<p>I'm going into my junior year, finance/accounting major, and have struggled mightily to find a meaningful internship.
My freshman year I got one at a local bank in the consumer/commercial lending department. Though the work was rather boring, it was about what I expected being that I had very little meaningful classwork.
During my sophomore year I worked at Smith Barney as a financial advisor intern. Although reading the materials I had to mail out to clients was enriching, nothing about my job was.
Now I am at Mellon Financial in the Securities Processing department. While technically I am doing "auditing", there is nothing remotely analytical or difficult about my job, other than attempting to stay awake. Though it is only the beginning of my third week, I am starting to lose faith that I will ever find a job I actually like. Has anyone had an internship before the one after their Junior year that was worthwhile (other than for building the resume)?</p>
<p>It's always like that no matter what industry you are in. The bottom line is, companies need an extra hand. They need someone to do their grunt work at a cheap cost.</p>
<p>For finance, you aren't going to find a rockstar internship.</p>
<p>I think Dawgie summed it up well. You want something on your resume, and they want some work done cheap. The only exception I've seen would be BB Summer Internships (they seem to get paid well - don't know about if they get to do anything interesting and Big4 Accounting Interns(also paid well, not too sure about what they do is interesting). If I remember Dawgie was a Big4 Accounting Intern at a time, maybe he could shed some light on this issue.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters that most of these companies want interns to do their grunt work. However, there are ways around in being able to perform meaningful work. For instance, where I work I ask for assignments that i can assist with - i make sure i establish a relationship with the individual first though. I work in structured finance as an analyst and have been exposed to modeling and heavy research to name a few. Be persistent whilst not being an annoyance. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>interning for a hedge fund or in a global markets internship (an associate/analyst program) would be worthwhile- but they're within reason hard to obtain.</p>
<p>My internship is pretty cool. I work for a VC backed start up technology firm. Though I do a fair amount of data organization, chart rendering, list populating and whatnot, any feelings of boredom are tempered by my knowing that because I work for a smaller company all my work is significant. It helps to realize your place/role in the grand scheme of the company. If you work for a larger company, try to realize your role within your department.</p>
<p>It appears that most interns expect to be major contirbutors because they 'know' so much. Most of us on the other side of these deals, smile and remember we were the same way. With that said do your work, learn the frunt stuff, and build on it...</p>
<p>you also get to see the inside of business and the good and bad of it...</p>
<p>Just finished sophomore year, doing a fun summer analyst intern program at Bear Stearns, paid great people to work with every day</p>
<p>Make the best of it and count your blessings. Every opportunity you have is an opporutnity to learn. For goodness sake, do you realize how very privileged you are? Most students have to work at dead end fast food jobs just to help pay their tuition. And, to anticipate your response, my children have achieved internships in goverment and other jobs and do appreciate them -they achieved them through their hard work.
Count your blessings and quit complaining.</p>
<p>it stinks cuz they work you like a cow. you work extra hours for free. at least thats what my friend at mckinsey is saying.</p>
<p>just try to please your employer so that it adds a layer of job security when you graduate and look for jobs. During interviews, you'll be asked about what you did in these internships for sure once you hunt for jobs after you graduate. Be prepared to talk about it in good terms regardless of whether you like it or not. At least you did get the job and have it on your resume. some people never got any or even a nerve to apply for one.</p>