How hard is it to get an internship in a finance/equity research position after you graduate? With only accounting background.

So I've had two accounting internships so far and im going to be a senior in the fall.

I realized accounting is quite boring work and is mostly using your company's daily operation data and organizing it.

I want to do something that deals more along the lines of equity research and trading where you can use data/models to make educated predictions and ideas that actually brings in revenue for a company.

In essence I want to do work where I get paid to think and make decisions that have a direct result on whether i make or lose a company money. I don't want to just get paid a wage to help the people making the money organize and report where their money is.

Since it is already the summer of my junior year and i have realized that many financial institutions such as bulge bracket banks (i.e. JP Morgan) only offer internships for the summer of junior year/penultimate year, should i take a fifth year of college and use my new "junior" year summer to do a finance internship?

Or maybe its still possible for me to get a full time finance/equity research/trading job even though my summers have only been spent doing accounting and tax work?

Should i spend more money for a fifth year of college just for the reason that itd be easier to get a finance internship that may lead to a full-time finance job?

Maybe bulge bracket banks do offer recent undergrad graduates finance internships? Even though most of their internship postings state that they really only want undergrad juniors?

Getting a response from people who have been in my situation would be great. A response from an actual recruiter from these types of firms would be great as well.

Thanks

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
numi's picture
numi
98.8
10
Kenny_Powers_CFA's picture
Kenny_Powers_CFA
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”