what the hell do I do anymore

The best career advice I got is "dont worry about your career so much".

2.1 from a russell group uni is still okay, and it could serve as a conversation starter. My brother is in the same boat. He graduated with 69.65% and they wouldnt round it up to a First. You could perhaps appeal to the uni and ask them to round it up but that's unlikely. In his CV he wrote it in %. If they refuse to round it up to a First, fuck them and always write it precisely in your CV (69.94%). People will notice and they'll be cool about it. Don't say that you did more than 100 applications because it won't end well. Just make up something else. You don't want empathy from people. It's not a good thing imo.

And remember, a 2.1 from Nottingham is better than a First from many universities. AND just because you dont have a grad job lined up doesnt mean anything. WSO is the type of place where the highlight is on people who are in 0.01%. Don't feel bad.

Just take some time off (a few days) and do what you enjoy. Assuming you were born in the UK, you can go home and play videogames or meet up with old friends or idk. Something wholesome like quality family/friend time. Don't go on a pub crawl, it won't actually help. You need to disconnect from that mentality and realise it's just a job. You won't start at Goldman Sachs, so what? Leave them alone and move on.

Then, when you've chilled for a few days (doing whatever u enjoy - ideally getting out of your current environment e.g. alone in student accommodation), you can reevaluate your approach and start from scratch WITHOUT reading stuff online. Just do what you think makes sense. Re-evaluate your CV, Cover Letter and approach to everything. Do you really want to be in IB? Do you really want to be in PE? Think about what they do and if it is actually something you would enjoy. Forget about the money/prestige. Try to network. If you aren't in a good mood and you come across as a beaten underdog, go back to chilling. You need to come off as a positive person who has a GENUINE interest in that industry. This can't happen if you don't actually feel this way.

Also, if you network don't use LinkedIn. From my experience emailing people works much better. Often you can guess someone's email from his name. E.g. John Smith in X Capital. If you find his colleague's email and its [email protected], John's email will be [email protected]

Don't take everything I said for granted and consider the comments from other users as well. I also don't know where the balance for honesty is. I know for a fact that too much honesty (I failed after submitting 100 applications) cant be good.

Remember its real people in those buildings. They have families, kids, dreams, interests, flaws, addictions, kinks etc. The company name doesnt mean anything. You just have to be useful and easy to work with.