How do I begin with reaching out for coffee?

Hey everyone,

So I'm a junior year student at a pretty well regarded university in New York, and I have been feeling extremely stressed for the last several months regarding my approaches to get any experience. I have a 3.1 GPA after my sophomore transfer reset because I was regularly working around 30-40 hours a week in a bar with late nights, and unfortunately my grades suffered. I wish I didn't have to drive 2 hours a day to school and work those hours, but gas and bills don't pay themselves so I have to do what needs to be done. I've been working since I was 14, so I would have felt guilty not working anyway.

Because my GPA is far from stellar, I am now finding it really difficult to hear any word back on everything I applied to that hasn't already rejected me. I know that networking is pretty much essential for this field, but if I'm being honest I almost feel inferior or insecure talking to people in the field which makes it very intimidating. It's stupid because I know I'm a hard worker and I am gung-ho on leaving the situation I grew up in, but I felt pretty bad at my last externship speaking with my peers who all seemed to have a relative managing a hedge fund. It also didn't help that they all seemed to have about 5 crazy internships already while I basically have no experience.

I've been lurking here daily for months reading advice and it's been extremely helpful, but I can't seem to find any threads on how to approach someone on an email without looking like I just want a job. I genuinely want my first few encounters to simply be for building relationships in the industry and receive guidance. I feel like every template I've seen from fellow students on here seemed very robotic or generic, and I don't want to come off as just another kid annoying an already busy banker.

If anyone can provide advice on the best tone to use in my approach, I would greatly appreciate it. I want to reach out on a more personal level than just looking interested firing off boring questions which I'm sure nobody wants to hear outside of work, and then expecting a referral after.

Sorry for the lengthy post, and thank you to all who took the time to read it.

 

ihatetumblrkids, hey, look at the bright side, at least you didn't get a ton of monkey shit thrown at you...here is my best guess on threads that might be helpful:

  • UG PE Analyst- 2.9 GPA, no internship, non-target this one ranks #25 and was originally posted 9/20/2015. From Non-Target Undergrad Straight to PE ... Contacted 1w later, phone call next day 1st round: 30-40 minute call, long form elevator pitch followed by ... gig (at at PE firm no less) straight out of undergrad with minimal experience, no ...
  • Non-target to BB IB SA a non-target school with an average GPA (~3.5). School I came to school to study something arts-related, ... different non-target school and started talking to him, which in turn led to him taking me on for a (paid, ... MULTIPLE different accounts similar to mine describing story after story for non-targets getting into IB ...
  • Non-Target Undergrad to Non-Target Grad to Asset Management promoted to a team lead, so added that to the resume. At this point, I started an investment club with some ... keep your head up I came up with absolutely nothing trying to do things the right way (networking) then ... school with a 4.0. This job taught me how to do in-depth data analysis and manage projects. I was also ...
  • Non-target--> FT Off-Cycle IBD Analyst School Now for my story, I attended a large (20,000+ students) non-target school. We were in proximity to ... community. Really learned a lot and got my foot in door based on the advice on these forums. The Non-Target ... probably 70 of them. I Sent Over 400 Emails Being a non-target the people who were involved really enjoyed ...
  • The Non-Target Who Didn't Take No For An Answer guys I attend a non-target state school with relatively low amounts of alumni in the field. Having ... you on and support you. My contacts began to reach out to me and ask me how I was doing. Incredible ... I wanted to do? I had a basic story for why I transitioned from medicine to banking, and found a way to ...
  • Why We Hired a Non-Target 1st Year- IB Analyst Non-Target- 3.5GPA- Economics Major with Finance classes Technicals: #1. No missed questions. #2. Missed one ... a Non-Target. After having an analyst already quit after under 6 months on the job it was time to search out ... helpful for guys trying to get into Wall St. Here's the breakdown on how to stand out as ...
  • AMA > Non-Target > Search Fund & AM internships > BB AM 1st year- FI > (Think Wellington, Fidelity, Blackrock) schools. Went to a small non-target school in Boston. When I say non-target...think smaller and less known ... away. Keep Grinding. AMA non-target AM to Monday, September 11, 2017- 1:55pm ... than BC. Scored a 2.5 freshman year, but ended up with a 3.8 major and minor GPA by graduation. Started ...
  • Non Target & No Internships to Target with Multiple Offers worth it. Non-Target School success story wso success story 2015 internship trading ... grinding! I went to a non-target ranked about 50 in the U.S. where I was math and pre-med. I had relatively ... industry by reaching out to family or business school friends I had in college. I realized at this point ...
  • More suggestions...

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

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