Of Going and Getting

I had a change of perspective today.
To preface it, and by way of explanation, I'm currently in the middle of networking toward an eventual career in Investment Banking. I meet people for lunch, write emails, make phone calls, sit down with professionals, and anything else that grows my network and deepens my understanding of the career. While I enjoy doing it, and always viewed my time as well-used, I nonetheless had some reservations.
First off - and this is the main point - I'm a Sophomore. Most firms don't look at anyone seriously until they're at least a Junior - at least, that was what everyone told me, and I believed them.
Now, to some degree it is true. To see it as absolute, however, is misleading.
Which takes me to my experience today.
I met with a good friend who did an investment banking internship last summer. In the course of our conversation, he asked if I was applying for the summer internships already open. I told him no, that I knew that it was only open to Juniors. His reply shocked me:
"Well why not?!"
He then explained to me a simple truth - there are no true rules set in this area. Anything we get is by our efforts, and nothing is off limits. We are only held back by our own decision to not try.
That stunned me. I thought of all the dreams I had, all the things that I thought I could never do. I listened as all of those preconceptions shattered on the ground. I went home and immediately put in my application for a bank I've had my eye on.

The point is, we make our own luck. We get the good opportunities when we try to make them happen. Like my good friend Shia Labeouf says, "Just DO it! Make your dreams come true."