I am a community college student with a 4.0GPA looking for internships in finance.

Hi everyone,

I'm new to WSO but I wish that I had found it earlier :( But here's my first post!

I am currently in my 2nd and last year in community college majoring in Business Administration. I have a 4.0 GPA and was, just recently, accepted into UCLA for Business Economics (not sure if UCLA is considered a target school but i've heard that it has decent recruiting). In my time at community college, I mainly worked as a math tutor and I also got a bookkeeper Internship at a small financial services company (mostly grunt work: answering phones, assembling tax returns, scheduling appointments, coffee etc.) I've been stressing recently over not having done something finance related in the last 2 years (to the point that I've even considered switching to computer science and staying at CC for some extra time) I want a career in IB or Management Consulting and I am FAR from that at the moment. Over the summer I was planning on doing the "Invest like the street analyst" program to learn about financial analysis and M&A/LBO modeling. Beggars can't be choosers so I'm willing to work for free at this point just for the sake of knowledge and experience. I have till the end of September b/c that's when UCLA will start. What do you guys suggest I should do or look into over these 4 months of summer break?

10 Comments
 
Most Helpful

When do you anticipate graduating from UCLA? If you are going to be recruiting for 2020 SA internships and graduating in 2021, you'll be likely going through that recruiting process in spring of 2019. Between now and next spring you'll need a finance related internship (if not this summer, line one up for the fall when school starts) and will want to line up another for summer 2019.

For this summer/fall, I would agree with thesoggybottomboys - start early on your technicals, interview prep, and networking.

 

Look into local boutique investment banks, PE firms, AM firms, etc. Any type of role that will give you relevant work you can talk about in IB interviews will help, and a lot of the time it's easier to start at smaller firm where you don't necessarily need a long track record of finance work on your resume for them to take a chance on you.

 

Nesciunt architecto nisi corporis incidunt. Eum vel modi soluta porro minima dolor. Suscipit ab recusandae sunt ut quaerat at est. Vitae et odio repudiandae et ut impedit harum. Illo placeat aspernatur sit.

Rerum autem placeat illum et. Quia necessitatibus molestias neque vel soluta dicta sequi beatae. Soluta numquam quisquam temporibus totam. Ratione quod et unde nihil laudantium qui maxime.

Quisquam architecto rerum in aut cumque. Autem nemo enim natus ea. Fuga aspernatur accusantium reprehenderit sed ea non accusamus. Vitae voluptatem numquam vero nemo architecto numquam molestiae. Aut eius ex aut quia autem aut quisquam consequatur. Est incidunt occaecati perspiciatis natus. Et accusantium doloribus beatae quia molestias ratione sequi rerum.

Ratione laboriosam et blanditiis. Consequatur qui nostrum magnam eligendi. Vero nam consequatur porro sit. Ut cupiditate quis tenetur animi vero itaque ut. Magnam beatae numquam sunt. Et et dolores ut dolorem placeat modi quia. Odio error sunt a esse ea quam.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • 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 (56) $261
  • 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

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...”