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Gotcha I understand, thank you! Also, I was under the impression that high school grades did matter (especially since I’m applying for transfers after freshman year first semester), and I only had a 3.8/4.0 Unweighted (with 14 AP courses to be fair), so I'm just worried that my high school gpa and rank may hurt me.
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I probably would not work during your freshman year. Your priority for transferring will be getting the highest GPA possible, and a freshman year internship is probably not going to move the needle with respect to transferring or even getting a good internship sophomore/junior year.
Plus, come on, you want to have some fun your freshman year of college. It's not all about IB prep.
Sorry, I meant I’ll be interning during the summer between high school senior year and freshman year of college, not during the school year
Also, will the internship not be any help in transfer apps?
Do you have any advice for scoring a summer internship before college? I’m a high school senior as well.
I contacted an MD at the firm who went to the same high school as me which is what I think helped me the most in getting the internship.
If it wasn’t for that, I’d cold call and email 100 local firms and you’re likely to get 2-3 offers
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This advice is general, I can't answer your specific questions.
first off, holy shit you are a really well positioned student overall. Will be honest, not going to a core target school will set you back a little, so cold call and network as much as you can to get an IB SA gig first year summer. Deal experience on your resume will ALWAYS be a talking point in interviews and it will genuinely set you apart (seriously, 9 times /10 they will ask you to talk about Deal X listed on your resume).
Focus on maximizing your gpa in your first year as well and study all your technicals (can leave behaviourals until closer to recruiting imo).
I plan on getting a 4.0 and prepping for IB, but how important is an IB internship for my freshman summer? I was more so planning on focusing on transferring to a target for my sophomore year and getting a BB internship for soph summer.
Def prioritize moving to the target. Even if u get there though, there are a good amount of kids that will get IB first year summer. So if you want to be creme of the crop-level competitive, yes the IB internship is important. Otherwise, you won't stand out from the rest of the kids at your target. This won't sink your chances obv, but the IB internship would rly make recruiting a lot easier.
I think you have a great shot, a 3.8 GPA and 1590 SAT is great. You can absolutely transfer from IU to a top target, I've seen this happen before. As mentioned above your focus should be getting a 4.0, take the easiest classes possible: for transferring, nobody looks at the rigor of your classes since AO's can't parse the class data like they could in high school. I would join 2 clubs preferably in econ or finance and maybe do some voluntary work bs to show that your humble. Other than that, the kids who had a shot of breaking into T20 in highschool will ultimately be the ones that end up transferring. Here's a list of transfer friendly schools to apply to: USC(west-coast target), Northwestern, Columbia, Brown, Georgetown (admissions have been pretty low though recently). Check out Cornell and Upenn econ as well but they have certain credit reqs to look out for.
Just some other advice as well. Highly recommend trying to build relationships with TA's and professors as you'll need to get recommendation letters. Don't just ask for a rec near the deadline. Be the one to participate in sections or class and make sure your professor knows your face and name. Kiss their ass and suck their dick - that's how the games played. And make sure your finish apps during winter break and not during the spring semester.
Thanks man this advice is much appreciated. I’ll for sure be following it!
Ofc G, I struggled with undiagnosed ADD in high school so I'm well aware of the idea of the late bloomer. Give it your all freshman year and hopefully it works out brother. All the best.
Please don't take this the wrong way, though as someone with ADHD at a top group in a top BB, banking might be difficult for you.
The entire job at the Junior level is basically ATD "attention to detail", and ADHD can make every task feel 1.5x as hard. My honest advice is to think if you possess the inherent organizational and time management skills necessary for the job (which I didn't have coming in...) Yes, you can learn some of these skills, but for many people who excel in banking, these are second nature. My colleagues are some of the most hyper-organized and efficient people I've met, and tbh it's been a struggle.
Being intelligent and organized and not always related. In fact, the hyper-organized banker of average intelligence will probably surpass the super smart, though disorganized colleague. Just some food for thought for everyone, not just those with ADD / ADHD. Make sure you come in organized to your SA and Analyst stint (to do lists, setting up calendar reminders, cleaning out your inbox each day etc.)
Thanks for letting me know. Ever since I’ve been on the ADHD meds it’s been 10x easier to focus so I don’t think it should be too much of an issue.
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Thanks! Would you recommend just taking easy courses to get a 4.0, and if so, do other colleges care that I took easy courses if I apply to transfer? Also, what courses would you recommend taking?
Kelley freshman here- SPH classes are extremely easy
My recs would be to take easiest classes possible first semester at kelley so you are able to have a high GPA come transfer app szn. That means taking classes like Business Presentations, B251 (Fundamentals of Economics for Business), Kelley Compass, Accounting, and 2 easy gen-eds with a high A distribution. Should be quite easy to get a 4.0 that way.
I appreciate it! Thanks!
UCLA is a great school.. if u leverage your opportunities correctly you will break into finance no problem
My goal is to work in NYC and from what I’ve heard, it’s very unlikely to go from UCLA/USC to NYC BB/EB
Hey I am a bit new to wso and dont really know how to dm you privately but can you go into a bit more info as to how you got an internship over the summer to freshman year as i am trying to do the exact same?
If you have pre-existing connections in finance, try and use those to get an internship, and if not, then cold call or email 100-150 firms asking for a summer intern position. I can’t really share details into how I got mine without giving info on my high school / myself.
Jesus dude i see a lot of myself in you. So my first advice is calm down on the neuroticism. Bro a 3.8 unweighted and 1590 is amazing. You don't need to explain why you have a 3.8.
(1) nothing special good grades, clubs, strong narrative, and something cool you can ask people on the transfer sub of reddit
(2) first of all I don't really think you should be going into school with the intention of transferring. Kelley is a perfectly good school. If you want a list of transfer friendly top schools or at least relatively. It would be- Vanderbilt, Emory, USC, Northwestern, Cornell, UPenn CAS, UVA, and Columbia
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