Need Advice/Help In Securing Summer Internship

I have been a member of WSO for a couple of months now and have spent the majority of my time using the site for humor, research, and wasting time. I am a Junior at a non-target school in the south (I am not southern, actually from the north). I do not have a bad GPA but it is not necessarily desirable for my position...GPA is 3.54/4.0.

It is my time to secure the all important summer internship after the Junior year. I have an extreme passion for the stock market as I'm sure many of you do as well so my dream internship is in S&T. However, the attraction of Investment Banking is vast as well. The idea of working in a team atmosphere to build and create the possibility of something greater is simply cool.

I currently sit with having applied to 52 different firms and 80 different programs within those firms. So I do not have a lack of scope in my search. The firms range from BB to Middle Market and all the way down to Small-Cap.

I am not ignorant to my chances with S&T and IB so I have broadened out to programs in corporate finance and Research. I know I have the odds stacked against (as Jane Street and Wolverine Trading make clear in my rejection emails), so I asking for any and all advice/help that can be given.

If you or someone you know has any sort of connections I might be able to use that would be amazing. I'm not scared of reaching out (I've traveled and sneaked into two other University's Career Fairs). Cold calling/emailing has brought me two first round interviews (yet to occur) with two finance programs in two different BB firms, but like I said that is not my goal.

Thanks Everyone.

4 Comments
 

Jane Street is known for being a bunch of dicks. Smart dicks, but dicks nonetheless.

Looks like you are doing all the right stuff here, 80 different things to apply to is a lot. You say you only like IB because you want to create something as part of a team, there's thousands of other careers where you get the same fulfillment (without the same hours), looks like your passion is really for S&T as you say so go for it. Actual networking beats online apps.

Best of luck, and just stay away from consulting

 
Best Response

Agree with Duke, stay away from consulting... all a bunch of fairies. Stick to S&T, seems like that's what you really want to do. I'd advise you to stay focused and organized, keep track of everyone you talk to and what they promise you (if anything). I cannot stress the importance of following up with people enough and it seems like you're doing that anyway. What you wrote in your post, that same sincerity and passion has to come out in every convo you have with people in this industry. I'm pretty sure you'll find something, make sure to go through all your options in order of relevance to you, meaning start with all the s&t shops, move to the banks and leave the corp fin last aka prioritize. You're on the right track in terms of strategic planning, now all you have to do is execute. Good luck

 

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