Networking Question—Emailing too early ?

Sophomore in college, Target school. Been networking a bit with alumni at multiple firms for recruiting this upcoming spring/summer.

Have a couple questions I hope you all could help answer because they seem counterintuitive to what I’ve seen on WSO.

A couple bankers I’ve talked to have told me to only reach out to 1-2 people max at each bank and you can get dinged if you try to get into contact with too many. Is this a real thing I should worry about? The last thing I want to do is over network.

The other thing a couple bankers have mentioned is that “I’m definitely early” with the networking and should wait until the spring. Their reasoning is the first phone call is always the best and you’ll be fresher on their mind when you ask for your resume to be pushed. This is another one I’m skeptical about— seems less genuine to wait until recruiting is in full swing to reach out. And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that every kid with even a tiny interest in IB will be spamming them once recruiting comes around.

Thoughts?

1 Comments
 

Dolorem ut velit mollitia aliquam. Voluptatibus id nesciunt quisquam nulla laudantium dicta error.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
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...”