Can you apply for a spring week if you are not a first-year?

Spring weeks, also called spring insight programmes, are short programmes that introduce students to a firm, usually around Easter. Some lead to a fast track or an internship offer. Because they're so often described as being for first-years, a lot of second-years and students on longer courses assume they've missed their chance.

Sometimes that's true, but often it isn't. It depends on each programme's eligibility wording and on how long your course is, and students beyond first year do win places. If a door is closed, there are good routes next to it.

What the survey data says

• Reported: In Trackr's 2026 spring week survey of 232 candidates from 63 universities, 29% of the students who won spring week places were beyond first year
• Reported: Trackr's 2025 survey of 136 respondents found a similar picture, with 26% of spring interns not in first year

Both surveys are small and self-selected: they reflect students who use Trackr and chose to answer. Treat the figures as evidence that it happens, not as your personal odds. They also don't tell you which programmes accepted those students, or on what basis.

How eligibility is usually worded

• Reported: Guides for the 2026 to 2027 cycle describe spring weeks as open to first-years, or to second-years on a four-year course
• Official: Some access programmes use a different test: SEO London, a free charity for students from under-represented backgrounds, states eligibility for its programmes in terms of graduation year

Many programmes define eligibility by your year of study, your expected graduation year, or both. Here's the kind of wording you'll see, written by us for illustration rather than copied from any firm.

Open to students in the first year of a three-year degree, or the second year of a four-year degree, who expect to graduate in 2029.

How to read wording like this:

• Work out your expected graduation year. It's often the clearest test, and it removes any doubt about what counts as a year.
• First year of a three-year course, starting September 2026. You graduate in 2029, so you fit.
• Second year of a four-year course that started in September 2025. You also graduate in 2029, so you fit. This can include integrated master's courses and courses with a placement year or a year abroad, depending on how the firm counts them.
• Second year of a three-year course. You graduate in 2028, so this wording rules you out. But you're now in your penultimate year, which opens a bigger door (see below).

If the wording is unclear, for example because your placement year is optional or not yet confirmed, email the firm's graduate recruitment team before you apply. Describe your course and graduation year, and keep their reply. Always describe your course accurately, because eligibility details are easy to check later.

If you're a second-year on a three-year course

Your penultimate year is when most summer internships are aimed at you, so this is a moment to apply, not to wait.

• Reported: Most summer internships for 2027 opened in August and September 2026, a few buy-side firms opened earlier, and many close between late September and December, or sooner, because firms review applications as they arrive
• Reported: In Trackr's 2026 survey of 296 UK financial services applicants, those who applied on the day a role opened had the best application-to-offer rate
• Reported: In the same survey, applicants to middle-office roles such as risk, operations and compliance had a 43% higher offer rate per application, and these are real careers in their own right, not just a back-up
• Reported: Some programmes are designed for second-years, such as IMC's Launchpad, which is described as a two-day discovery programme for second-year students
• Official: The Bank of England's summer internships are for penultimate-year or final-year undergraduates
• Reported: Big 4 and other professional services firms recruit on their own calendars, with summer internships reported to open around January and February
• Reported: Off-cycle internships run year-round, sometimes in intakes of 3, 6 or 12 months, and are more common in European offices than in London

Access programmes worth checking

If you're from an under-represented or lower-income background, these free programmes have their own eligibility rules and calendars, and some are open beyond first year.

• Official: SEO London runs free programmes, including first-year and buy-side spring programmes, with eligibility stated by graduation year
• Official: upReach supports undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds with coaching and employer access, including sector programmes in banking and finance, with income-based eligibility
• Official: The 10,000 Black Interns programme offers paid summer internships, including in finance, to Black and Black heritage students at UK universities and recent graduates, and applications reopen each autumn

If you're in your final year or have graduated

Spring weeks aren't aimed at you, but other routes are.

• Reported: Graduate schemes at banks open around September of your final year and often close around November
• Reported: Many analyst places go to returning interns, so applying without an internship is harder but not impossible
• Reported: Off-cycle internships and a master's degree, which puts you back into the next summer internship cycle, are both commonly described routes

When spring weeks open and what happens next

• Reported: Trackr's calendar for the 2027 spring week cycle lists 109 programmes opening between June 2026 and April 2027, with dates estimated from earlier cycles
• Reported: October is the busiest month, with 21 openings, and there's a second wave from January to March
• Reported: Applications usually ask for a CV, your grades and often a short motivation answer of about 150 to 300 words
• Reported: Online tests tend to follow from October to December, video interviews from November to January, and offers from December to February

That means most applicants face at least one online test or recorded interview within weeks of applying. Getting familiar with those formats early takes a lot of pressure off later.

Before paying for any practice, check your careers service. Official: Many universities give students free access to practice platforms, including Cambridge, Warwick, Bath and Loughborough.

Keep some perspective

Reported: In Trackr's 2026 survey of 232 spring week candidates, the average applicant sent about 35 applications and 49% received no offer.

Rejections are a normal part of this process, including for students who go on to do well. Spread your applications across different kinds of firm, keep a note of which formats came up, and treat each assessment as practice for the next one.