Sophomore Without a Freshman Summer Finance Internship
Greetings. I am a sophomore at a T20 target school (non-diverse) heading to recruit for SA 2026. I decided to recruit for IB during the middle of my freshman summer and didn't have luck landing a finance/IB-related internship. I worked at a coffee shop as a barista during my freshman summer for 25-30 hours a week. Would this significantly affect my chance of landing a good junior summer IB offer? I'm not expecting something like GS/MS/EVR, but I would be happy if I could land a solid MM offer. Thanks for the responses.
just means GPA and ECs will be weighted heavier, make any clubs or leadership roles sound as impressive as you reasonably can on your resume. Also network u might get fucked with no finance internship and no referrals
That's pretty common among upperclassmen at my (semi-target) college, I even know (non-diversity) people who landed BB/EB offers with 0 finance internships whatsoever (freshman or sophomore summer)
Thanks for the reply. Do you think I should target the MMs more? I have a ~3.7 GPA and 2-3 finance projects. My school sent many people to GS/MS/EVR/JPM/LAZ/BofA/Citi every year, but I feel like my profile/resume is a crap shoot for the top BB/EBs.
Target every bank u can. Top MMs are very competitive too. Realistically u should have a good enough alumni base that you can get enough referrals to push your resume at basically every bank if u network well enough. After that, ur experience starts to matter less... interviews are the great equalizer if you can get your resume past initial screen and reviews
Got it. Thanks for the reply.
Maybe differs by school but the advice I've gotten (see title) is that profile doesn't particularly matter if you can network your way into an interview, and once you're in the interview it's pure meritocracy
if ur at a target ur fine without the experience tbh
Hey man it seems you are doing the right things. I would recommend networking as hard as possible. Even if you had a finance internship, you would still have to network heavily to get a guaranteed resume push. Also, you can use past experiences in non-finance jobs in behavioral questions in interviews. If you put the work in, you should be fine. Best of luck mate!
Aliquam molestiae occaecati suscipit minus voluptatem fugiat. Tenetur amet quos sit. Fugiat enim perferendis minus repudiandae ut vitae. Deleniti consequatur in qui. Magnam sunt et et et hic magni sint. Aut sed et similique dolores aut sed.
Modi fuga molestiae omnis repellat non et numquam magni. Enim beatae tenetur quia occaecati dicta dolorem. Voluptatem perspiciatis veniam pariatur quisquam. Laboriosam expedita sed nam necessitatibus sint. Est magnam praesentium laboriosam quibusdam laborum eius ipsum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...