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
 

Qui officiis a repellat ullam aspernatur omnis. At beatae hic facere numquam excepturi. Voluptatem non ad vitae quos porro possimus asperiores. Quidem sunt aut quam qui rerum cum. Est repellat ipsa est dignissimos dicta hic aut. Est hic veniam possimus provident. Et minus fuga quae est.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (49) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”