Finding freshman internships, what/how to target search fund/boutique/PE

Hey monkeys,

Freshman here (ivy/4.0/econ/relevant clubs) a bit lost with internships. I've seen a few search funds on my school's handshake (applied hoping for spring off-cycle, no luck) as well as posters here saying they're oversaturated/pointless if you only do sourcing and get no deal exposure. 

Other suggestions are boutique IB, LMM PE, & small AM shops—so far I've been looking through upperclassmen LinkedIns and reaching out cold, which is going pretty slow. Tried finding firms on capIQ/pitchbook but honestly have no idea what criteria (headcount, number of deals, services provided, etc.) are good to shoot for/open to taking freshmen.

Here's my main questions:

• Am I too late for freshman spring off-cycles? Seems to me many people did search funds in spring and used them to get IB/PE in the summer
• Should I try to "skip" search funds and focus on boutiques/LMM/AM or is that hopeless without prior experience? Or just apply everywhere to get something?
• How can I find shops that might be open to freshmen and remote work? (no connections + can't afford to just move to NYC unpaid for a summer)

Appreciate any tips/advice.