My boys will be sending out their college applications in the next 60 days and then the die will be cast. I am about to shift gears and focus on my daughter who is a rising HS Junior. Initially she is looking at majoring in Finance. I am looking for an internship and/or summer camp in finance that has a competitive admission. She recently completed a camp at TCU in Data Analytics that was competitive (about 30-35% acceptance rate). Her college advisors are pretty useless for recommendations of this sort, so can anybody here recommend either an internship or competitive summer camp for future Finance majors?

A related question might be what extracurricular would most appeal to A&M for a business applicant? She'll have the grades and test scores.

Not a direct answer to your question regarding internships - but I recently learned that Intuit has a free education series that leads to certifications. I have a Mays '30 student, and he's getting going on the Quickbooks cert. For your daughter, it would speak towards "fit to major". Digital literacy is key.

Instead of internships - I'd suggest concurrent credits over the summer, particularly if she wants to stay in TX for school. Speaks towards college readiness.
BTHO college admissions!

Just curious, what are you trying to accomplish with this, fostering interest or attaining something that will get her into an elite business school (Wharton, another Ivy, etc.)?
My son is a Finance major, and to be honest his resume for college applications really didn't have all that much to do with business at all but it didn't seem to matter as far as getting into his particular major. Getting into the program he is now in did, however, hinge heavily on his grades and activities once on campus.
All the best either way.

Two goals: 1) give her exposure to the field before committing to the major and 2) have an extracurricular on her application that would appeal to selective universities with good finance programs.

We already understand the grades, course rigor and test score part. For some schools, that's still not enough - they want standout fit-to-major extracurriculars.

Buck Turgidson said:

---

My boys will be sending out their college applications in the next 60 days and then the die will be cast. I am about to shift gears and focus on my daughter who is a rising HS Junior. Initially she is looking at majoring in Finance. I am looking for an internship and/or summer camp in finance that has a competitive admission. She recently completed a camp at TCU in Data Analytics that was competitive (about 30-35% acceptance rate). Her college advisors are pretty useless for recommendations of this sort, so can anybody here recommend either an internship or competitive summer camp for future Finance majors?

A related question might be what extracurricular would most appeal to A&M for a business applicant? She'll have the grades and test scores.

---

Honestly, I wouldn't pay for a camp. The most selective colleges have written these off. These are great as an introduction to a field, but beyond that, they start to lose their effectiveness in an admission decision. I rarely recommend them anymore.

Instead, ACs have a deeper appreciation for students who are pursuing unstructured learning activities. Teach yourself a coding language (Python, R) and learn how to apply it in the real world. Search for opportunities to put these skills in practice or create your own. I just had a student studying to be a Quantitative Analyst run a Monte Carlo simulation on the World Cup, updating his inputs after each round. He loved this experience, and it was a chance to practice developing his computational skills.

Another thing, instead of paying for a camp, use those funds to seed a custodial account for your kid. If they're really serious, there are plenty of materials to learn investment fundamentals and lots of AI to help them practice managing an account. Help them create their own opportunities. There is greater ownership in these types of activities, demonstrating the student's commitment and initiative.