<p>i want to go into consulting or ibanking and get a big name/impressive internship sophomore or junior year. i know it's really important to have experience in order to get one of these internships...but i can't find anywhere (not even pwm!) that wants to hire a freshmen who isn't even a business major for this summer. thus far i have an internship with a really awesome nonprofit that works with refugees and an internship in a law firm (with lots of handson experience including going to court with the lawyer im working for). i also have an offer at an appraisal tax firm but it looks ridiculously boring and it's super far so i doubt i'll take it. i'm still looking for something finance related, but if i can't land anything am i totally screwed?</p>
<p>Of course not. Most guys I know don’t land a prestigious finance internship until Junior year. Think about how ridiculous a scenario it would be if a hiring manager at Goldman Sachs reviews your app and thinks to himself: “Oh, he decided to help starving kids in Africa instead of getting a finance internship his freshman year. To the trash pile!”</p>
<p>but doesn’t it look bad to have no finance experience? i thought every competitive candidate junior year has some sort of background in a boutique firm or a PWM internship at the very least</p>
<p>Of course you need some finance experience. But plenty of guys don’t nail these until second, third, or even fourth year. I even know alumni who get internships after graduation and then get the job offer subsequent to completing their internship.</p>
<p>For consulting, at least at MBB, past experience is far less important than GPA/Test Scores/School when recruiting juniors as interns. Experience probably more important when recruiting for full time senior year. Im working for BCG this summer and had no finance/consulting experience at all. Only non profit internships and jobs in the past. Don’t worry about this year it sounds like you have good options.</p>