Potentially dumb question

Never tried with retail brokerage but it's not a dumb question at all. Schwab may be a bad target though. Larger firms have all kinds of information safeguards and red tape to cut through to get access. Might target some smaller advisory shops. I was trying the same thing with M&A shops to try to get some deal experience. After a handful said no way without even considering it, I got one to do it and it's worked out well.

The way I pitched it was "I will sign any non-disclosure agreements necessary. When business is slow, train me on the side. And when you get busy I can take some of the workload for free." This makes for a great interview topic; Shows real passion for the field.

I have to ask... Why in the hell do you want to work in retail brokerage?

And if you already have an internship lined up for summer, I would just go to them and ask if you can start some of the training early (online or otherwise). I would think they would respond positively to this. Get the BS out of the way before they start paying you. Say you want to hit the ground running come summer.

If you really want to prep and learn the lingo, read the Rosenbaum look and get used to the formatting of the Excel spreads and you'll be in good shape. Nothing is really going to prepare you for banking unless you're able to find a banking internship before you start this summer.