Which internship would you take if you were me?

I'm a junior at a Top 25 school majoring in applied mathematics with a 3.8. I've never taken a finance or econ class in my life, but I read the WSJ daily and decided recently that I want to break into the finance industry.

I'm money-driven, have an entrepreneurial spirit (its my dream to start my own fund one day) and am motivated to work very hard to build a sick career, though I want to actually enjoy my 20's and have a life outside of work as well.

Here are my three options (I am not applying to I-banking positions because they pretty much require a finance/business degree) for internships next summer:

1) Hedge fund - a relative of mine is a director at one and could get me an internship

2) Actuarial intern at insurance company - have been recruiting this semester, locked down one at a life insurance company. I am considering this route because the hours, pay and work-life balance are solid. However, I understand the ceiling is lower than it is for my other options, and I'm a pretty ambitious guy so it may not be the right choice.

3) trading firms - will interview for intern positions in January at prop. trading firms

So considering these three choices and my goals which one do you guys think I should take? I'm relatively new to the world of finance (was content to spend my undergrad thus far partying a lot and studying just enough to get decent grades up until now) so any advice would be really appreciated!

3 Comments
 

Wrong, i'm a non-bus/finance major and I'm applying to IB ONLY. its a requirement for some wall street jobs later in your career, the 2 years of IB, so it opens more doors than it closes.

But, since its already kinda late to network/prepare for those, you should keep #1 as a really really good backup, and #3 as also extremely good depending where you get an offer. don't even consider #2 if you don't want to be pigeon holed. you can come to that after whenever* if you don't like #1 or 3. can't go the other way (might be exaggerating, but it'd be easier to go from 1 or 3 to 2)

 
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