What should I do my freshman summer?
Hello, everyone. This fall, I'll be a freshman at a target school. I know it might seem ridiculous to start planing for next summer already, but I don't feel comfortable without a plan. Anyhow, I've read that even while going to a target with a good GPA, it's hard to get an internship. I'm debating between either taking classes or doing something finance-related. Some people may just say to kick back and take it easy. The problem is, whenever I do that, I feel like I'm wasting time. So, my question is, should I take classes during the summer or do something that'll look good on my resume? If the latter, what are some things I can do as a freshman?
A good start would be to stop typing like that.
Haha, I'm on my phone and was in kid of a hurry when typing this.
I was just busting your chops. The answer to your question is, "all of Phi Mu and half a Tri Delt."
Hey, I'm in the exact same position as you but I'm from the UK. Almost end of my exam period and I have absolutely nothing lined up in terms of insight programmes or summer analyst/intern opportunities. I've been asking the same questions as you, and the main answers that I've got back are to (a) Network your ass off, find some second years in your uni or college who have intern roles etc and maybe see if they'll have a chat with you. If no second years or you don't want to do that, find alumni and try and set up networking coffees or chats with them or even some guys from local finance firms. (b) Do some volunteering or something to show on your Resume/CV that you're a well-rounded guy and a team player. (c) Read some relevant books like Barbarians at the Gate or Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle and maybe teach yourself modelling.
I hope some of this helps.
Thanks for answering. Yeah, networking is a must. What I am a bit confused about is whether just becoming friendly with these interns is my goal, or would I talk to them to pick up pointers?
I would suggest looking at a few of the "hot" or "top" threads in the IB forum, there's some pretty insightful posts on how to network. I guess it really comes down to the individual you're networking with, if it's someone's who's a second year, a bit more relaxed, I guess you can ask some pretty informal questions. But if you've got yourself a networking coffee with someone who's like 5-10 years in the field you're gonna want to ask them about the way they got in etc, advice, what they would do differently but don't ask questions you can get an answer off the web (obvs). I'm not saying what I've said is 'THE' way to network but I think it's along the right lines.
First of all - given the quality of the school you'll be attending and your age, you are way too young to be gearing your freshman summer around your potential future career. Even if you want to pursue business or finance in some capacity, you'll figure out that there are a lot of possible paths to take which also pay well, are better for your physical and mental health and let you develop a personal life.
That said - for the summer after freshman year, do anything interesting. Do something that you've always wanted to do. Go take that fellowship to learn Korean in Seoul, get funding to study the Icelandic financial crisis, do an internship in Switzerland with the EU or in Mongolia in real estate. If you're going to do investment banking or corporate finance, at least do something abroad and spend some time traveling.
The worst thing about talking to internship applicants was when they were so focused on trying to say what they thought I wanted to hear. When a 19 year old tells you that investment banking is their "dream" because "you can do anything with investment banking", that's really frustrating, because you're exhausted and sick from working until 2am everyday. Those sort of conversations really annoyed me, whereas when people had interesting stories to tell, I learned a lot more about what they valued, whether they were team players and how they thought.
In short, do something cool while you still have the chance. It'll give you some perspective and maturity. It'll also make future job interviews a lot more interesting for those on the other side of the table.
Dude - I didn't intern in finance my Freshman year. No one I know from college did either.
You can do anything as long as it's productive. Camp counseling, working for your parents, waiting tables, interning with the gov't, etc.
I'll diverge from the rest of the posters and suggest you do find a freshman internship. Recruiting nowadays is starting way early. I have friends that have interviews scheduled for junior year internships during their sophomore summer. Thus it's pretty important to have at least something on your resume because soon sophomore internships may not even be completed in time for interviews to be even talked about during the interview. Im a freshman at a target school and got my internship for this summer through cold-emailing. A few of my friends did as well. I think that it helped being from a target school as employers at least know you're decently smart even though you don't have many applicable skills. So just cold-email a ton of firms and alumni, you should target boutique firms because they won't have a structured process and are more likely to take on interns. Also you have to be willing to work unpaid although some firms will pay you, just make it clear that you are willing to work unpaid.
Agreed, the recruiting process gets more competitive each year and is probably more competitive than it was when any of us went through it. Especially if you're at a target school, you'll find a decent amount of peers who do have a freshman internship and it'll be very helpful for getting a better sophomore internship if you don't have a family network to rely on. Doesn't have to (won't be) a terrific internship, likely to be low stipend or unpaid work, but it's good to get something on the resume. There are an abundance of places looking for cheap help if you offer - small boutique banks, research shops, bus. development for random startups, etc.
Why not combine the two - traveling & interning? Sure it'd be tough if you target classic finance shops as you'd have less time to mess about, but if I would be American and could go back in time I'd absolutely jump at any opportunity to do an internship in a big city in a new state (be it in Texas, Cali or NY). Not only does it look good in an interview setting (e.g. shows out-of-the-box thinking and a willingness to take risks to develop yourself) it could also help you widen your network.
I can't tell you what the best use of your time this summer will be in regards to accomplishing your goals, but I can tell you that people in the positions you're targeting have a very, very wide variety of ways they spent their freshman summer. In other words, there are a lot of ways to skin this cat.
I worked for the parks department in my hometown. It sucked. I changed out a lot of trash bags at the lakefront and got really friendly with a pressure washer. But I saved enough to pay for my books the following year, and that was what mattered at the time.
If you have the means to spend the time learning something useful, then by all means, go nuts. But if you end up doing something else, I don't think it'll knock you off-course.
Something interesting. I am not a huge fan of going home for 3 summer months, even if you can work for your dad's baller buddy, or whatever. If you're heading to an elite college, it should be super easy to line up a neat job in a cool city, or become a camp counselor. Anything but going home and loafing around with high school friends.
Worth It? Freshman Summer Internships (Originally Posted: 01/20/2018)
I'm currently a freshman, and I have an opportunity to go the other side of the country for a summer internship. Because I don't live in the area or have any close connections, I would probably have to rent out an apartment for two months. The problem is that the internship is low paying, so I would almost definitely have to pay something out of pocket with flight, meals, and rent all included. It is still a finance internship, but is it worth it? Or should I just settle with a PWM internship in my hometown?
Hey gangstabanka, I swear if I had a silver banana for every lonely thread I posted too I'd be richer than @compbanker ...
If we're lucky, maybe these professional users will respond: AmIRight broadstbully Cherrybomb
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
How important are post freshman summer internships? (Originally Posted: 08/11/2016)
I'm a rising freshman at a target ug business school (think Wharton, Stern, Ross) and while I'm super excited to dive into college life and enjoy these years, I can't help but be stressed about getting a job. While I'm unsure what I want to do (most likely leaning towards trying to pursue IB like the 400 other schmucks and type-A asian kids in my class), I feel like knowing how stiff the competition is at my school for IB jobs, I have start right out of the gate or I'll be behind. I've been slowly flipping through Rosenbaum/Pearl to get an idea of valuation techniques, but my knowledge stops there. I follow a few indices and I guess I do the typical circlejerk Bloomberg read during the day. How important is landing something after freshman year? It seems like the high end of opps lie in PWM at a BB or a BB internship with a URM group (I'm a URM) to the lower end of a small no-name boutique IB or HF? Is freshman summer seen more as just a time to do something? I can't imagine recruiters scrutinize too much over what kind of role you had freshman summer, but what do I know? Sorry for the lengthy post. Thanks for your help!
I worked a small internship but it isn't drastically important. When I was interviewing for SA positions, they didn't ask more than 3 questions about it, they care mostly about your schooling and life experiences/leadership experiences. My advice is join finance clubs and excel in school, get a wealth management internship if you can
Where to intern during summer as a Freshman in College? (Originally Posted: 11/05/2016)
Hello, so basically here's the problem. I'm a freshman in college and I live in NYC, currently I want to major as a Quant however I'm not sure how that's going to work for me or if I'll even be good at it. So basically I want to intern as something that'll help me break into HF/PE into the future or when I'm out of school.
So what I'm asking for is advice on where a College Freshman with no work experience can intern, and what roles/programs do you recommend?
Bumpidy bump. At least for IBanking the general idea seems to be getting a PWM internship, not sure if that translates to your situation however.
Possible Freshman Summer Internship (Originally Posted: 05/29/2016)
Hello all,
I'm currently a freshman at a semi-target. My goal is to ultimately do investment banking post graduation, and get an internship at a BB during the summer of my junior year. I wanted to get your opinions on a possible internship that I may pursue for this summer. I have the opportunity to work at a Ford dealership in India, where I would be responsible for handling the assets/day to day financial operations. Do you think this would be worth pursuing? How solid is this internship for getting an investment banking internship for my junior year?
Thanks a lot guys
As long as you had a meaningful experience and can spin it towards your interest in IB, the Ford experience would be great for a freshman. Other freshmen normally do PWM or a similar type of financial internship.
How did you get an intership as a freshman?especially in another country?I am new for university and wondering the same thing.
What should I do this summer? - Finished freshman at Canadian semi-target (Originally Posted: 04/28/2012)
Hello, I just finished freshman at Canadian semi-target. My gpa is probably around 3.7.
My question is what should I do this summer? This year, I didn't do any jobs or clubs during the school year making my resume blank (Focused too much on academics). I did not even start applying for internships (most are past due dates now)
How should I start my career? I'm thinking of taking the CFA Level 1 this summer? Is this a good start? I think it will be a good indication towards my interest in finance. Or is it better to just work at some office as receptionist and earn some money?
P.S. My only past work experience is at McDonalds in high school.
I don't think you can take the CFA level 1 as a freshman, I believe the earliest it can be done is senior year.
I think study abroad is the best thing to do summer after freshman year if that's an opportunity that is open to you.
Not having a summer internship after freshman year is not a big deal imo. Just try to balance your summer among leisure, some personal academics and a job... take that caddying, landscaping, life guarding, etc. gig if its 3 days a week to earn a few CAD $s.
As noted you're too young for the CFA.
Hang out at the beach, get drunk, catch up with old high school friends
Go on amazon and wso FAQs + forums, find all the relevant books that pertain to the area that you're intererested in and borrow all these books from the Toronto public library. Try and read at least 15 books this summer and you'll be light years ahead most of your peers.
The last thing you want is a blank resume and this happens to far too many people. Recruitment in Canada has been awful this year and this trend may continue next year so take anything you can get. Office admin is far better than McD/ nothing. Avoid PWM if you can, far too many people do it.
Prepare for and write the CSC level 1 and 2 by the end of the summer.
Collaborate with your compsci friends and create a web startup, perhaps finance related. This will help fill blank spaces on your resume.
I'm also going into my freshman summer and I'm trying to land a local PWM gig. I sent out a few emails and I've already got someone willing to meet with me. Can't hurt to try it yourself.
yeah...if you're set on getting an internship, PWM is a good way to go. that being said, if I were in your shoes I'd enjoy the only last actual free summer I could.
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Yeah, like others have said, do some readings. Hey, take a summer class to alleviate your fall course-load so you can have more time networking? Whichever decision you make, I wish you luck. Get involved next year, though!
Negged
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Freshman seeking advice about summer internships (Originally Posted: 01/19/2016)
I am a freshman at a non-target school in the US, currently studying applied math and statistics. I have a 4.0 GPA after the first semester. I had originally gone into undergrad thinking I'd become a doctor, so I took pre-med classes including organic chemistry and biology, but now I'm entertaining the possibility of a career in finance. So, I'd like to gain some experience this summer as an intern at a firm to see if it's something I'd like to do in the future.
I had a phone interview with JSC for a trading internship earlier this semester, but unfortunately didn't get the position. I had a long history of math competitions in high school and before, so I consider myself pretty good at the probability/expectation questions they asked. What other firms and what kinds of positions (trading, IB, etc., I don't really know that much about them) would this be applicable to?
Thanks in advance!
Just cold call/email or use family connections to find something for the summer, and then try to get into the finance track at your school. I go to a target but the only freshmen who got things either had connections or busted ass looking.
Interestingly, that's what I did to get my phone interview with JSC -- cold called an alum from my school. Will definitely be doing more of that soon.
Do you have any recommendations for specific firms or kinds of positions that emphasize probability/expectation and aren't as technically demanding (that is, obtainable for a freshman)?
Freshman Summer...Fun or Internship? (Originally Posted: 02/05/2008)
I am a freshman at a top liberal arts school and have the ability to get a couple of very good internships this summer(Through connections obviously). As much as you probably won't believe what I can get please help me because I do need advice on what to do. I have a choice of interning at a BB in London, New York City, or at a BB located in the city that I live in. How important is it to have these kinds of internships on your resume freshman year. By that I mean will employers be impressed if they see that I interned for a top 5 firm as a freshman. The other question is how much does it matter if it is in London, NYC, or where I live. I eventually want to live abroad maybe London, which is why I liked the idea, but honestly I want to have fun in the summer and be with my friends which is why I would consider the BB in my hometown. How big of a difference is it for me to take the internship where I live rather than in London or NYC? Any advice would be appreciated.
think about it--if you're good enough to get BB freshman yr, then you'll be good enough later on (if you keep up whatever it is you've been doing)
If your connections can get you a freshman year internship, they can get you a FT job. Especially if your connection is so powerful that he can bypass you through the entire interview process and get you the job directly (as would be necessary at this point, as almost all 1st rounds are already finished, and superdays are quickly coming to an end). You don't even need to do an internship, freshman, sophomore, or junior year - go straight to FT. This is, of course, if your connections are as powerful as you claim they are.
I might believe him. Kids at top liberal arts schools are often from more connected/powerful families than kids at, say, MIT or Cornell.
To be honest, freshman summer doesn't matter much anyway so I wouldn't stress too much over it. But I would at least try to do something that you can spin as some type of productive activity even if it isn't a job necessarily.
Sports, training camp, language instruction... those are all "fun" but give you good experiences that you can talk about in interviews and write on your resume at the same time.
Honestly an internship making coffee and copying papers at a BB your freshman year is not really worth it, if it's down to that and having fun, I would just have fun.
If you really would like to do one then do it in your hometown.
dosk17 proffers some good advice. My recommendations would be inter-railing with friends through Europe or teaching English somewhere in Asia. You could tell your connections that you'd love to take the New York internship next year and the London one the year after or vice versa. To answer your final question: none at this point.
Dude...have fun. Assuming you like to go wild, go all out summer after freshman year, and then get a kick ass soph internship.
I had a blast that summer, and now that I've done one serious internship and have offers for SAs, all I can say is enjoy the time that you don't have to work.
lucky lucky guy. Here I am a struggling nobody at Cornell ahh...but that's life I guess
If there is any way you can get in a summer study abroad program this late I would do that. Seems like that came up in nearly every interview. A great topic to shoot the breeze about be it in interviews or at informal meet and greets and they like to see that you have a global perspective. As a whole it seems bankers are pretty well-traveled.
I am in London now... It is a lot of fun.. If you want fun - partying, traveling (Europe).. then definitely come to London... work or not.. but work would probably get you some $$$
However, since you have great connections, money shouldn't be an issue for you.. so you could just go travel instead...
U r very lucky to be born in a previlege family.. gl!
Ling~
If you have those connections today, you'll probably have them tomorrow? However, going away to Hawaaii, Ibiza, etc., getting drunk, laid, and partying until your balls turn blue, only gets harder as you get older. You're free now, you probably won't be free tomorrow.
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