What am I doing wrong/right and what else can I do?

Hey all,

Sorry about the post and if something similar has been asked/answered, i'm relatively new to the site. So I guess I should begin with my goal, landing a bulge bracket summer analyst position. Now some background, I go to a top 20 school that does not have a strong interest in finance or many on campus recruiters (however, we do have a few bulge brackets that hold interviews on campus) and a few people always get great internships at banks that don't directly recruit from our school. I am majoring in Econ and minoring in finance and biology (we don't have a finance major) and I have completed my first year. I also have pretty good grades (almost a 4.00) and am very involved on campus (founded a club, won awards, hold leadership positions etc.) This summer, I applied to a few PWM programs but didn't get anything so I ended up getting a retail job and an internship managing a business seminar program through our nearby university. After not getting any of the PWM internships I reached out to some alumni not directly involved in finance in my city, and they have got me into contact with some managers at boutique I-banks nearby. I am in the process of talking with them. What else should I do, given that my school does not have very much on campus recruiting? Any and all advice would be helpful!

5 Comments
 

You just finished freshman year, don't beat yourself up. Clearly the networking is getting you places, and believe me, networking is the #1 MOST important thing you can do to get into the industry. Bar none. Not even gpa matters as much as effective networking. Anyway, keep trucking along and maintain good, long-term connections with your alumni contacts and the boutique contacts, and soon enough, you'll be in a position to ask for a sophomore internship. Good luck.

 

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