How I got an summer internship at a Top firm from a "non-target" University

Read this before reading my long post:

This path is only applicable to Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans, since it is a requirement to be accepted to the program. I hope this following post provides another way (from the many great suggestions of all of the other posts) to finally land an internship

This is my first post in WSO. I decided to write it because I couldn't find any posts similar to the path I took. A path that landed me a summer internship at a top firm. Many people are not even aware that it exists. Some people will argue that it is unfair, but for me, it was the only way to make it a reality. This path I am talking about is diversity. More specifically, through a program called SEO Career. There are several other diversity programs but I only have experience with SEO. Do your research and join other programs as well to increase your chances of an internship.

Background

I was a mess during high school. That meant I did not get accepted into any target bis. school. I ended up going to my local state University, which is not a competitive Uni. College was a game-changer in terms of perspective. I found my passion for Real Estate and Finance, which brought me to REPE, which, in my eyes, is the perfect balance of both. I also realized the competitiveness of the industry and started getting excellent grades to compete. Fast forward to recruiting season, I sent resumes to all the top firms. I knew that my perfect GPA would at least get me an interview. Nothing... not even a phone screen. I realized the culprit was my alma mater. I said to myself after getting no response from the top firms: "You are trying to reach too high, those positions are filled by the Ivyes, break into the industry starting with a smaller firm." I started reaching smaller firms, calling them, sending emails, applying online, dropping my resume to local firms, connecting through LinkedIn. Nothing... not a single interview. After almost losing hope of interning at a REPE, I came across SEO Career.

What is SEO Career?

SEO Career is a program that, for 40 years, has partnered with the top private equity firms, investment banks, and other high finance firms to place high achieving Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans in coveted summer internship positions. SEO doesn't care about which college you go to, they measure other factors before accepting you into the program. The moment you join SEO, you get a new alma mater, that puts you on par with the top bis. schools in the country. **It is also worth noting that SEO Career is entirely FREE. ** After joining SEO, I stopped sending resumes. There's was no need. SEO arranged me interviews with partner firms (the top firms and banks in the country). The interviewers are aware you come from SEO, so interviews are usually about fit and more relaxed. They trust SEO after many years of partnership. They know the lengths SEO goes to make sure the interns are the best of the best (read below).

Why SEO is so effective in getting a summer internship?

You may think the "need of a more diverse workforce" is the sole reason SEO can place minority students in these positions. Still, this argument doesn't explain the reason behind the effectiveness of this program. SEO is extremely effective because they structured the program as a snowball effect:

1. Investing (a lot!) in SEO Career participants: SEO pays for a lot of industry certification exams, training for those certifications, textbooks, live classes, bootcamps that you take during the semester before your summer internship. If I had to put a dollar value in everything that SEO invested in me, it would surpass 20k.

2. SEO Staff: SEO participants get assigned a coach. SEO coaches are industry professionals; all of them have previously worked or are currently working in the industry. They become your best friend in the process before and during the internship. SEO coaches are the most passionate persons that I've ever encountered in my life. I have spent more than 100 hours talking to my coach, asking a million questions, and getting a lot of practical advice.

3. Precedent: SEO has been around for 40 years. I was able to get many internship offers through them, not because of me. I got them thanks to all the previous SEO generations before me that outperformed their peers thanks to all the training and mentoring SEO provided. If year after year, SEO provides extremely trained individuals, the decision to hire an SEO student over a regular applicant gets easier.

4. Impressive Board of Directors: After 40 years, SEO has managed to get industry titans to join their board. Starting with the Chairman, Henry Kravis (Co-founder and Co-CEO of KKR), other CEOs and ex-CEOs like Joe Plumeri and many MD's from firms like MS, Carlyle, BX, Lazard, and others (many of them are SEO alumni). They are in charge of raising a fundamental part of the money needed to pay for everything SEO provides.

5. Life-Changing Experience: This point (and the one before) close the loop. 80% of SEO alumni get a return offer at the firm they interned. They are aware of the impact SEO had in changing their life. How they opened doors to firms previously unaccessible. How they made sure they got a return offer by coaching them through the internship. This makes almost all of the SEO alumni, with their new high finance salaries, donors for life which allows the process to start all over again.

The highlight of the SEO experience: The SEO Career Summit

At the start of the summer, right before the internships start, SEO has a one-week mandatory event in NYC (free as well) where the 375+ students get to finalize the training. Students get divided by tracks for training (IB, Tech, Corp, RE, etc.) and get together for keynotes. In my case, we started early in the morning with intense modeling classes by none other Bruce Kirsch. Keynotes were scattered throughout the day from industry titans (no joke, they are the most influential persons in the industry): Henry Kravis (CEO KKR), Jamie Dimon (CEO JPMChase) who has been speaking every year since 2016. Tim Buckley (CEO of Vanguard), David Solomon (CEO of Goldman), Raymond McGuire (ViceChairman, Citi), and many others. Lunch and dinners with SEO alumni (who now are analysts, associates, and VPs of partner firms). And the afternoons are filled with case studies on-property (RE track) with NYC developers and company tours with partner firms.

Conclusion

As you may see from my long post, I am passionate about talking about SEO. I know for a fact that they changed my life. I killed myself trying to get to the same spot on my own, and I did not get even close to where I am now. If you are reading this, it probably means you are eligible to join since the disclaimer at the top probably stopped many from reading this post. I wish SEO changes your life in the same way it changed mine.

I am happy to answer any questions, as well as PMs.