Sophomore Opportunities

Most BBs and a few elite boutiques do, actually, have summer internships. Among the boutiques, I did apply to Perella Weinberg when I was a sophomore and didn't get an interview, and I know a few people at my school who have IB gigs at BB as sophomores. Also, wealth management tends to be more lenient on grade level, and many people I know did WM after freshman or sophomore year and then moved into banking.

Perella Weinberg thread as example: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/perella-weinberg-sophomore-intern…

GateSoph:

I'm actually a minority but have been reluctant to do one of those programs for fear that they won't necessarily prepare me for the Junior SA position. Are they actually more legitimate than I give them credit for?

Come on man.

From what I understand, they treat you like any other summer analyst. If you get a sophomore SA position at a top bank, take it. It'll make junior year recruiting a hell of a lot easier.

I know someone who did ops at a BB after soph year and did some networking and now has an interview with S&T in the same bank. so its def. possible and better than nothing.

IMO from a non target , I dont think there is much better considering BBs only hire for BO stuff. BTW the other guy i mentioned goes to a non target too but has like a 3.9 gpa

Google, Google, and Google some more... Then reach out to your alumni database for networking options. Don't sit back. You have to work hard and hopefully it will work out. Although, I will admit, if you have not begun networking by now, then you may have to wait until next year.

Bump.

bump

So did you find any trading firms interested in sophomores? I have one previous trading internship.

only true if your talking about the SEO. This is a specific organization that works to help minorities with getting jobs on wall street and other business areas (consulting, accounting, etc...). This is certainly needed if you ever look at the lack of diversity on wall street.

In reality though, top banks like MS and GS do have sophomore internship programs (typically always within private wealth management). Typically if you are not a junior, you should be looking at PWM and portfolio management type of internships. Sometimes you can get away with applying for the usual S/T and ibd jobs as sophomores but typically will not even get the interviews.

not true. i got on campus interviews at several places (bb & mm, only first round though). second rounds at a few places, including seo.

also, goldman private wealth summer analyst programs is geared towards juniors like everyone else.

by the way, i am not an underrepresented minority.

I'm a rising sophomore at a top 5 target. My question is how much a PWM sophomore internship will help when applying for SA positions junior year. I would prefer to do an REU (research experience for udnergraduates) but obviously if the PWM internship is a better career move, I'll go that route.

a number of bb's have rotational programs that, while geared toward minorities, accept others as well.

try looking into mm's and boutiques if you want to do banking soph year. i managed several first and second round interviews with bb's and boutiques as a soph and got an offer from an mm bank. for reference i go to a lesser-target midwest school (northwestern/uchicago/umich).

Don't be discouraged if you don't get an internship for your sophomore year summer. Sometimes banks will interview sophomores, but it's not very common. If you do get a back office role at a BB, it's better than having nothing (or working at a grocery store).

Bump. I'm in a similar situation and any advice would be appreciated.

Just started the summer internship. Would love any advice!

If you can't get 1-3, do 4.

Study abroad makes for good conversation during interviews.

I agree w/ study abroad as a LAST resort if you can't find any job that will look remotely good.

No one cares if you take classes during the summer...

I found this regional boutique that's pretty close to home, but I'm not sure if it's worth my time and energy. They want me to work ~50 hrs/wk and it pays about $400-500 a month stipend. It seems like I might get some decent exp though. Looks like most of the time I'll be working on pitchbooks, some financial modeling, and helping out with other divisions like capital markets and operations...etc

Is this worth it? With this economy, should I just take whatever finance-related internship I can get?

You should definitely take the regional boutique IB.

You're a sophomore; the most important thing is to get experience on your resume that you can talk about extensively during junior SA recruiting.

If you are concerned about the pay, don't be, that should be the least of your concerns.

Sounds like you'll get good experience, I'd take the boutique it'll put you in good position fo rrecruiting next year. You did put accounting above that though, are you more interested in i banking or big 4?

^ Definitely more interested in i banking, but I'm considering big 4 as a definite backup because the economy is so screwed up right now.

ah, of course. your name speaks the truth - you really ARE a hardcore roller for life.

It would look good and you know it, so stop asking dumb questions. Seriously. You have posted enough on this board to know that being a summer analyst is almost impossible after your sophomore year

Let me rephrase my question. Okay, fine, I know it looks good.

The real question that I forgot to add into my original post (sorry) was how difficult is it to get a position at a local branch assuming that you don't want to work for free but wouldn't care if you got paid minimum wage??

ah, of course. your name speaks the truth - you really HAVE been playing one too many videogames.

Roller4Life:

How would it look if I found a summer internship at a local branch of a BB in my hometown such as Wachovia?

It would look amazing, especially at one of the really big BBs like Wachovia.

Since this is an online message board I have a feeling your sarcasm can't really be detechted NYSE.

Do a lot of people go looking for branch office positions though?

Join the peace corps

Join the peace corps

kill yourself.

Just curious, wtf are you talkingabout games? is it to my name? because, i assure you, it has nothing to do with video games... i m actually curious as to see why you think so

There is a big difference between "local branch" and "regional" offices. ML LA, for example, refers to the investment banking division of ML.

If you found a ML in your "hometown" chances are it is a retail brokerage office. In this case, you may as well do any other finance related internship because it has nothing to do directly with "investment banking".

To clarify, a ML regional investment banking internship would look amazing after your sophomore year, whereas a ML retail brokerage internship after your sophomore year wouldn't really mean that much.

Did the retail thing freshman year during the schoolyear. Have it on my resume, and have never been asked about it in a positive or negative light. Ever.

People just don't seem to care that you did retail, because honestly, a 4th grader could easily do the work they make you do there. If you have ANY other options (CorpFin), I would think that would look better, and you would at least learn something.

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. Yes, it is a local retail office and not a regional office like ML LA.

So I'm going to forget doing anything at a local office which entails retail and is pretty much unrelated to IB.

How would retail compare to Big 4 accounting? In terms of on the resume for ibanking jobs in the future.

Big 4 accounting would be huge compared to retail - at least you would learn something.

Definitely. Tell those accounting idiots that you are graduating in three years, and subsequently nab a big four accounting internship sophomore year (which are normally received for juniors). Then, junior year do a banking internship.

Nice!

It is really not that hard to land an accounting internship your freshmen year from the Big 4 if you go to one of their core recruiting schools. Which is most reputable business schools.

I think accounting is lame.