Hey, I'm a college sophomore at looking for an internship in prop trading this summer. I've been paper trading since high school and recently opened up a small account at TradeKing (I don't have access to much starting capital, so unfortunately no leverage or shorting for me) and I think prop trading might be the fit for me. It may be a dream job or it might not, but I'd like to test the waters and find out for sure with an internship while I still have a range of other options. So I'm asking this forum, whose members seem to have considerable experience with prop trading firms and industry connections, to point me in the right direction. I've gotten mixed signals as to what an intern at a prop firm is allowed to do, and I suppose it depends on the firm, but the handful of places I've found that seem to have formal programs that aren't limited to Juniors or post-grads (SMB Capital, Five Rings, Marquette) seem to allow interns some ability to trade. Is that generally the case with prop firm internships? Also I've been sending dozens of internship inquiry e-mails out to places that don't have formal programs, in the hopes that some will be interested in the possibility of unpaid/minimally paid help, but I've gotten only 1 or 2 replies. Should I step it up with cold calls after market hours or just stick to places with formal programs? Unfortunately I don't have family or friend connections in prop trading so I don't have access to any good 'shortcuts' into a firm, but I still really want to secure a position for the summer since I highly doubt any legitimate firm would offer internships remotely. On that note, I'm not too picky, and if anyone knows a firm that could find uses for an intern with trading experience I'm all ears.