THIS WHOLE APPLYING SUPER EARLY SHIT IS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT
Im a rising sophomore whos searching for sophomore internships for next summer. I was looking online and a lot of the BB have already finished (for example there was a sophomore ms ib internship and people were online said applications were done in MARCH)
Is this not fucking ridiculous to everyone? In what world do these application timelines even make sense. Youre applying in winter of freshman year for a sophomore summer internship going into junior year. Without even yet completing an internship your freshman summer so what the fuck will you add on your cv? Experience in the future tense? Likewise, applying in middle of sophomore year for an internship going into senior year and the internship that will get you a job offer AFTER COLLEGE. During a time period where you havent even done your sophomore summer and the only summer internship would be your FRESHMAN year.
Is this not absolutely ludicrous to everyone? Your company is ultimately deciding who youre hiring to your job based on their perfomance as a fucking freshman? Which depends on their perfomance before that? Are people nowadays supposed to have a thorough investment banking financier career before they even graduate highschool? Im sorry I know that theres a lot of applications and competition for these banks but I find this whole process absolutely ridiculous
The whole thing is actually just banks outcompeting each other to get "first picks". So moving it later now involves basically agreeing with all banks to move it back which is never gonna happen - classic prisoners dilemma. Same thing happening in PE. It's happened in Europe too but to a lesser extent.
It is stupid but not much anyone can do about it in the moment
Yes, it's nuts. I'm a Brit and I didn't even decide what I wanted to do until my final year of uni (so did internship post-graduation) and I find it totally ludicrous just how early recruiting is in the US and also how much of a game it is
It is ridiculous way to hold an interview process. However, it does very much do what banks want it to do.
The purpose of having recruiting so damn early is NOT to get the best candidates. They are not looking for the absolute best of the best finance professionals. They have this recruiting process so damn early because it allows them to target a specific set of people. They are not looking for the best candidates, they are looking for a specific type of candidate. They are basically looking just for candidates on a specific path. The best way to delineate these types of people is by having recruiting so early since the people on that path will be in the know while most people who aren't, will not know until it is too late. This is a great weeder mechanism from the banks' perspective.
With that being said, I am all for this venting.
Kinda sounds like a loophole for banks to hyperfocus their recruitment on their rich friends' kids, and limit the competition to whoever just so happened to stumble into investment banking as a high schooler
But then, if IB recruiting were more meritocratic, I have a suspicion the total comp and exit opps would magically deteriorate
(Yes, some copium here, but still think it is true)
The earlier recruiting gets the more of a “guess” these hires become. The whole first pick of the best candidates mentality has to break down at some point if the best candidates don’t fully materialize their interests and direct their skills until later in college - after the banks already recruited the prestige hunting hardos who just happened to come across the industry timeline earlier.
Exactly. Think of Anthony Davis or Dennis Rodman. Both are, or will be, Hall of Famers. They are two of the best basketball players ever to play the sport. AD was mid his entire childhood until he grew 9 inches in the middle of high school. He went from being a D-II basketball player to being a future Hall of Famer. Dennis Rodman didn't even start playing organized basketball until he was 21.
How many Rodmans and Zach Edeys are there compared to the Lebrons or Lamine Yamals in the world? People develop at different speeds. Rushing to recruit early isn't about getting the best before they are gone when your recruiting is happening before it is possible to know who the best are.
But banks don't really want the best of the best. They want a specific type of candidate. They are looking for specific characteristics, not the best bankers.
BB app windows are mostly closed/closing for soph internships yes, but boutiques/regional IB are just now thinking about hiring for next summer. You still have time to network and get into these roles - don't stress about BB soph year, the BB sophomore programs are 99% just pipeline programs for DEI anyways. Boutique/regional IB will still look amazing on resume sophomore year, speaking from experience.
The issue is that I am DEI. I just feel like I wasted a golden opportunity because I wasn’t given a specific playbook for me to know I needed to be on my 500+ LinkedIn since first day of college. When all adults tell you is you still have time to figure it out for you to find out the complete opposite is just so depressing
in that case I'd stop wasting time complaining about application windows on here and go apply to the ones that are still open - there are plenty
Everyone ik that placed well in SA were fully ready by the March of their freshmen year in terms of interview skills and networking. When they landed their sophomore summer during their freshmen summer would say they were fully rdy for junior SA recruiting so it will likely keep on getting earlier.
Might as well go to highschoolers on graduation day and recruit them then atp cause why the fuck not
It will prob end at the beginning of soph so that the kids at least some something on their resume. However if sophomore recruiting start to push forward then its very likely that junior SA can get even earlier
Fully agree the process is bullshit. I don't think its going to change for a little while until the banks start to see the actual effects of their misdoings. From what I've seen personally during internships, as well as reading online. There's a good chunk of kids that are fucking duds in the office who were just overachievers in HS without any real interest in the industry. Bc of this, kids that actually care/are interested are passed over in the numbers game
Correct me if I am wrong.
Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have completed or nearly completed their IBD sophomore SA applications, though other divisions are still accepting applicants.
Goldman Sachs opens on August 15.
UBS's markets division opens in late August or early September.
Deutsche Bank's dbAchieve program opens in October/November.
JP Morgan and Barclays do not offer sophomore programs.
RBC's sophomore programs (US Pathway Diversity Award, US Women's Advisory, LGBTQ+ Sophomore Insights) are currently open.
Wells Fargo's timeline is uncertain, probably opens in August.
Yeah, this stuff is definitely crazy. There was an article put out about PE firms - they're interviewing undergrad seniors right now for jobs 2-3 years away from starting.
Couldn't agree more.
Hey Man, I know it sucks having to apply so early. But honestly, be grateful you are even aware of banking jobs in your freshman summer. Lots of people don’t even hear about IB until their junior year or later, and then they’re screwed to even network or prep/interview in time for the junior summer internship.
Sophomore summer is most important internship to leverage for banking summer so if you can get something laterally relevant (CorpDev/F500 M&A, Accounting, Strategy, Search Fund, Boutique) this summer, you’re good. Don’t tweak about banking for sophomore summer, sure it’s a good look but since you know so early what you want you have tons of time to network and practice interviewing/technicals for your junior summer.
My advice would be try and get something paid in Finance/Investing soph. summer, then if you really want to you can leverage search fund websites to find local/remote search funds to work for unpaid during the schoolyear to beef up your resume. Good luck.
Play the game baby
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