Freshman ('26), Little to No Luck this cycle with the Top Companies. Suggestions? Be brutal.

[jade pelican]

your resume looks fine "except for 2 freshman/sophomore programs & low paying companies (Defense)". The fact you have this means you are already much better than most freshman.

[spring belfry]

i pushed my grad date by two years and it worked p well

[iron nacelle]

i see, that makes sense. thank you.

[iron nacelle]

yeah idk why i didn't do that tbh. it is very uncommon to graduate early here but as long as it is theoretically possible am i right xD (i could genuinely graduate '25 if i try harded but just me being dumb i guess)

you guys think there's any value in grinding out usaco this season and maybe hitting platinum before the next internship cycle? i do think i have a decent shot, and i dont have anything much better to do

[spring belfry]

i mean u dont have to put ur start date, smth like “expected 2024” they will mever know

[spring belfry]

ngl i think the grad date is the only reason u didnt get interviews. so i wiuldnt worry about that. maybe start studying system design/os

[iron nacelle]

right. does this still work if they end up requesting a transcript or something upon sending an offer.

[iron nacelle]

yeah, i was thinking about that. im fairly weak at system design.

[mystic lodge]

from ur coursework, u should be sophomore+ easily?

I dont believe your grad date is correct. Recheck using your transcript and how many credits you have finished. If you are a sophomore then bump is up to '25 and honestly u can fit in with '24 as well, but make sure you arent overestimating

[iron nacelle]

i never really gave much thought to graduating early cause my greedy ass uni does not waive tuition for the 4th year plus i never realised that it was actually doable given the placement credits I was coming in with. I think i'll go with '25 for next year's applications.

[iron nacelle]

by the end of freshman year, i would have completed ~1.5 years of coursework. Also, my uni follows a quarter system so that could add to the higher number of classes you're seeing.

[outer oriole]

why SWE? u have so much potential

[iron nacelle]

i am grinding out the green and red books on the side and will try to take courses relevant to finance & stats in uni for quant but i was under the impression that swe --> quant is the general pipeline? are people successfully doing quant directly?

long term i just wanna work for ~1-2 years and go to gradschool. I feel like having some extra $ as savings would make me more comfortable in gradschool, so from that pov, quant makes more sense.

[outer oriole]

just try directly for quant in the future cuz ur at mega target

dont waste time and effort trying for swe if thats not ur end goal. do serious research at ur uni rather than chasing SWE internships, u have so much potential and u WILL get interviews from quant later on imo

but idk thats just what i think

[iron nacelle]

i think that makes sense. i decided to do research this summer anyways cause what i was getting wasn't good enough to pass on that opportunity (Applied ML/Stats for Econ). Idk if it's wise to pass over like a top tier SWE internship soph year for research though. I have seen a number of people from my school get quant 2nd summer but what would you say I do if i can't land next summer?

[outer oriole]

Hmm for quant you mean qt/qr or swe@quant?

but in any case i’d think top swe for sophomore summer is safer

[iron nacelle]

only qt/qr

[outer oriole]

I also dont think u should worry that much, just keep doing what ur doing