Declining an offer (internship)

So, it is my first year in college and I am trying to prep for a summer and possibly even winter internship/shadowing since due to COVID, my school is giving us a 3-month break for winter. I prepped many emails cold calling for internships at various boutiques banks, and a few PWM sectors at some bbs, but I realize I can only do one (or maybe 2 depending on COVIDs structure) internships/shadowing at a time. Let's say Company A offers me an internship, followed by Company B who also offers me one. If both companies offer me an internship, how do I decline an internship that I have asked for? Also, any ideas for who to best contact in these banks to get on off-cycle or even on cycle internship would be great. Thanks.

 
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You are talking about rejecting an internship offer before you even applied. Don't count chickens before they hatch. You are focusing on the wrong things rn. Get the offers first (and if you get a good offer early, stop searching for more internships unless you explicitly specify you can only work after you finish your first internship)

 

You are way ahead of yourself. You need to go through the whole interview process and probably won't even have this problem. Firms are not dying to take on off-cycle freshmen who will probably be virtual. They are doing you a big favor, not the other way around.

If you get two offers, it's not a big deal to politely decline one, happens all the time.

You seem like you're aiming really high. Not sure what size boutiques you're targeting, but it should be the micro LMM shops in your area with 5-40 employees who would appreciate some cheap labor on misc tasks. PWM at a BB is extremely hard to land off-cycle unless you have OCR for those roles specifically or connections. Don't forget that you're a freshman and need to start on the bottom rung. Not trying to be harsh, just overall need to be humble in your current situation.

Array
 

I just wanted to clarify the boutiques were regional and much smaller in size, around 8 people so I assumed it would be much easier for me to get an internship but I see that it is not the case. I was just trying to ensure that I would not be shooting myself in the foot by applying for multiple internships and possibly burning any bridges. I know I am putting the cart before the horse here but I am just trying to get a holistic understanding of the whole process. I'm sorry if my post sounded douche, that wasn't my intention.

 

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