Career Advice to be a Portfolio Manager at a Large Institution

Hey guys,

Please help.

I am currently a junior in college going into my senior year next year, and only now have I been really exposed to careers in finance. I was headed down the real estate path up until now, leaning towards the investments and capital raising side, but after having actual time to research finance careers during this quarantine, I realize I would love to be a portfolio manager of a large fund. But I don't even know where to start or even how to get there!

Here are details about me:
School: Not a Tier-1, but a large university
Majors: Double - Finance and Accounting, Minor in Economics
GPA: 3.9

Internships:
(1) Finance and Accounting Intern at a small local firm - basic financial analysis and operational accounting (6 months)
(2) Real Estate Analyst Intern at a small firm - CRE Asset management, construction project management, financial modelling equity and debt (9 months)
(3) Upcoming Intern at JLL - Rotational program over all sectors of their business. (2.5 months)

Since I am in my junior year I think it's too late for me to get an internship at financial services firm (?). So now what do I do? I heard some say to go into equity research, other say go straight into an analyst role into portfolio management (which is apparently really difficult to do), while others say go into traditional investment banking (which I do not want to do), or others even say go get an MBA. My problem with trying to go straight into portfolio management analyst is that many jobs look for experience already which I only have real estate experience. So where do I apply after college? What are my OPTIONS?

Thank you all!

 

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