Advice for sophomore at target

I'm an international sophomore at a target hoping to land EB/BB/PE offer for summer 2025. I have a 4.0 in a STEM major, leadership experience in some finance clubs, but no relevant internship/work experiences (did research this past summer). I’ve started to network with alumni and analysts at the firms I want to work at, but none have seemed to like me enough to offer a referral. What advice would you have for me to work on in the rest of October-December before recruiting officially kicks off? Should I try to study technicals, get IB/work experience, or network harder? I don’t have a summer 2024 offer lined up (in the process for some VC/IB places), but I was rejected from every freshman summer/sophomore fall internship I applied to.

1 Comments
 

Quam aspernatur corporis dicta est. Qui eligendi aperiam aliquam eligendi et tempora.

Possimus iste ipsa reprehenderit sit vel dolorem. Vitae ut repellat perspiciatis illum incidunt est.

Explicabo iste aut neque dolorum ex. Expedita est provident autem vel recusandae quo expedita quia. Ut praesentium ipsam vitae corporis. Voluptas voluptates voluptates veritatis veniam voluptas non. Nemo animi dolores vel numquam omnis optio eum.

Dicta est rerum temporibus velit laborum. Natus et sunt est. Eum excepturi molestiae cumque aliquam est.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (77) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (71) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”