When to start networking/cold emailing

Rising sophomore at a good school(not semi but decent placement). Would it be considered bad etiquette to email bankers asking for informational chats etc now? Did really well freshman year and wants to keep it going. I was lucky enough to talk to someone very accomplished from my school (BB->MF PE principal) and they said to start networking early to get the best chance at an amazing offer. However, had a phone call the other day with an analyst and they said don’t worry about it, and that doing it over the summer could even be “a turn off”.

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It's always best to start early, in my opinion. It isn't rude... I (and others) get spammed with messages at the beginning of the application cycle. At that point, I'm only speaking to somebody if they have a personal connection. The first few networking connections are not likely to be strong. You may often need to ask to be "passed along", e.g. "I'm really interested in group X or division Y, do you have a contact there that I could get in touch with?"

Leveraging their network gives you an inroad to the people you really want to be speaking too, and it's a slightly warmer connection right off the bat.

In the current macro backdrop, it's really important that every aspect of your application is as polished as it can be.

If you'd like some help, contact me and book a mentorship session.

 

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