Sophomore Summer - definite non-target
Here's my situation; hope for some input. I attend a definite non-target, but not awful (think top 50) with a 3.7 as a sophomore in Finance & Accounting. I have talked with a VP at Lehman in their IM division. He has said that he will pass along my resume and implied that I had a good chance at getting an interview. I assume that he is talking about in his department or PWM. (would be curious to know the difference between the 2, as well) In addition, I have been in contact with a VP at RBC doing structured products. He seemed willing to help land me an interview, but had to run before we could iron things out. Lastly, I have someone sending my resume to some regional offices (southeastern) for a couple of BB's and MM's, as well as one PE shop.
I am trying to position myself strongly for a SA position after junior year at a BB. Here are my questions: Would you agree that the usefulness of the possible opportunities as far as getting my foot in the door next summer is: Lehman, BB regionals, RBC/MM regionals/Smaller PE Shop? If not, what order? And, which would be most likely?
Lehman, BB Regionals, RBC/MM regionals, smaller PE shop. All of these also depends on what you want to do. IM is good for opps. next summer (summer 2009) in S&T. PE obv. good for IB. I don't know you so I can't say what your chances are for getting a job but if you are smart, you've read the vault guides and you can explain you are mature and also you have a passion for finance, you could have a good shot at getting a summer job. Lehman would give you the best leg up btw for an SA position next summer.
Thanks for your input. Any other thoughts/opinions?
It is incredibly hard to get in as a sophomore. Incredibly hard. I know this from personal experience. You might want to look into things like Risk Management (credit, market, operational, doesn't really matter) which is not glamorous, but it gives you a solid feel for the organization as a whole. It will also do well for your modeling ability and understanding what it's like to work at a big bank. A lot of the BB looking for summer analysts would like to see you working at a big financial firm. However, just working at a big firm is not enough...you DO need to do some kind of work that is substantial and helps you learn.
Cheers,
Incredibly hard, really? I was operating under the assumption that alot of these non-formalized internships for sophomores were more discretionary than the official summer analyst program. Am I really that far off-basis?
Something you might want to look at is working at a F500 in Corporate Finance or Corporate Development. They are usually far more willing to have sophomores come on than banks, and you'll get good modelling experience. Plus, if you do CorpDev the guys there usually meet a ton of bankers during pitches so they'll have more contacts for you to connect with.
Thanks gomes3pc. Makes sense to me. I have (and will continue to) pursue F500 opportunities. I am just trying to make sure that I don't get myself stuck in a "corporate finance" internship studying a monthly budget for janitorial services...
I am curious though about the following. The person I talked to with Lehman is in the IM division. He manages portfolios for family foundations. To me this strikes me as a pretty close function to PWM. As a poster above said, IM would be good to set up a S&T for next summer. I'm curious about the differences between IM and PWM, and why IM makes for a good segue into S&T while PWM internships are considered (around here at least) pretty useless?
Asperiores quam ad impedit dicta consequatur. Ipsam est placeat et alias incidunt et voluptas. Explicabo libero sunt aliquam omnis culpa.
Nihil ducimus est tenetur. Impedit minus voluptas quis unde sequi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...