No internship sophomore year

Hi everyone! I am a sophomore at a target school with a 3.65 GPA majoring in Finance and Comparative Literature (3 languages). I’ve tried getting an internship for this summer but to no avail. My low GPA, lack of finance-related extracurricular activities, and a rather useless internship experience in sales and marketing last summer (outside of the US) certainly do not help my case. I am still trying to find a spot for the summer; however, my chances seem to be rather grim. As I only began considering banking/consulting as a career path last semester, I failed to join useful student organizations. Is it too late for me to pursue Finance? Although I have connections from high school (top-3 boarding schools in the US) and can try utilizing my college alumni network, I start losing hope for a career on Wall Street. What should I do now/this summer? Any advice will be highly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

9 Comments
 

Tbh it doesn’t sound like you tried or networked.

Edit: you know it’s standard to do a smaller IB internship in your 2020 summer right and you don’t go straight to Wall Street Sachs.

 

You can still get a job lol. Also, echo above that yes you obviously didn’t network well enough but you definitely can still get a great IB job. Know if people in your situation, but it’s hard to get a top top job because you don’t have demonstrated interest in Financw especially if your school offers it has clubs and holds competitions. I’d say you’re still good, you go to a target, you have always time to network and get interviews. make sure you know your technicals very well, they’re not hard at all (even the hardest ones) if you make sure to mock interview often and really understand what’s going on. Good luck you should just network a lot and practice your why Finance / why IB and start sending emails now until you get a job. GL.

 

not only is it not too late for you to pursue finance, it is definitely not too late to grab a solid soph summer internship. i know for a fact there are a lot of great places that are either still currently recruiting right now or havent even began recruiting yet for next summer (obviously smaller boutique shops). as others have said, start cold calling. Ask if they are taking on interns: you will usually either get a direct yes we are send me your CV or no we are not or I am not sure (call back later). definitely not too late. AND use your high school connections, others would die to have that secondary network

 

Ea eligendi laudantium maxime ut consequatur maxime. Et fuga quia neque dolor id. Quas fugiat voluptatem sint ut officia.

Tempora mollitia impedit numquam nam modi. Omnis sed dolor reiciendis reprehenderit voluptatem in. Nesciunt tenetur dignissimos magni magni ut et. Aut est et exercitationem qui doloremque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (68) $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

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...”