IBD SA internships for Sophomore (Resume Included)

I am a new WSO user but I've been visiting this site daily for the past 3 week. I cannot thank you guys enough for your willingness to share your experiences and at the same time provide me my daily laughs.

Anyway, I am currently an international sophomore studying in a non-target but top state school in Texas. My GPA is a 4.0 and I will be taking the Wall Street Prep course in my school in the coming week. Looking through the forum here, I realize that SA in IBD are not required to know how to model and apparently only needed to have basic technical knowledge which can be acquired through vault or the interview guides here. Assuming that I could master the vault guide by the end of this month, should I consider applying to SA positions in BBs and other boutiques? Note that I am an Econs major.

Also, what are the obstacles sophomores commonly face while applying for these positions? Aside from the fact that most want to hire juniors so they could work for them once they graduate. I am thinking of applying to boutiques in Houston and Austin.

Could you guys also take a look at my resume at documents/28268 at Razume and give me your critique? I would really appreciate it. I could post any links yet as I am still new here hence the format.

14 Comments
 

If you are looking to BB, the main obstacle you run into is the selectiveness, most have rotational programs or IBD programs for sophmores, but will only take 10-12. I'm in a similar boat, and am applying to middle market and boutiques. Gotta cover as many bases as possible

 
Husky32Virtually impossible without great connections

Does cold calling and email boutiques in Austina and Houston help? As an international student, most connections I have are back in my country. I am considering doing an internship in one of the BB back home if I can't get one here.

 
michael2137
Husky32Virtually impossible without great connections

Does cold calling and email boutiques in Austina and Houston help? As an international student, most connections I have are back in my country. I am considering doing an internship in one of the BB back home if I can't get one here.

I would do that as it will be difficult to get an internship in the U.S. before junior year (cold calling/emailing boutiques very very rarely works, waste of time IMO, though you can certainly try if you want to. Networking, joining finance clubs and using OCR to find receptive boutiques would be a better bet.

 

thepman, when you say rotational programs, are you talking about their diversity programs? Are they not listed on the sites? Take GS for example, all I see are SA programs.

I am applying to Middle market and boutiques as well but I guess there's no harm applying to BB.

 

You have horrible credentials. No relevant experience, sh*t school, probably no connections.

Look into another industry. No one will hire you as a sophomore.

 
Best Response
jrt336What did you do last summer? And no you won't be able to get an offer at a BB or elite boutique. Apply to the banking program next year at your school and shoot for it then.

This is actually my first year here. It's just so happen, I got some credits transferred from some AP-equivalent courses which bump me up to a Sophomore status. To answer your question, I was not aware of how competitive the IB is and decided to just take summer classes instead.

Just out of curiosity, everyone has to start somewhere right. If I don't try to get any internships now, I will most likely not be any better than where I am now come junior year. Do all sophomores get internships through connections and maybe early preparation since high school?

I know I have a zero to none chance getting an internship in BB at this stage. I just want to get some experience and internship as a leverage for next year.

 

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