The Value of Summer

After reading a couple of WSO members' resumes (jeffrey chiang's in particular), I noticed that a couple people have attending Summer Programs at different universities. I did some reserach and came across the Harvard and Chicago summer programs, they seemed pretty interesting... any feedback from alumni from these programs, are they worth the time/money? Also what other academic instituions provide programs like these (I'm a sophmore at a Canadian Non-Target Bschool, so schools that either are in Canada or accept International students would be ideal) ?

Thanks

 

You could check out LSE's Summer School if you'd be interested in going international. Easy to get into, yet a bit expensive. I went there 2 years ago and there were lots of North American students.

 

I was wondering about this too. I just finished my sophomore year (BYU) and after an exhaustive search contacting local small companies and applying to every finance internship within sight, I didn't receive any offers. And I targeted many unpaid internships as well and still came up dry. So I have no hope of summer work experience in finance/banking (unless I get a job as a bank teller, btw what are your thoughts on that?) How much value would the Harvard summer semester be to me considering my circumstances? Any other recommendations?

 
Best Response
wchris:
I was wondering about this too. I just finished my sophomore year (BYU) and after an exhaustive search contacting local small companies and applying to every finance internship within sight, I didn't receive any offers. And I targeted many unpaid internships as well and still came up dry. So I have no hope of summer work experience in finance/banking (unless I get a job as a bank teller, btw what are your thoughts on that?) How much value would the Harvard summer semester be to me considering my circumstances? Any other recommendations?

Did you seriously just ask about being a "bank teller"? Holy hell man, are they teaching you the difference between investment banking and commercial banking out there in Provo? You're only a sophomore, get good grades and network your ass off. Be persistent, it will pay off.

 

Haha... Yeah I definitely know the difference between the two. It was just sort of an idea born out of desperation to get something finance-related on my resume. A finance prof (who was in IB for year) told me that in order to get a BB or even MM summer analyst internship after my junior year I would need to have previous work experience in finance. All other students here that got SA offers as rising seniors had prior internships when they were sophomores so I feel I'm behind already. The idea of Harvard summer semester taking some finance classes sounded better than just taking the same classes at BYU over the summer. It sounds like a fun experience, personally. And I thought having the Harvard name on my resume would at least catch a recruiter's eye so they wouldn't immediately write me off. But maybe I'm wrong. I just want to put my summer to the best use possible. So, Harvard summer semester...is it worth it? If not, got any good ideas? I'll just be doing summer semester at BYU if nothing else. Second question, are there any really good resources out there on networking that you'd recommend? I've seen products from WSO and M&I, are they worth it? I'm sure there are some networking Do's and Don'ts that I might not be aware of.

 
wchris:
Haha... Yeah I definitely know the difference between the two. It was just sort of an idea born out of desperation to get something finance-related on my resume. A finance prof (who was in IB for year) told me that in order to get a BB or even MM summer analyst internship after my junior year I would need to have previous work experience in finance. All other students here that got SA offers as rising seniors had prior internships when they were sophomores so I feel I'm behind already. The idea of Harvard summer semester taking some finance classes sounded better than just taking the same classes at BYU over the summer. It sounds like a fun experience, personally. And I thought having the Harvard name on my resume would at least catch a recruiter's eye so they wouldn't immediately write me off. But maybe I'm wrong. I just want to put my summer to the best use possible. So, Harvard summer semester...is it worth it? If not, got any good ideas? I'll just be doing summer semester at BYU if nothing else. Second question, are there any really good resources out there on networking that you'd recommend? I've seen products from WSO and M&I, are they worth it? I'm sure there are some networking Do's and Don'ts that I might not be aware of.

I did not do any BB/IBD internships, but I successfully managed to get full-time IBD offers from all of my interviews this year. So, don't feel that BB internships are end all be all. I did finance internships in PE (small shop). Try getting in some of those student-managed funds, I know they have some in Utah. Those are good experiences for a resume, especially considering I think those can be done during regular school semesters.

As for networking, I'm pretty sure there are some BYU alumn at BB's. Contact some of these alumni currently in banking or PE and just show genuine interest in meeting and learning from those people. Potential networking benefits will come naturally as you get to know these individuals. To me, I never needed to extensively network outside of my relationships in the industry, but I know plenty of people do in fact cold-call/cold-email alumni and such, and have successfully managed to snag positions. I wouldn't bother those networking products, but that's because I never needed to pursue networking through strangers as I've navigated my college career and ultimately landed a FT IBD position. Good luck man.

 

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