Finding Small Boutique for Freshman Year Intership

I'm going to be finishing freshman year at a target school this spring and wanted to get a start looking for finance-related experience this summer. Right now, I'm a part of finance clubs at my school and have had some non-finance experiences in software and business. From what I've seen so far, corporate finance, small name boutiques, and search funds are opportunities I should be looking into for introductory experience. I'm hoping I can use family network to possibly land a corporate finance gig for the summer, but my family doesn't have any knowledge of IB, so I'm trying to figure this out myself. That being said, I was hoping to get experience at a boutique firm in Chicago this summer. I don't want to shoot outside my bounds this year, so I just wanted to ask guidance on finding firms that are small and not that big to cold-email to look for positions for the summer.

1 Comments
 

Veritatis sunt facere quibusdam officiis. Beatae nobis at et laborum impedit earum quidem. Sit laudantium qui eius rerum in sit.

Adipisci non quia saepe qui vel aperiam. Eos non consequuntur rerum. Amet labore exercitationem delectus quia sed. Reprehenderit est magnam sed necessitatibus voluptatem dolorum recusandae. Qui laborum odio id inventore temporibus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
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...”