and just do as much research about the industry as possible.
It’s great that you have an idea of what you want to do so early, but by no means is freshman summer going to hurt you if you don’t get a super official internship, anything helps (most people only get one junior year).
Cheers and best of luck friend
Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! Would it be possible to get a middle office credit-risk type role at a bank like BNP-Paribas/Mizuho/Nomura after my freshman year? I have already started a linkedin and am researching the various student orgs for finance that my school has to offer (thankfully this school has a lot), so I think I am fine in those parts for now.
I’m unfamiliar with that position but as long as you sit in the graduation range of the job posting it wouldn’t hurt to apply
It's going to be HIGHLY unlikely that you can get an internship at any name-brand shop as a Freshman. The recruiting is just too regularized with specific candidate criteria (like sophomore/junior status as a basic) as well as recruiting pipelines. Maybe there's exceptions, but I haven't seen a freshman get an internship at a large firm like that.
What's much more common is a less-formal internship. Doing something like cold-outreach to all the local investment management/financial planning shops to see if they'd let you shadow or want any intern research gigs. Or if you have family friends in any areas of finance. As a REALLY long shot, maybe a boutique investment bank would take a freshman, but I'd be shocked. I've heard of freshman shadowing or doing light work at small private equity shops though, which would be fantastic experience for a resume gearing towards banking. Basically, get any experience on your resume that you can, but odds are it'll have to be something super informal/low-key, but that's okay. Hell, I couldn't land a freshman internship, but I did S&T at a shit tier shop sophomore year, then got a BB IB internship coming up now... So this is all stuff to get you ahead of where I was, and it worked out for me.
Some other tips:
-learn and read voraciously. PM me for a reading list on best finance books or look around this site and the web. And spend a bit of time on the WSJ, but books and courses are more useful than studying every bit of news.
-Network constantly. Set up your LinkedIn and start reaching out to alumni and anyone you can for phone calls or coffee chats. Build relationships while getting a better understanding of the finance environment and where different roles fall into the playing field.
Pretty basic stuff, but hit the grind, do the above, and good luck!
If I could go back in time, I’d (a) learn basic accounting (so critical to start with good foundation) (b) read more of literally anything (philosophy, fiction, preferably non-finance but can be) and (c) hit the fuckin gym (will help w/ social skills and build confidence, don’t underestimate importance, why tf are bankers unproportionately in-shape? b/c of benefits)
Do everything others are saying here, like good grades, student organizations, and networking, but also try considering going through the transfer admissions process. I did my freshman year at a non-target state school and then transferred to a target ivy school, and I can say that the opportunities you get are drastically different here. Many schools have higher acceptance rate for transfers so you would likely have a higher chance even if you didn’t get in as a first year.
I have thought about that route, but I realized that recruiting would have already started/been close to ending by the time I would transfer
No, if you transfer after your freshman year, then you’ll be at the new place during recruiting season
If this is IU, PM me and I can try to help you out as an unofficial mentor.
How is IU a low target
Know Midwest recruiting very well. Attended a non-target here and come up with good IB offers for ‘22 and ‘23. PM me
get good grades. get fucked up. get with girls.
Join clubs, be involved, network. I would say if you want to do IB do an unpaid private equity internship at a search fund, you can find a bunch of postings on searchfunder.com. These internships are usually 10-15 hours a week, but they can look amazing on your resume especially if you are a freshman
By search fund, do you mean the firms that connect investors with PE Managers?
Not really, I mean the type of fund where a guy raises money from investors to buy a business. Some search funds all you will do is cold calling all day, other funds especially at those doing a live deal you might do LBO models, have access to the data room, etc. These internships really aren't hard to get and you will get asked basic behavioral questions in an interview
Heres some more info
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/about/centers-institutes/ces/re…
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