Originally published in听Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Picture a placid pond. Seen from the shore, a few ducks seem to be swimming along smoothly, nary a feather out of place. But below the
water line, their little webbed feet are kicking like crazy. Today鈥檚 would-be accountants and investment bankers are a bit like that.
Carroll School students are staying afloat鈥攅arning good grades while juggling classes and extracurriculars. They鈥檙e applying for internships, often working part-time, and maybe even starting companies. They almost make it look easy. But a lot of hidden effort goes into keeping those balls in the air. And students concentrating in finance and accounting face an extra challenge, one that has lately begun to consume more and more of their time.
For these students, the first step toward landing a post-graduation job offer is to secure a summer internship in an accounting firm or investment bank. In the past, this process was fairly straightforward: You鈥檇 apply during the spring of junior year for an internship that would begin that very summer鈥攚ithin a few months at most. 鈥淪tarting in probably 2016, that听accelerated to [interviewing] fall of junior year for the following summer,鈥� says Amy Donegan, assistant dean for undergraduate career advising. 鈥淚n 2018, it got moved up to sophomores.鈥� The recruiting rush reached the point where, in January 2024, a slew of sophomores already had Summer 2025 internships lined up.
This change brings the stress of applying for internships into the earliest fall days of sophomore year. But perhaps the new system has both good and bad points? After all, it might be reassuring to have that internship sewn up early. Donegan doesn鈥檛 mince words. 鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 mostly bad, to be honest,鈥� she says. 鈥淐ollege is a time when you鈥檙e supposed to be exploring.鈥� Particularly so at Boston College, where formation of the whole person is a real focus.
And exploration has a practical side. Even the hardest of hard-nosed business students should want to know what field best suits them. 鈥淭here are a handful of people who probably come out of the womb knowing that they want to do investment banking,鈥� Donegan says, but the majority are less certain. They need time to learn about their options, and that requires getting a grasp on the basics. 鈥淵ou might be thinking about doing accounting, but you don鈥檛 really know,鈥� Donegan says, adding that the same goes for investment banking (IB). 鈥淵ou could be interviewing for an internship that starts the summer after your junior year when you鈥檙e a sophomore, two weeks into your first Fundamentals of Finance course.鈥�
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Career Advising Amy Donegan
The whole recruiting dance is time-consuming, especially for finance majors who face a more competitive market than accounting students, she says. 鈥淵ou have to do an incredible amount of networking and interview preparation.鈥� Many of them respond by 鈥渦nderloading,鈥� taking only four courses in a semester, with plans to make up the missed credits later. Lexi Patton 鈥�27 knows students who have skipped classes in order to attend networking events. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e obsessed with trying to connect with as many people as possible,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ven freshmen feel like they鈥檙e already behind.鈥� Patton scored her own internship as a freshman, though that is still unusual.
The uptick in recruiting activity has caused听ripples of panic across other majors as well, says Donegan. Students might be aspiring to an industry that has kept the traditional timelines, but when they see friends getting internships already, 鈥淚t almost creates a cycle of fear, like, 鈥極h, I鈥檝e got to be jumping into this early, and I should know what I want to do right now.鈥欌��
Students are 鈥渙bsessed with trying to connect with as many people as possible. Even freshmen feel like they鈥檙e already behind."
Donegan and her colleagues provide a variety of resources to help finance and accounting majors navigate these shoals. They host Bank Week, a series of no-pressure educational events (rather than networking events) to help students learn about corporate finance, asset management, and other types of finance. They鈥檝e also hired industry coaches鈥攖hree alumni, with help from seven seniors鈥攚ho offer guidance, review resumes, and conduct mock interviews.听
And staffers like Associate Director for Career Advising Drew Barksdale work hard to get the word out to underrepresented and first-generation students that employers are recruiting to diversify their workforce. Attending Barksdale鈥檚 Diversity in Business events 鈥渂roadened my mindset about [career] opportunities,鈥� says finance student Justin Holmes 鈥�26.
In 2018, soon after the trend toward earlier recruitment began, the Carroll School led a consortium of business schools in issuing an open letter to IB employers expressing their concerns. Many employers privately agreed, Donegan says, but the situation has proven too thorny to untangle.
Today鈥檚 Carroll School students are high achievers, and they鈥檙e managing full plates with impressive aplomb. But parents and employers should understand the pressures they鈥檙e under. The students are on the ball; but to an extent, that ball is a rolling boulder that they dare not slip off.
