Summer Internships in Trading for College Freshman?

I'll be attending Carnegie Mellon next year and plan to major in math or computational finance. My ultimate goal is to become a trader. Assuming I do well in my classes, are there any good trading internships that I could do the summer after freshman year?

15 Comments
 
MatthiasCongrats on your acceptance to Carnegie Mellon. Biggest advice would be to relax and enjoy the rest of high school.
I think he means literally after his first year of college in the summer. Not after his senior year.
 
WeedOut
MatthiasCongrats on your acceptance to Carnegie Mellon. Biggest advice would be to relax and enjoy the rest of high school.
I think he means literally after his first year of college in the summer. Not after his senior year.

Either way why the hell are you worrying about something that is 1.5 years away. That is an absolute eternity in your life. The BEST advice would be don't worry about laying out a life plan for your next 5 years. If your goal is trading then pursue some interests in that area. Pick up some good investing reads, maybe self-study a bit of programming. This shouldn't get in the way of enjoying your life though. If you are spending the end of your senior year worrying about getting an internship 1.5 years away before you have even sent in your acceptance to college then you're not doing life right.

 

If you're actually passionate about it, you'd be following the markets already. Read reports, stay on top of major publications, and see if there are any student organizations that offer you an outlet to explore these interests. Worry about what job opportunities come when you're a little farther down the road.

 

@(Some Unknown) I'm doing most of those things already. I watch CNBC and read the WSJ everyday. In addition, I'm fluent in 12 programming languages (including Java, UNIX, Perl, Javascript, and HTML). I've also found clubs at CMU for students with an interest in trading.

I'm not asking about jobs for this summer because I already have one lined up. I just want to know if there are any good trading programs I can pursue during the summer after freshman year. Again, my goal is to land a trading job at GS, JPM, DB, or MS after college. I want to start building my resume as soon as possible.

 
Best Response
FutureQuant@(Some Unknown) I'm doing most of those things already. I watch CNBC and read the WSJ everyday. In addition, I'm fluent in 12 programming languages (including Java, UNIX, Perl, Javascript, and HTML). I've also found clubs at CMU for students with an interest in trading.

I'm not asking about jobs for this summer because I already have one lined up. I just want to know if there are any good trading programs I can pursue during the summer after freshman year. Again, my goal is to land a trading job at GS, JPM, DB, or MS after college. I want to start building my resume as soon as possible.

First of all, HTML is not a programming language. It is a markup language, hence the "M". And I truly cannot believe you are actually fluent in 12 (11) programming languages as a high school student. If so, you need to reevaluate your free time.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 
FutureQuantAgain, my goal is to land a trading job at GS, JPM, DB, or MS after college.
This is a good indicator that you need to slow down and just focus on learning, as opposed to planning out your career. There are a lot of BBs that are better for trading than DB and especially MS (I'd say only the averge UBS trading desk is in worse shape than MS trading in general). JPM and GS are another matter.

As others have said, focus on reading up and learning. Don't define yourself as a "trader-to-be" at one of these 4 shops when in reality you still know next to nothing about the industry. (Which I promise is the case, despite your passion.)

 

@awawgoin When I said "program in UNIX," I meant that I could write fairly complex shell scripts. Do you know any other firms that take freshman interns?

@yeahright, My school has four different programming classes and I've already taken them all. I've also worked at a financial analytics company which develops fairly complex risk analytics tools. Thus, its not that surprising that I already know 12 languages. In fact, some of my hardcore CS friends are fluent in 14+ languages.

 

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