Is a "bad" spring good enough for recruiting for summers (s&t and m&a)?
So now that basically the spring cycle in London is over and recruiting for 2026 summers is starting soon, I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts. I got a pretty bad spring (think Santander/Natwest/HSBC/Deloitte) and its basically all I got. I also still don't have a summer internship for this year. Of course I am going to try and convert my spring but ideally i'd recruit for probably s&t or m&a in the bulge brackets and elite boutiques, as well as most of the MMs. Would this "bad" spring be fine for BBs and EBs? I know for springs HR mainly looks at prestige so I'm not sure if my CV will simply be thrown out. I also ideally would not want to redo springs as I don't want to waste a year of my life and do a masters.
Congrats on NatWest!
Not having a summer lined up for this year is the bigger thing to focus on right now. If there’s any way you can get something finance-related (even boutique, corporate finance, PWM, anything with relevant skills), jump on it. A solid summer experience this year can help offset the “less prestigious” spring when you’re applying for 2026 roles
How would you recommend doing this? Does cold emailing firms really work because surely I will be competing against people who got "good" springs on their CV and better extracurriculars etc and most smaller firms probably have only 1 potential spot
what do you consider a "good" spring as
You need a first year summer to have a chance of a penultimate now? What woke nonsense
In London, you do a spring week in your first year, at the end of which, you do an AC for a summer the following year.
I know that. OP is talking about finding a summer internship for his first year (this year), which I find ridiculous because it wasn't a necessity for your penultimate SA applications in London a few years ago
For lazard you'll need more spring weeks, probably somewhere between 8-10 if I had to guess
who ms'd me. this was an absolute corker of a joke. smh
Gotta do prepare for the worst case scenario cuz recruiting in London is getting so much more random and harder since you gotta compete with European hardos who got 4-5 internships lined up. Best way is still to do some internship this summer before the recruitment process, could be anything finance-related. Target school definitely helps too. I also got offers and interviews without any springs but with solid experiences
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