Prestigious Sophomore Summer Internships

you can still get boutique internships. There are plenty of kids who get IB boutique internships at non-targets. If you don't think you can do it simply because your "too young" I wouldn't recommend doing Investment Banking

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I would say the person above was being overly harsh by saying you go to a shitty school. I go to a target where the most competitive kids always get top buyside sophomore internships. From what I understand, these places don't give looks to nontarget schools. This is out of students' control, so that's why I think it's unfair to respond so negatively. It's also possible the original comment goes to a target but is misinformed. Regardless, we are all here to help each other.

comment to OP: I would generally think of it as "buckets". Many people will do just fine having literally any relevant finance/banking experience for sophomore summer... but here are some of the buckets by selectivity/prestige:

1. any brand name buyside - Apollo, Blackstone, Oak Tree, Baupost, etc. I know all hire. The list is actually quite long and I can PM you a more exhaustive list based on what I've seen. I've seen people get in through girls who invest, personal connections, being a competitive student at target + networking, winning stock pitch competitions sponsored by the firm, and more

2. any brand name bank - a lot of BBs hire. Combo of competitive diversity candidate + networking or being a top candidate at your school + networking (the two are not mutually exclusive by any means)

3. any top buyside that is outside of what is considered the most recognizable names - think small HFs that manage less than 10 bn but if you google them could find a few good articles implicating they aren't so obscure or small that people on the buyside don't know them. A few (5 or so) have resume drops at targets

4. I would actually put MBB consulting or software engineer, etc. at large recognizable tech firms here. Not sure about the other two, but I know Mckinsey has a sophomore diversity program. I've seen sophomore internships at large tech firms but don't know how recruiting works. I would intuitively slot a software engineer at Google, FB over a no name boutique IB... Yes it's a different industry but your question is prestigious sophomore internships for someone wanting to go into banking. If you study for finance technicals. have finance clubs on resume, network well, I'm pretty positive Google > no name bank.

5. No name buyside and no name bank. I put it in same bucket because it will be case by case including factors purely outside firm reputation. Consider factors like structure of intern program, type of work for interns. Can get these through resume drops at targets and regional schools that are the same region as the firm. Can also get through cold emailing or connections.

6. Finance roles outside of above.

7. Non finance outside of above,

good luck getting those in soph summer

Very tough to get these as a sophomore unless you have a hook (i.e. URM, gender, etc.). The best paths to EB Rx that I've seen are credit funds, PE, and other debt related roles.