Freshman Summer Internship — when to start reaching out?

Hi guys. I’m a freshman at Stern and I’m planning on getting some sort of finance internship over the summer. Obviously, I’ll get whatever I can as a freshman; no need for it to be anything crazy. My question is when to start applying and reaching out. I assume I’ll be cold emailing, so when should I start? Is there a timeline for smaller firms, or is it unstructured? Since the internship would probably be for a small local firm, I’m guessing  October would be a bit early to start cold-emailing and applying. Let me know if I’m misunderstanding the process.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

3 Comments
 

Hello! I would say that it's never too early to start the process. Since you're a freshman you have all the options in the world when it comes to a career path. Don't stress on it too hard, literally any finance or business-related internship would suffice for a freshman. I'm a sophomore now and I worked in business analytics at a rando business last summer haha. Just take finance-related courses, get good at excel, and lever personal connections and ask if introductions can be made before starting the cold email process. Most places aren't seeking freshman but if you show enough ambition and passion, you could seek out opportunities through family members or friends. I'd say the most important thing for freshman year is to have fun and not to worry about having some crazy investment banking internship just yet haha.

 

Great, thanks for the reply. Yeah, I’m trying to have as much fun as I can— this stuff doesn’t last forever lol. I always like to plan ahead though, so maybe I come across as a bit anxious. Really appreciate the advice though. And yeah, I’ll talk to some personal connections before I start shooting emails. 

 

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