Preparing for Summer 2028 investment banking recruiting
I’m a rising sophomore at a non-target in the northeast with a 3.85 GPA. I’m interested in investment banking, but I’m not currently involved in any finance clubs and do not have much relevant work experience. I’m trying to figure out what I should prioritize before recruiting begins.
When should I start networking and should i use some email software
What should I prioritize most to improve my resume? Clubs/search fund/gpa
How important is joining a finance club at this stage?
Should i pick a specific group / product to recruit for now?
Would appreciate any advice from people who have recently gone through recruiting.
join a club cause thatll help you network and they can give you advice on how to recruit and basically do everything
Start networking in September/october and don't use an email software as you want to be deliberate with who you network with and what you say in the email
Start networking in September/october and don't use an email software as you want to be deliberate with who you network with and what you say in the email
when should i do technical prep?
would stay away from automated emails as they can be very obvious
just be intentional with your networking, use calls to figure out which team you want to focus on
otherwise just stay on top of applications, check trackr, linkedin, handshake all the time and keep a gpa >3.7
Echoing the part on not sending automated emails, not a good look
the timeline first, because two years feels longer than it is. SA 2028 apps probably open in the spring of your sophomore year, and banks keep pulling that date earlier, so you've really got 6-9 months of runway once it counts. coming from a non-target, start on the early end of that window and go in more technical than the average applicant.
get your story tight before you talk to anyone. why banking, why you, built on something real, a conversation with someone in the industry or a deal you followed in the news. every coffee chat and every application leans on it, so it's worth locking in early. same goes for your resume, one page, one line per bullet, a number wherever you can put one.
networking is the part people overthink. treat it like a pipeline, a few emails a week over months. warm leads first, alumni, upperclassmen, someone from your hometown, anyone with a reason to pick up your call, then cold email once you've worked those. don't read silence as a no. skip the mail merge software too, a spreadsheet plus emails you wrote yourself works better and it shows in the first line.
join a club or two if they have a real placement record. the point is the intel, they'll teach you the timeline and who's recruiting faster than you'd figure out alone.
your GPA's fine, don't let it slip. skip picking a group this early, nobody at your stage should already know if they want TMT or LevFin.
I came out of a non-target myself and got there through an MBA. most people who land it straight out of undergrad just started earlier than everyone around them. you've got two years, start the spreadsheet now.
Nice AI slop - trying to masquerade it with lowercase letters and spaced-out em dashes isn't fooling anyone
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