How to structure an internship in Commercial Lending targeted to a Community College population

I want to give back by helping students explore career options. One such way would be through providing them with an 8- 10 week internship program that they can attend while going to community college. I plan on providing this service by convincing my bank to develop an internship program. Even if its just for the students to shadow us and do some work. The requirement would be a minimum of 1 semester of financial accounting.

The goals would be to introduce them to commercial lending. Ideally, by the end of the program they should have an idea what the local economy offers, what a credit analysts does, what an underwriter does, and what a relationship manager does. For the most part, they'll be working with the credit analysts where they can get their fingers dirty spreading financials. Personally, I'll also stoke their fires and tell them about other basic entry level career paths such as IB, big 4 accounting, corp finance, and consulting. They might not know these career options exist and the sooner they learn about them the better. I am not suggesting that these are the best career paths; I simply believe they are great stepping stones that will open doors to other paths and help them think about whether or not they'd enjoy spreading and analyzing financials for the rest of their lives.

I'd like to pitch this idea and have it taken seriously. Obviously regulatory and compliance training would be the biggest expense factors here. Big kaveat, I am an amateur and I would probably be their best source of information outside of the more senior guys, but I could probably point them in the right direction, tell them about informational interviews, networking and offer other career related insights. It sounds meager but my target population can certainly have their career trajectories affected and their eyes opened.

I'd love to hear thought on how this could work or why it would never work.

5 Comments
 
 
Most Helpful

No reasonable bank would want to spend time recruiting community college students, a group that is typically lower performing and less capable compared to bachelors students. There's a difference between few genuinely passionate stand out community college kids reaching out asking for an unconventional internship and actively using resources to put together a structured program for a body of prospects who are generally considered to be sub par. Banks are inherently risk averse, so why target the higher risk group.

Now this isn't to say you couldn't still put together some sort of club or organization an propose it to the school as a way to start getting some of their students interested in finance. Then once you have a few interested students who look promising, you could try to provide some learning resources to them and then bring this idea to management at your bank. I think it's a cool thing you're trying to do here but it's going be an uphill battle.

 

Temporibus non consequuntur ut consequatur eius. Qui et pariatur dolore ad sit doloribus. Facilis commodi earum exercitationem aut et vitae deserunt suscipit.

Rerum hic nihil eum aut placeat sequi. A blanditiis modi voluptate dolores voluptatem. Et molestiae eum suscipit consequuntur et placeat. Aut est excepturi voluptatem consequatur delectus nam pariatur sint. Hic in consequatur voluptate ut aut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (72) $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

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...”