Advice for Junior In College's Summer

Hey everybody, I've been reading the message boards for a while, and thought you guys might be able to offer me some advice. I go to Skidmore College in upstate NY. I've been looking for summer employment since September I've applied to about 55 places, and been doing networking through my school network. Last summer, I worked for Merrill Lynch in the Global Private Client Office. This summer I was hoping to get a big front office position. I had two phone interviews at Morgan Stanley, one for equity research, and another in Sales and Trading. Both interviews went well, with HR telling me that they will keep me in mind, but that they actively recruit at x schools and only have y spots, giving me an uphill battle.
This is par for the course, and I realize that. Since February, I have continued networking. There is still a little shot at getting a front office job in I-banking or research, but it is slim at best. I have the opportunity to get a job at Smith Barney in wealth management again. However, I am also thinking of doing a language immersion program at Middlebury, on top of interning again.
My questions are: Is there anything I can do further to pursue front office positions even though the majority of the BB is finished with recruiting? Will the lack of experience in i-banking or equity research preclude me from full time analyst hire, next fall? Is there anything I can do to make myself a stronger candidate? I am currently doing dealmaven. Should I take study for the CFA level I over the summer? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

see if you can transfer to a target school, or apply to a masters in finance at a target school (NYU stern would work and isnt that hard to get into)

Skidmore people dont work at buldge bracket firms

 
NYCHoops:
see if you can transfer to a target school, or apply to a masters in finance at a target school (NYU stern would work and isnt that hard to get into)

Skidmore people dont work at buldge bracket firms

See that's not true. Skidmore people don't work at bulge bracket firms in the numbers that target schools do, but I'm sure there is at least one person in history from Skidmore that has. I mean there is a group of non-targets for a reason. Being a non-target simply means you have to work harder to get there and network a bit more, but you can still do it. I'm from a non-target and have a spot this summer at a BB (I actually got into about 5 target schools but declined to attend). The one thing I can tell you I do appreciate is that when I get my analyst job and am making only first year salary, I have 0 dollars in loans to pay off, which is a nice feeling. However, being from a non-target made the effort 200% harder.

 
Best Response

you can get into a BB from anywhere, a lot of it will be luck. Dont forget there are a lot of MM and hedge funds. Look for numbers and emails. Not all advertise internships, you are really going to have to step it up and be persistent now. Dont worry about becoming annoying, because calling and emailing and networking is your shot as far as a junior this summer. Good luck, and really lay on the pressure your senior year for fulltime. If worst comes to worst, try to get a job just working at a bank, and then punch it up on your resume. A lot of MM's an small hedge funds pay the same or more as the bb's. People talk about exit ops. I will tell you it's a lot of bullshit, if you do well for 2 years you will find yourself falling into job offers. Not to mention there is always head hunters, and you will also be really networked by then, and in addition you will be able to apply everywhere agian as an experienced employe. This is a great forum and its full of lots of information. Just remember 90% is recycled information from what people heard. It comes from students in your place, and not from people actually working in the field. What is true is it is extremely tuff to break in, but it can be done, an is done every year by many non-target students. You are just going to have to work a lot harder, and the online app avanue is prob not your best avenue. Keep emailing making phone calls, and remember there is a plethora of places with the same work and salaries of GS MS CS UBS. Good luck man.

 

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