Please help me. Freshman, 4.0 at target. I know NOTHING about finance.
Hi WSO,
I'm a freshman at a target right now. I have a paid internship at an Investment Management firm this summer; is this good for freshman summer, even if I'm ultimately interested in IB?
I want to go in to IB (the job, culture, opportunities after, etc. appeal to me).
My school doesn't many have courses in finance; I took financial accounting, but the emphasis was much more on journalizing transactions then on reading financial statements. At this point, I would say I am not proficient in reading financial statements.
Financial statements are straight forward enough to learn (suggestions still appreciated though); however, I don't know anything about finance in general. I don't even know where to start. How can I go about becoming well-versed in finance for the future. I've seen WSJ be suggested; is that a good starting point? What else?
Sorry for all the questions. Thanks a lot guys!
You're a freshman and you have a great internship, so don't worry about placing yourself in IB this early on. This year, go into your IM internship with an open mind and absorb everything you can. Make connections while you're there, since these people can teach you and help you out later on.
Starting next year, apply to IB sophomore programs (since you're at a target, I'm guessing you'll hear about them) and learn on your own. Follow companies you're interested in (not just news, but also quarterly/annual reports, shareholder letters, and conference call transcripts, and see how they all tie into the company's financial statements), read about current deals, and look up terms you don't understand on investopedia. Join a finance club if your school has one. On the modeling side, take Wall Street Prep or any other modeling course. If you can confidently talk about a company/merger or walk through a model as a sophomore, you'll be pretty well off.
I was in your shoes a few years ago, and I can tell you that you can learn as much, if not more on your own, as you can in a class. Good luck.
Regarding your first question, which seems to be commonplace now on WSO, has been pissing me off more and more. Why does it matter if it's good for freshman summer? It's not like you have a treasure chest of offers with tons of different positions that you can pick from (and maybe you do, but for most I'd be willing to bet no).
As a general rule of thumb, having anything finance related for your freshman summer is great. Hardly anyone gets a freshman IB internship, which most IBs know - hell, most people don't even get a finance internship their freshman year. Relax. You're fine.
And yes, WSJ is good, NYT Dealbook is good, FactSet is good. You should be able to get free access through your target for these and more. Reading 10-K's, understanding what drives company revenues and costs and whatnot.
Why does it piss you off? I was just wondering; I didn't mean to offend.
Because there are about 500+ posts everyday asking similar questions that could be answered with a quick search through the site.
I understand and I'm not offended, but what's the point of asking? If we said "no, it's not going to help you," are you going to do anything differently/not take the offer? Doubt it, so just look through the forums as so many people ask the same question and network and keep your grades up and you'll be fine come time for IB recruiting.
I think the question is so commonplace now because freshman summer is so much more important than it used to be as recruiting gets pushed up even earlier.
Sure and that's totally fine, but what's the point of asking this question? If we said "no, don't take the internship," do you think he actually wouldn't? It's just a pointless question, take the internship and run with it
How are you at a "target" that "doesn't many have courses in finance"...
Also relax. If you are new to the forum read around and understand that ANY applicable freshman / sophomore internship is a value added opportunity. Kick ass, get a gig the next two summers, network. You'll be fine.
Almost every Ivy?
Wow I honestly wasn't aware that Ivy's lack finance courses. Well shit I guess you learn something everyday.
Kid,
Read the mother fucking website. How many 100s of posts like this exist? You're at a target school with a summer internship in finance. Jesus--how much affirmation do you need?
I swear to God, I'm going to stop hiring undergrads from targets just so I never have to run across another soulless dweeb who doesn't know how to use the search function.
WallStreetOasis.com take this nonsense off the front page.
Do you get this upset about everything, or is it just online forum posts by 18-year-olds that really get to you?
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