Another Non-Target Post

Hey guys,
I’m a freshman in college and I’ve been reading WSO for a little over a year but I’ve never posted.

I go to a private school in CA. It’s top 100 school but it’s a complete non-target. My GPA is 3.85 and I plan on double majoring in finance and economics.

I haven’t started networking yet because I am still working on my resume (almost finished) and because I thought I would be overlooked if I was from a non-target and had no GPA. I used the M&I template for my resume and I’ve had a few of my family members look over it. My work experience is very limited so I included 2 volunteer projects I worked on in high school in my resume. My only real work experience is from a month long internship at a recent presidential campaign that wasn’t successful. So I know adding experience is key to positioning myself for better jobs sophomore and junior year.

I intend to start cold-emailing alumni from my school who work in IB. The amount of alumni in IB isn’t very large and they mostly work in California based firms instead of NY, Chicago, etc.

I ideally want to work in S&T in NY after I graduate which I know will be difficult coming from a non-target. Networking and work experience are going to be key if I even want to get interviews there and I plan on fully preparing myself (WSP, Vault and WSO guides, following markets).

I know this topic has been discussed extensively but I’m wondering what types of internships I should be shooting for this summer and next summer to best position myself for S&T in NY after junior year. I know the general suggested route for IBD is PWM to boutique/MM to BB, but is there a better/different route for those who want to go into S&T (preferably trading).

I guess I’m looking for advice and wondering where I should be applying right now to get an internship this summer or if I’m too late.

I’m open to any suggestions and to answering any questions you might have. I’ll probably post my resume to get torn apart in a few days.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you guys have