As the disjointed title should tell you, I just started my sophomore year at Wharton as an undergrad. I worked in a tech company as a programmer frosh summer. While my school's name and GPA are solid, all my work experience is in tech. Nothing on my resume, work or EC, suggests that I have an interest in finance. I have made no progress in trying to break into IB, apart from reading WSO.
Given this, how exactly can I leverage my school and GPA to get a good internship soph summer and start my finance career? People drool over Wharton undergrad like incredible internships drop on the students' collective laps, and that might be the case, but how do I take advantage of this? There's a lot of conflicting advice on this forum, and I'm not sure where to start.
Easy. You don't have to join these finance clubs, but make sure you are on all their listservs. Especially since OCR is getting moved up this year, you want to know which firms are coming to campus. You should have already sent your resume to career services for them to take a look. If not, that's the first thing you should do. Start doing some research on the companies you are interested in. Email analysts and ask to speak with them over the phone. Start applying to companies both from their respective website and from the OCR page.
I did, but Penn career services gives insanely generic advice, or at least they did for me.
I will add myself to the listservs, thanks for the tip. WUFC and whatnot do host tons of events.
Circle back in the winter/ January. Realistically OCR is dealing with seniors interviewing for FT jobs and junior interviewing for SA. As a kid that just finished his sophomore year, you're just going to fall wayyy down on the totem pole.
Getting an internship your sophomore summer is very difficult, and it's likely impossible to secure something this fall for next summer anyway. Those will likely happen in the spring anyway.
Get networking and target a variety of banks not just BB, EB and top MMs. There are a huge number of smaller shops, PE firms, hedge funds, VC and AM firms that would consider a sophomore. Reach out to alums and then follow up.
your interest in finance is denoted by the fact you go to Wharton. You have nothing to be worried about. You're just a sophomore and have plenty of time to change the narrative.
Not gonna lie, OP, but I feel like I have lived my life way too loosely if there are Wharton sophomores with 3.95 GPAs worrying about 'not having finance experience'.
The 'I was interested in tech but then changed my mind after my freshman summer internship' or whatever is a pretty common and viable story FYI.
I'm sure you'll do great!
Lol it's not even a story, working in tech sucks balls.
Just email like 40-50 firms in PE or banking and I guarantee people will be on your dick.
Update: my GPA climbed, but I got pretty lax with recruiting. Still nothing. How screwed am I?
You're going to be very wealthy one day.
lmao
Welll that's up to a ton of factors. I think people downplay luck on this site. grades and undergraduate prestige only get one so far.
Would that it were true though....
Just keep applying!
As long as you are determined you should be able to find something ("worst case" you can find an unpaid internship at a small PE firm / investment bank). I was in a similar spot as a sophomore attending a non-target and ended up getting my internship in April. It's doable, just keep cranking out lists of places to apply and network.
Yeah I've applied and cold emailed about 20 places this week, no replies yet, but it is the holidays.
Ah, final update, will work in PE this summer. Thanks!
LOL - this thread reads like a prank. 3.95 at Wharton and then GPA "climbed"?
Lol, my thoughts exactly. Congrats on maintaining an A average with 1-2 A- or B's on your track record.
OP. If you are serious, look at the career fairs. Get your ass over there, talk to mainly finance companies / banks. If not, get involved in a finance department at your school or at a large company. Learn your accounting like the back of your hand, and start getting an idea of modeling. Do some personal projects on investments. Create DCFs for your own trading account or a fictional one. Who cares. All you need is some bullshit to talk about in an interview that I highly doubt you will have problems getting unless you are more socially awkward than a grazing cow.
This isn't a prank.
Ended up getting an offer for work which I think will give me enough to talk about during SA recruiting come fall.
Obvious troll is obvious...
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