Do I even need a sophomore summer internship at this point?

Recently received EB offer for 2023 summer. 100% return offer rate the last couple years, according to a current analyst. Still haven't even found a good internship for this summer yet, but at this point do I even need one? Would be awesome to spend it with my family, do some volunteering on the side. But don't want to get chewed out by HR or screwed in what deals I get assigned to over the summer. Any thoughts? Feel like I'm biased because obviously I'd rather do nothing, so want to get some neutral 3rd-party opinions.

BTW: Have an offer for a LMM PE internship in a MCOL area, but the internship is kind of shitty (pretty sure I'm going to be doing operations/back-office stuff half the time, and I won't net any money out of it after living expenses). Don't really expect to learn anything there, so wondering if I'd be better off just taking the summer off or if I should just bite the bullet and get something on my resume. FWIW, had a strong internship after freshman summer.

16 Comments
 

Can I ask what you did over freshman summer that helped land the EB role?

 
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I was in the same boat as you. Secured an EB offer before securing a sophomore summer internship. I had a sophomore summer banking internship offer that was 12 weeks long and unpaid, and the best decision I ever made was turning it down. Took a month looking for a fun interesting non-finance internship (paid too), had the time of my life and traveled after it ended/before junior year. My EB didn't care about what I did sophomore summer (never asked during interview process or afterward) so my advice is do whatever you want this summer because it'll be one of your only "free" summers left. And congrats on your junior offer.

 

Any recommendations on traveling before/after my 10 week junior internship. Going with 3-4 buddies to Snowflex at Liberty University to ski, then gonna hit up some beach in NC to surf.

 
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Not sure what you’re asking seeing as you just laid out your travel itinerary.

 

Hey I was wondering what did you do that is considered a “strong” internship freshman summer

 

You could take a chill summer or try to leverage the EB gig into something temporary for sophomore summer if you want. Everything that you would do from this point from an undergrad internship perspective can only raise your ceiling (i.e., go work at another NYC HF) or make you a better-rounded and more interesting person (go travel or do something cool with your life)

 

Nobody I worked with in banking really cared about a sophomore internship, unless it was during the interview process. Once you are going to be a summer analyst, everyone will judge you based on how you perform that summer. As such, there is no longer a need for you to intern this summer (congrats on being in an enviable spot)

That said, you should absolutely do something interesting over the summer. The amount of times in your life that you will have this freedom will be minimal after this so I encourage you not to waste it sitting on a couch. Go live in another country if you can, bounce around Europe or Asia or just travel in general. Workout, read some books, whatever you're into. I'm jealous man, enjoy it.

 

gonna agree with other ppl on here who said this is your last free summer.

pls take this time to be a kid one last time. I had a sophomore internship but was lucky enough to be done by mid july. I traveled and had a blast with my friends with the 6 weeks I had left. Also met my girlfriend.

Go have fun OP, and congrats.

 

I strongly recommend taking sophomore summer off if you already have your junior summer locked down. There's no need to net-zero cash and sacrifice your last free summer. Live at home get a chill job that provides some money to spend and enjoy the time with your friends. 

Because of COVID, my sophomore summer internship was virtual (lived at home). I never worked later than 6 pm except on a few big projects. I had a ton of free time in the afternoons and weekends to hang out with my friends and enjoy life. Looking back on it I did not fully appreciate how valuable the time I had with my friends was. Since then I haven't seen some of my closest friends in years because of work, school, and misaligned schedules. 

Enjoy your time while you have it. 

 

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