High School Student Looking for Internship
Hey everyone,
I'm a 16 year old high school student living in Dallas, Texas and I've been interested in IB since I was young. I'm now starting to look for a way to get an internship to mainly obtain an insight to the field but as well as advancing my resume for college. Although I've heard no many times when cold calling I still want to be able to at least do one internship before college. What advice would you guys give me if I want to and how to approach any companies about potential paid or un-paid internships?
Thank You
P.S. Any advice about getting into a target school would also be appreciated. I currently have a 3.6 GPA and I know this puts me at a disadvantage which is why I am exploring my options to get into a target school.
Make a huge list of financial institutions in your city (Wealth advisors, hedge funds, banks, family office) wtv you can think off. Get at least 50. Email or call. Show them passion and interest and that you are willing to put hard work towards it. Guaranteed 1/50 will land. Don’t try to like/act like you are experienced because you are not, rather show you are looking to fill your curiosity.
Will definitely try this thank you. I was thinking of asking professionals in my area for informational interviews to build a network and later asking them if they had any internships available.
Bruh, focus on getting into a good college. Dont worry about Internships until freshman year.
The reason I chose to do this was because my GPA was low and I wanted to compensate for that by having good ECs
Some will disagree but IMO finance high school internships aren't worth it. Target schools won't be impressed enough by a finance internship to overlook the GPA - time is better spent crushing the ACT/SAT and getting leadership positions in any clubs you're in. High school internships are also completely meaningless for your resume by the time IB rolls around (you will be advised to take high school stuff off after freshman year) and you're just going to end up shadowing or working for free at some tiny place, it certainly won't be paid. Financial firms also don't want 16 year olds hanging around, even if you were the owner's son.
As for schools - consult the target/semi target lists here, it doesn't always match up to the top 20 schools and you can get into banking targets, and certainly semi targets, with your GPA. SMU in your backyard isn't top 20 or anything but is a solid semi target with a good IB program. Georgetown might be a reach but is a banking target. Penn State and UGA seem to place a ton of people to banking as well. Focus on schools that offer a finance major instead of just econ - will make getting into banking far easier.
Thank you for the quality response. I had thought that I would have to focus on ECs like getting an internship to make up for my GPA but I think I could raise enough it for a school like UT. I understand that firms won't want me hanging around like you said. How would you rank schools like Kelley at IU for their IB programs?
Kelley IU is excellent if you get into the IB workshop. Little more challenging without it, but certainly another school where you get more bang for your buck in terms of IB recruiting vs. difficulty to get into the school
Do your parents have any friends in the industry? That would be the easiest way.
No they do not which is why I am asking for advice.
Then I would echo what everyone else is saying, skip the internship and focus your energy on improving your stats for undergrad.
I don't really think there would be many places that would take a cold, high school intern.
I can't imagine your parents don't know anyone though (ignoring your bitchy response, sometimes people don't think about obvious shit). Neither of my parents went to college and still knew people who helped me out with finance internships early on.
Alright and I will focus on GPA I think that is my weakest point. I was more inspired by my curiosity of trading stocks when I was younger and as I explored my career options I found that IB would be something I would possibly enjoy.
Believe Satori Capital in Dallas has a highschool student program in the summer. Just google Dallas hedge funds (ushedgefunds.com) they have a list of HF’s in Texas with a link to their website.
Go to UT-Austin.
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