Shooting Myself in the Foot

No way man, not too late. Get anything on your resume, e-mail HR at all the banks, go talk to the boutiques, just walk in there say I want an internship bla bla bla, tell them you don't want to get paid, you just want to learn. ANYONE will take you, and youll have it on ur resume. That's what I did, and it opened uip a lot of doors because the majority of sophmores don't get summer internships, be aggressive!

You aren't shooting yourself in the foot but you aren't making things easier for yourself either. It's very important to have at least some kind of work experience to talk about in SA or FT interviews. For a sophomore interested in banking, I would think any brokerage, wealth management, trading, consultancy, accounting etc. internship would be fine. Many of those would not be particularly difficult to get.

No one will be able to tell you w/o knowing how strong your stats are. It's possible that you're a competitive candidate as is, it's possible that you're not.

In the end, a soph summer internship can only help, and it will put you leaps ahead of the competition come recruiting season. And, no, it's not too late to get one.

You dont need a BB on your resume I got a boutique PE job late April. So never give up hope.

It's important to remember that only bulge brackets and some boutiques are the ones who hire months in advance. Most firms hire on an as-needed basis.

you definitely need to get on this summer. i think you will be at a disadvantage if you don't.

it helps a bit to have finance experience soph summer but not essential. i think china provides a good talking point. is it possible for you to work (even for a few weeks) somewhere in china? if not i would try to work for a couple of weeks during the school year. with that said, if you go to a target and have a solid gpa, you should be fine regardless

Find a job in China, which shouldn't be too hard to find if you're studying in Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen (where you can commute to Hong Kong). It doesn't have to be with a BB. There are many boutiques out there who are looking for people from US schools and don't require Mandarin knowledge (if that's an issue for you). The only people who can get by without having some sophomore year experience are studs and athletes, and frankly, it's not a risk I would take in this economic climate.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I would be studying in Beijing, and many people have been suggesting getting a job at a boutique while in China. Does anyone know of a way to get a list of the boutiques in the Beijing area? Also, I'm not an international traveler so I wouldn't know this, Would I actually be allowed to work their on a student visa?

lol, used wrong "their"

tidon12, your concerns may be warranted in the "target" / GPA obsessed environment that is the US. My advice is to go to Beijing, try to learn a bit of Mandarin, comprehensively tour China, as well as visit as many countries in East and South-East Asia as possible and then apply to London. I may be slightly biased here.

Make sure you sort out the visa situation before leaving the US, as it is impossible to change your status whilst there (without serious guanxi, at least).

Oh and do yourself a favour and experience the hilarity of Babyface and Banana in Beijing. I've sent you an article which should help put your mind at ease.

"For a sophomore, a boutique bank, HF or VC that doesn't pay is considered good. Obviously, this would be horrible for your junior year." ............................................................................. Yes clearly a HF or VC firm would be the end of the world and would not set u up at all for FT recruiting. Haha! ............................................................................. 2) High GPA quant types (i.e. 3.85 Economics & Math or 3.95 engineering" Like ur major actually matters? My friends want to know why im laughing so hard.