<p>So lately I've been looking into doing some financial/business stuff...get some IBanking or Consulting internships under my belt. This, despite the fact that I want to go to graduate school in physics or engineering. </p>
<p>Anyway, I've seen networking being thrown around, and while, yes, I do know what it is in the superficial sense, can people chime in with something a bit more specific regarding "networking" and how best to go about it? From these threads it seems its incredibly important for fields such as I-Banking. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt with regards to grad school either.</p>
<p>As for cultivating and maintaining new relationships...how exactly are you supposed to do that over time as you accumulate more and more? I mean, you can't exactly go to lunch with hundreds of people, or even email. And what do you do in order to build these relationships...is it limited to "lets do lunch"? Would it be classified as a purely business relationship then or personal as well?</p>
<p>As far as showing an interest in others, wouldn't that come off as buttering someone up/sucking up in order to "get something". Even if you are not, how would you go about without eliciting that suspicion?</p>
<p>Just make friends. Do not blatantly calculate. Just keep it in the back of your mind. Hang around smart, good people. If they have connections, even better.</p>