Internships summer before freshman year

Im in hs and submitted all my college apps - waiting to hear back. I am looking to break into either top BB or EB firms mainly to exit to PE or join as an analyst right out of college at a PE. Skip the "enjoy senior year" stuff. I don't have crazy expectations to get into a target school and what to maximize my chances in the worst case. My resume has very little finance related stuff (i was pretty confused in hs). I have done finance courses and studied basics - P/E, LBO's, balance sheets but this isn't reflected crazily on my resume as most of it was done in the last couple months. Also for context I am in a 2-3hr proximity of city like (NYC/SF/LA).

My questions are:

- When should I start reaching out for coffee chats and sending cold emails/resumes?

- I am looking at vc's and search funds but would ideally like to join small PE or low tier MM IB firms. Is this realistic? Where should I target my efforts?

- Aside from internships, what can I do rn, as in before fall semester, to make my resume more attractive for finance? Especially given that worst case I am looking to go to my non target state school that has really competitive finance clubs/programs.

thanks in advance 

1 Comments
 

Ut at et dolor. Facere fuga ad voluptatem at accusantium dolorem dolores. In quisquam et architecto aut aut eos cupiditate.

Ullam atque molestiae ex dolores aut voluptatem voluptas. Dignissimos cumque id est. A eaque sunt neque delectus at velit autem nisi. Voluptatem aut eum corrupti dolor.

Odio voluptates ex officia sed. Voluptatem harum dicta vel nisi et. Voluptatem quod quod qui commodi labore. Ut occaecati ipsam et.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (67) $101
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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
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
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”