Sophomore Programs/Internships

I am currently a sophomore finance major who wants to pursue a career in investment banking. I have heard that some banks have sophomore programs and was wondering if anyone knew anything about them? Are they thing this year? When do I apply? etc.

Thanks

 
Best Response

Sophomore diversity recruiting is not over yet. Most of the banks only interview an extremely small number of applicants. There are very few BB programs for sophomores that are designed to take anyone besides URMs, but some people find a way in if they can convince the right people. I will try and put things in perspective.

Getting accepted to one of these programs is statistically much more difficult than getting a summer analyst spot as a junior. Stats that I personally verify put DB at 1400 applications for their sophomore IBD program, with 10 spots available.

At Barclays, there were 1100 applicants, and only 21 were invited to interview for IBD. The one thing I cannot confirm about Barclays is the number of IBD sophomore interns they will take, but I would estimate it to be roughly low to mid single digits.

While the interviews were not technical in nature, given the small amount of slots available, and the competition you face (I think there were only 2 people not from an Ivy at the Barclays IBD interview), it is an absolute crap shoot for even the strongest of candidates.

Given that the stats are so slim for the intended target group (URM), you will probably have to be a serious snake charmer or have some seriously important connections to pull it off.

 

That was very helpful, thank you very much. So the takeaway is that if you have received a first-round interview, you have a decent chance of getting an offer in the end? I assume this is because they don't want to dedicate too many resources to sophomore recruiting when their focus is junior recruiting. Does all that sound about right?

Also, any comment on the JPM program - I understand they can be merit-based too, so how does non-URM fare there?

 

Yeah I applied to that. Because I enjoy investing on the side and all things technology, I was hoping to apply to IBD/Equity Research gigs as a technology coverage (Semi Conductors or Electronics).

I'm not worried about Technicals (building/understanding financial statements, DCFs, Comps) and behaviorals could use work, but I wonder if I can at least get a summer analyst/ER associate position at a top MM or BB. If they generally don't take sophomores, I will only apply to select companies.

Whatever it takes.
 

Does anyone know what the difference is between the Citi Diversity Scholars and Citi Diversity Leadership Programs?

Citi is doing first-rounds this week for the latter, superday next Friday.

 

i had a first round interview for the JPM program, and i thought it went well... apparently not. got a call that i didnt get past the 1st round. I'm from a nontarget school, and I heard they take a really small amount of people

-the baller
 

Has anyone gotten a call from Citi yet? I haven't heard from them, which I'm guessing means rejection...

aquamarinee -- I'm at a target and all the people who were not selected for an on-campus interview were notified of rejections about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

Some of these questions have already been aswered in other topics. Lehman has one too, though I've also known Sophomores to get into Lehman's START and IBD programs which are typically geared toward Juniors.

 

JPM's Honors program is predominantly for "diversity" candidates.

Citi's isn't. Goldman's isn't too, but importantly, this year, close to 90% of recruits were from Harvard which I think is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. I mean, it is okay to recruit from Ivy League schools but at least diversify your sample size a bit. Jeez!

From what I've observed about sophomore programs, the candidates are top-notch, super smart and sometimes even more polished and yes, knowledgeable than their junior counterparts. They tend to have a higher return offer rate than the general junior pool, (think 90-95%) but I'm not sure if it is a function of their being smarter or a function of the assessment standards being lowered for them.

When interviewing for sophomore programs, your most important skill sets I would say should be confidence, a sense of humor and a strong ability to sell yourself at the interview level. To get interviews, you either need an incredibly high gpa (but note, this does not guarantee you an offer- you need to couple this with confidence, humor and a sales-man attitude at the interview level) or an okay g.p.a and stupendously incredible leadership experience.

That being said, I'll say good luck to you. Sometimes, luck plays a huge factor as I have seen a lot of 3.9ers from M.I.T with maybe not great, but okay interpersonal skills not get into a lot of these programs.

At the end of the day, arm yourself with high energy, great interpersonal skills and a polished demeanor. Should help you stand out from the rest of the childish looking sophs and froshs.

 

It's pretty damn tough to get into these Sophomore Programs. I got a call from JP Morgan about their Honors program in February for this summer. I'm not at a target, but have a 3.8 gpa.

I didn't get another interview and I think I just got the call in the first place because the HR girl was from the same hometown as me and probably felt bored and realized what a coincidence lets call this kid for fun so we add something interesting to our day.

 

nearly all of these programs are diversity-focused. When my Lehman rejection came, for instance, it was sent from the diversity recruiting office. The only one I know that wasn't solely diversity-focused was BofA's. Yet, there was a diversity component to their program also. Everyone has to fill quotas nowadays...which in itself is a topic worth discussing.

The people who get these positions are definitely not necessarily top-of-the-class. I go to a premier school (think Harvard, Wharton, Princeton) and many of those who got offers had connections. Surely, the kids were bright but there were much brighter students that got rejected. On the same token, some very bright kids also did get offers. However, it is very naive to think that these programs are purely meritocratic.

 

FYI Citi doesn't do this diversity shit. granted everyone has to fill quotas but looking at the Sophomore Rotational Program resume book, i think Citi had like 5 colored kids out of 30. so there you go and they were pretty talented enough to be there.

GS. is a minority program but lots of ivy league minorities filled it up

Lehman is supposed to be a diversity program but looking at the resume book, you wouldn't think its a diversity with the number of non colored people

JPM is definitely a diversity program with just african americans and latinos

MS is a diversity thing but i haven't seen their resume book yet but i'll keep you guys updated

any other banks worth mentioning, isn't bofa just for tellers only :)

 

resume books aren't online..coworkers in other banks handed them over..

its so crazy how quickly and easy resume books fly around..i prob have about 13 in my posession

 

Additionally, you "can" be hired without related experience. This also implies that you also could NOT be hired without related experience. In this kind of hiring environment, play your cards safe when it comes to qualifications. Obviously it tends to differ a bit by school, but candidates with work experience and lower GPA's (even if it's just a random boutique or hedge fund) often have a leg up on getting interview slots over people with better GPA's, unless the GPA in question is an exceptional one (3.8+). Ever little difference matters when there are ~800 resume drops and 30 interview slots.

 

I was in the placed desk program at GS as a sophomore and I can say with confidence that it was THE greatest learning experience I have ever had in my life. I do not think this can be said for the rotational programs (I think a lot of time gets wasted on networking and trying to get offers, both of which are far less important for sophomores), but any experience is better than none. I had a wonderful time and cannot convey the value of the knowledge I gained.

 

Pretty self explanatory: You are placed on a desk from the start of the summer and sit with that desk for the full summer. Consequently, you work many more hours and have much more responsibility and in my opinion learn much more.

 

"sophomore programs worth it?"

Not if it means they can figure out they don't like you earlier.

"Categorical Imperative: If I cannot look at my mother or my wife in the eyes and explain it, I won't do it" - Some British MD.
 
Prangs:
-Is this better than doing an IB internship sophomore year at a boutique bank if you assume that the amount of responsibility you are given is comparable

I would say that with boutique, you will usually have more responsibility than at a BB, especially as a sophomore. Also, if you do both boutique and BB, you get the feel for both, and a lot of times, one clicks while the other is significantly less appealing.

 

All the BBs hire sophomores (well, they did last year, but who knows what'll get cut this year)....google it, it's really not hard to find basic info on them. It seems to be a lot less formal/standardized than junior recruiting, though it seems to hold that if you're not at a target where they come to recruit, just an online app isn't going to do much for you.

The firms that have freshmen days/events (MS, GS, CS, JPM, and Barclays) use those as starting points for their applicant pools. Most focus on diversity at targets...if you're not at a target and/or not diversity then it's probably going to be a lot tougher, but since you're already at MS you can just contact one of the IBD recruiters and see what they have to say.

I've been told that at this stage it's as much about the name as the experience, so I wouldn't reason your way out of a BB program for a boutique on the basis of better deal exposure.

 

The thing is im not in a NY location, I'm in MD, and no one in this smaller branch knows IB analysts in NY. They know lots of traders and research guys, but not IB.

Have you heard of anyone getting in who is a non target and a non minority?

How would this be possible/where would one apply? I cant see a location on the website-clicking the sophomore links takes me to a broader location

 

The sophomores I know who have gotten IBD internships in the past got them through networking. Reach out to some people and hopefully you'll make a good connection who'll pull for you. You probably won't see many official postings for sophomore IBD internships, as they're mostly rotational programs; after all, the point of the internship for the banks is to have ten weeks to evaluate who to potentially give offers to, and it doesn't really make sense then to have sophomores. That being said, it's definitely possible if you have someone pulling for you.

 

Sounds like you could use a resource that has this kind of information categorized and compiled. When I was looking for an internship I found that Vault was a great place to turn for info and job opportunities. It's an online career building service with tons of connections to companies currently offering internships... and a lot of their information is free, so it can't hurt to check out the latest news in internships.

 

We have a few interns that are sophomores and I know a couple at top hedge funds. I think at that level it's all about networking because none of them are minorities. I am sure there are programs that focus on minorities, but most soph interns are probably not in a formal program. Some of the resumes I've seen have listed country club caddies as one of their activities and lackluster GPA and schools. So there's a hint.

 

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