Missed the application season this fall, sophomore, are there any boutique bank applications still freshly open?
I'm a sophomore with no prior experience with Finance internships, and very recently decided to pursue this path. I wasn't aware of the fact that 2022 summer roles are interviewing right now and is almost finished. What should I do? If I wait for next fall application season, I would be a junior with no finance related internship on my resume. Are there any boutique banks that are still freshly accepting applications for the summer? If I end up not landing any internship for the summer, what should be my next move?
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You have PLENTY of time. Sophomore internships at BBs have like 30 spots total nationwide, a large % of which are diversity, they are so unlikely for your average applicant it's barely worth applying. So you didn't really miss anything there.
Quick game plan for you
- Google/LinkedIn for small boutique IBs (~30 people or less), as well as small PE shops, in your region. Email people to ask for 15 min calls. Network and see if they'd let you do a sophomore internship there. Don't take anything unpaid, but most of these won't have formal programs you can just throw an application into.
- If the above doesn't work out by January, look for something in corporate finance instead. Think F500 - you may find these roles online but you can also network with an FP&A or strategy team too. You don't need to work in IB, just anything finance related should do.
- Now is also a good time to start networking for 2023 junior internship. There's good guides on here, but you should start outreach now as real interviews will begin around March. It's okay if you haven't landed anything by then, plenty of people go through recruiting without a sophomore internship. That said it helps, so keep trying but you're not dead in the water without it.
To offer a different viewpoint, if your family is well-off, an unpaid internship at a smaller shop isn't horrible. I did one as I was late to recruiting and this is what allowed me to recruit and land an offer at a MM. Not saying it's the best thing, but if you're living at home and all expenses for the summer are going to be covered by parents, then I'd go for it. Would do a background check on the firm however, and make sure the MD's are reputable. Firm I interned for had a former Morgan Stanley exec as partner, couple of Ivy MBA's, and other experience on the street. Do some research on their deals if you can too and get a feel for the size of transactions... don't want to be working on deals where you're selling the towns only bakery, etc etc.
Agreed. If your family can support you (which is obviously a privilege not available to everyone) then it can help a lot.
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