What's my next career move here?

pubfinanalyst:

i mean coming from an non-target in the south you are a little screwed at the moment you graduated and took and took and internship and now you are off cycle which is normally for laterals. I think you getting a FT job is important to prevent gaps in the resume and you may have shot a little high by taking the internship rather than a FT job. So at least to me your options are to find a lower level FT job since you are not a lateral or go to grad school.

Appreciate the response, though I've never been one to accept that I'm "screwed" in any situation. My philosophy is that I've just gotta work harder than everyone else to get where I wanna be. I took this internship instead of the FT offers down there (which by the way included a customer service rep position at a bank & a sales associate position with a wireless company, not exactly springboards to a career on WS...) because I was willing to start out lower on the totem pole for the opportunity to reach my goals, and I currently have no obligations that would prevent me from doing that. I've looked into MSF or MBA programs but many of the programs I'm interested in would like to see a little more real-world experience first