Yale Incoming Freshman About to Take a Gap Year (Any Internship Opportunities)
So basically, I am supposed to be a Yale '24, but the university recently realized a statement notifying all students that classes will be virtual, but we can return to campus for fall semester if we want. While returning to campus is great, I don't think it's worth wasting a year of college considering all classes will be online, and freshman will most likely be required to stay off campus for the spring semester.
Now that a gap-year seems highly likely, I've been exploring possible ways to fill my time with meaningful experiences that can supplement my education. I've contacted some professors and I currently have a research internship at one of Harvard's graduate schools lined up. But, this position will also be conducted virtually and I don't think it will require too much of a time commitment, so I'm still looking for a financial internship opportunity (unpaid).
So far, I've stayed away from contacting the big BB, HFs, and PEs just because it is totally unrealistic for them to give me chance. I've mostly been contacting smaller/ local HFs, wealth management firms, small PE shops, venture capital firms, and I still haven't been able to find anything. I know fiancee is super tough for finding internships, which is why I was wondering if any of you have heard of any place that have given internships to high schoolers or college freshman.
I would be happy with pretty much any type of internship given that it's related to finance. Please let me know!
nice diary but no
In before the "talk to girls and get laid" comments
go to school and take the easiest semester of your life in college - easy 3.5 - 4.0. You're a freshman for Christ's sake. Only incoming juniors/seniors should consider gap years, but even then, there are a lot of cons to doing that.
While it would be easy to get a high gpa, my parents are very reluctant to paying 65k + for glorified online school. It is safe to say, I definitely won't be going into debt when the simple solution is to just take a year off.
College isn’t about learning, it’s about getting a degree and getting a good job. Judging by the fact that you’re on this forum, I would imagine you want to go into some form of “high finance”, and the best thing you can do at this moment to have of accomplishing that goal is to get a high GPA. Recruiters won’t care if you had a great “college experience” if school is online, but the gpa will matter no matter what. You aren’t paying 65k for the experience and learning environment, you’re paying 65k for the Yale name, alumni network, and the higher probability of making 6 figures straight out of college.
I agree with your decision. paying that much for virtual classes makes no sense.
Search funds. They need slave labor and will take almost anyone who seems intelligent and willing to do mind-numbing labor for no pay. I did one my freshman year part-time which I leveraged into a legit part-time internship the following year and then into a top HF summer internship.
well not everyone has the mental fortitude of an olympic swimmer katie...smh
Would you be willing to tell me what fund in particular? I've been emailing like crazy and still haven't gotten a yes, or even a maybe at that.
No there's thousands across the U.S. Try finding where MBA grads have gone and look yourself.
I'm assuming you want to do the classic IB -> PE track, or straight into PE or maybe a HF or whatever. When you graduate you'll be stuck working long hours for the rest of your life. You may eventually get to the point where you can leave work at a decent time, but you'll always be constantly checking your emails and never really getting away from it all, even on vacation.
You have one year where you can literally do anything. Don't waste it by doing some meaningless internship because you think it'll increase your chances at getting in to a good firm in the future. If it weren't for Covid I'd say travel for the whole time, but because you can't, I'd say spend 6 months doing something fun locally. Learn something, read, whatever you want to do, but make it useful. Then, 6 months later, hopefully things will be open back up again, and travel. Spend 6 months just going to wherever you can afford. You will literally never get this opportunity again, so I think you should absolutely make the best of it, rather than getting some good-on-paper job with a menial salary, where, in actuality, you'll just be binding books, cold calling, or doing other menial tasks.
Don’t be afraid to take some Writing/English grammar classes once you start
Sorry grammar police! I typed it pretty quick — considering this is an anon post, I don’t see the value in making sure that it is grammatically correct.
I mean you’re asking people for you advice, anon or not. I still couldn’t understand whether you were going to campus this fall or not into the second paragraph. Just a piece of advice for attention to detail especially if you’re looking into the industry in the future!!
Most pre-college experience isn't considered credible once you actually get into college. Unless you have crazy connections any internships willing to take a HS Student will not be worth your time.
You don't have to necessarily spend all your time watching Netflix. I would personally recommend reading and learning as much as possible about Finance as possible. If you do this you'll be at a huge head start compared to other students going into your Freshman year especially for things like Finance club recruitment.
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