Advice For A Less Than Ideal Situation

Posted this in another forum and thought it may do better here.....

I am in a situation that is worrying me right now. I am about to finish undergrad at a non-target with a decent GPA and a major in Economics. I am a transfer student here and managed to do four semesters in three because I traveled for a year and felt left behind.

My problem is that I am without any finance experience on my resume and will miss FT recruiting because I will be studying abroad in the Fall, although I am in the works for a possible summer internship. After hearing about freshmen with pwm gigs, I feel I am at a huge disadvantage in the job market and am now considering masters in the US and abroad.

It is not that I am unmotivated, lazy or whatever else you want to insert. I felt compelled to work in my family business doing a not finance role because my brother who was filling the job earlier left and I took over. Right or wrong, I did that out of HS until I transferred to Uni. Like I mention above my course load was always 18-21crds plus I stayed a full summer to catch up ...so no internships.

So, basically to wrap it up, how bad is my situation? If I get a decent internship this summer before study abroad will that be good enough to be competitive for recruiting when I get back to the states? If I don's secure the internship will a masters without it be a poor choice? I know it's a long post and could be more detailed but I would really appreciate your views.