Undergraduate Underclassman Internship Advice?

Stats: non-target, fin and acct, above a 4.00, rising junior status, diversity, 6 s.h. acct and 6 s.h. finance coursework, 6.5/10 involvement on campus

Hi all. I am a first-year at a non-target in the Midwest and I have been having trouble finding a summer internship. I come from a pretty disadvantaged & rural blue-collar background, so I don't have any family or hometown connections which is where most get their first-year internship. I thought it would help that I have taken finance coursework and both formally and informally know valuation, accounting, and intermediate excel + financial software, but that doesn't seem to get my foot in the door at all. I have cold-called one of probably three (3) boutique investment banks (no formal process) in my Midwestern state, but they only have a waitlist in the unlikely case they want to take in an intern. In my hometown, there are only partnership financial planners without formal processes. A friend of mine has only had luck with a CPA firm in our hometown as a second-year junior.

Formally, I have applied to almost every single diversity initiative and have only had some luck interviewing for spring weeks, which are released soon. First-gen, disability, but no luck with INROADS yet.

I would really like an internship this summer because I am applying to an important IB feeder program (20 out of 200+ apps at a non-target party school) soon. It's not the most important thing to get an internship this summer and the most common advice is to just have a fun summer, but I would like to stand out for this IB program's application and it would be great to say I have something lined up for this summer.

tl;dr: Nothing in hometown, no banking firms in Midwest, only luck has been diversity spring weeks. Any advice or similar experiences?

1 Comments
 

Omnis provident et sunt neque magnam accusamus porro. Corrupti quidem sed reiciendis quia soluta.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (24) $180
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (82) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
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...”