Investment Banking MBA Internship

[jelt]

Hi Amy,

I've posted my profile here before, but I would like to further clarify one point. Unlike most others here, I am neither looking for a career switch nor a new job. I am a scholar with a company from Singapore, and they are going to be partially sponsoring my studies. I'm looking to apply to full-time programmes because I am currently a college senior, but I've already had 3 summer internships with my sponsor, and know exactly what I want to achieve over the next 6 years, when I will serve out my bond to the company.

Because I intend to do corporate development work, charting the future expansion of the company, I am planning to major in finance, and possibly pursue a second major in entrepreneurship, in order to be able to spot future growth opportunities and more importantly conduct M&A work (because, in all likelihood, achieving my long term career aspirations will eventually require me to be the single point man exploring and executing deals/ partnerships/ tie-ups in foreign countries). As such, I will require a very sound grounding in financial M&A work, and am very interested in pursuing an Investment Banking Internship during the first summer of my MBA studies, in order to get such experience.

Here's the point I hope to clarify: since these internships are typically used as a recruiting tool, will it be difficult/ unrealistic to aim for one, given that not only do I have no banking experience, I will also not be looking to take up a banking job with whoever hires me? If it's not unrealistic, I'm sure it's at least more difficult. Do you have any suggestions how I could go about pursuing and securing an I-Banking internship, in this case?

Thanks lots!

[Amy]

Hi jelt,

I don't think getting a banking internship is unrealistic. You're certainly not required to accept an offer after an internship, so I'm not sure it matters much what your reason for pursuing one is. If you can put up with the work of recruiting and get through the interview process without having a passion for the career path, it's perfectly possible to do a banking internship with no long term plan to work in banking.

We're really admissions advisors, so I wouldn't feel comfortable giving you specific recruiting advice. The information is going to be more than available once you start school, so I wouldn't worry about it at this point.

Good luck!

Amy