How to Land a BB Internship as a Freshman

I am a freshman with a good GPA, great volunteer service experience, and I go to a semi-target with quite a number of alums on Wall Street. I will be doing a twelve week summer stint in a top group at a BB in a major city (NY/London/HK). No, my primary job responsibility is not to get coffee and order lunch (though I'm sure I'll have to do that regardless). I will be doing some basic DCF analysis, elementary valuation, working on pitchbooks, and constructing investment theses, much like the junior summer analysts.

Oh, and to all the veterans and experienced guys on WSO, please feel free to add anything or disagree with me as you see fit. This is merely the way it worked for me. Aside from reading the Journal and DealBook every morning, aside from working hard in school, aside from all of that -- here is what I did.

1) Network, Network, Network!

In November, I sent out a bunch of emails (100+) to alumni working in finance. I left no stone unturned: I contacted alums from every city (NY to Paris to Charlotte), from every division (IBD to S&T to Operations), from every position (analyst to MD). Make sure your email is crafted intelligently and that you can articulate why you are interested in pursuing a career in finance. I had informational interviews on the phone with about a third of the alums I sent emails to. Although I did not get an internship from all of them, I touched base and developed a foundation with a lot of key people in the financial sector. I am hoping to continue to build upon that foundation into a strong contact by the time I am a junior or senior. Many of the alums were eager to help me out and offered me invaluable advice, but my batting average was still pretty low. I was offered a BB PWM internship in New York and a MM Equity Research gig in San Francisco, but it wasn't enough. My tiny network, however, was starting to grow. I am in regular correspondence with a few of the alums I had initially contacted. They have already offered to help me get in the loop for summer 09 internships.

Then, it happened. An MD at the BB I'm going to work for looked at my resume and said that I had certain skills and past experiences that could add value to the the group. Interviewed on the phone for an hour via conference call with him and his team. Luckily, I nailed it.

2) Identify Your Strengths and Why You Can Help the Group

Without getting too specific, the BB was interested in targeting new investment opportunities and fortunately it was geared towards an industry that I already had a lot of knowledge about. Language skills are a HUGE plus. With globalization happening at such an immense pace, it is impossible to do well in finance without adopting a global and international mindset. Through my volunteer work in high school and college, I have exemplified that I'm a leader both on campus and in the community. The MD said my past accomplishments showed a lot of maturity and an eagerness to learn. Play to your strengths. I know very little about finance, but that does not mean that I can't add something to the team.

3) Value Experience Over Compensation

Similar to VCMonkey, I offered to do an unpaid internship. Given the current market conditions, BB firms are not going to fork over money for someone with little experience, let alone a freshman. It's just not going to happen. I know that the advice is that you should never offer to work for free, but why not? My job responsibilities are set. I am doing relevant work. I get along with everyone in the group. There is no worry that I'll simply be doing menial work if I am working for free. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that freshman don't deserve to get paid if they're working at a BB. I have no experience and I don't even have a college degree. Frankly, I'm not worthy of a paycheck at this point. The experience I will gain from doing this internship is almost like compensation in and of itself. I know that if I work hard and do well, this opportunity will open up incredible opportunities for me both on the buy-side and the sell-side for my sophomore summer.

4) Persistence Pays Off

In baseball terms, I have the batting average of Julio Lugo during his mid-season slump. But all it takes is one "yes." Keep stepping up to plate and always go down swinging. You'll get that hit with persistence and a good attitude.


Having said all of that, getting a great internship is almost blind luck. There are a lot of factors that you can control: your GPA, your ambition and hunger, your resume. The one thing that you have no control over is often times the most significant one: the alum on the other end of that email and the MD on the other side of the phone call. You cannot change their perception of you. If they think you can add value to the group, they'll do everything to help you out. But, more often than not, they simply don't have the need for you. Taking you on would cost them time and resources. It's cliche, I know, but the important thing is to never give up.

No, actually I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese at all.

And, no mschutzy, I am not tooting my own horn. There are a lot of freshman out there who want to get into banking and it's always good to get a head start. Just trying to spread the advice around that's all.

blade1988 - who says I won't have fun? It's almost sad that a lot of people's advice to freshman is "go get laid" and "chase sorority girls." I don't know about you, but I don't have to work that hard to get any and I'm sure as hell gonna have a great time this summer. Point blank.

ideating - Thanks man. Your posts have always been really informative, btw.

 

1) don't get an erection over yourself. most places would not say no to free labor.

2) it is even worse that you are incurring expenses to do this (flying to hk, paying hk rent, etc)

 

I-banker2007, please read:

You're right, curiousmonkey. That was a bad post on my part - I should not have reciprocated his immaturity. I apologize for my comment, guts. Don't take it personally.

To clarify, I am indeed getting paid and my expenses were paid for.

I made an error in judgment and owned up to it. So, get over it. Seriously.

 
Best Response
aworldapart:
I-banker2007, please read:
You're right, curiousmonkey. That was a bad post on my part - I should not have reciprocated his immaturity. I apologize for my comment, guts. Don't take it personally.

To clarify, I am indeed getting paid and my expenses were paid for.

I made an error in judgment and owned up to it. So, get over it. Seriously.

No offense, but your original comment was much too uncalled for for anybody to simply brush off after you made some verbal 'apology'. 'Get over it'? It's not you who decides when people should get over your dirty remarks. It's obvious you're not genuine about your apology and that you're forcing verbal humility to simply appease yourself. Honestly, how could you even come up with something so twisted to say? I wouldn't even be able to come up with something like that even if people paid me.

'I'm getting paid more in 10 weeks than what your whole piece of shit immigrant family makes'? 'your insignificant lifetime'? 'Go back to your job at McDonalds'? 'bring me that cheeseburger I ordered'? 'you down-syndrome looking fuck'? I was originally going to congratulate you, but this kind of attitude will have to change. It's one thing to be arrogant, but it's a completely another to harbor such a hateful feeling.

It's good that you got an internship your freshman year, but learn to teach yourself genuine humility. I know a gutsy kid from my school who has done a real BB internship since his junior year in high school because he independently networked with the CEO. Amazing part is, he never even mentioned a word of his past experiences or how he got the jobs until one full year of our friendship. That's humility.

 

you don't have to pay them if the intern gets some sort of credit for employment

congrats on the offer -- obviously a pretty good opportunity. when you say "top group" - are you implying GS TMT or MS M&A? i would personally prefer to enjoy my freshman/soph summers doing something else but it all depends on the individual. you seriously have a lot of years of work ahead of you...

good luck. enjoy college...

 

"wtf are you talking about? all expenses paid and I'm getting paid more in 10 weeks than what your whole piece of shit immigrant family makes in your insignificant lifetime."

you've already developed that great banker attitude we all know and love... great to see the douchebaggery at its finest

 

Look, the guy is doing a prop investing MS real estate type gig in HK. As a freshman that's pretty amazing. I think he deserves the right to brag and the advice he gives isn't bad either. The first three responses to the post were stupid. The reaction by the OP referring to McDonald's was even more stupid. The fact is everyone on this board probably wishes that he had this sort of internship as a freshman...

 

When I was a freshman I worked at a bar in the summer, met more girls than I could handle, worked with one of my close freinds, and had way more fun than making fuckin coffee for the office as a freshman intern.

No one cares what you do your freshman summer. Your sophmore summer doesnt matter much either its your junior year that you need to go to a bb bank

As to nystateofmind...who the hell wants to read your article on "landing a bulge-bracket internship as a freshman?? You dont know anything about finance, nor do you even know if you want to be a banker. Go buy your self a virgin pina-colada and chillout

 

"aworldapart" you need to learn some humility and sincerity. No one was trying to knock your comments/experiences until you went in "attack" mode with your responses. What would the alumni that helped you out so much think if they saw what you wrote? Don't forget that no matter how rich or connected we are all of us need help sometime.

 

to the op - stfu and stop digging yourself deeper into the massive hole.

The last thing anyone on WSO needs is another asshole college student who thinks they are the shit cos they got into MS / GS etc. blah blah blah who cares, well done, but it's just the first step in a long, long line and the outrageous attitude you're displaying at this very early stage is gonna make it a whole lot harder for you to be successful

If you didn't disgust me so much, I'd be laughing at the sh*t you wrote originally, omfg

 

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