Do I have a chance at breaking into an equity research/investment organization at this point?

What i am wondering: is it wise at all for me to spend my time applying to investment organizations (is my resume going to continue to get thrown in the trash?). I'm a graduating (in may) economics student at UW-Madison and have a 3.5 GPA with experience interning at a small, no-name real estate valuation and consulting firm and a real estate development firm in Wisconsin. I also started my own real estate valuation and advisory services company that I passively manage. I've been actively performing equity research for the past year to manage my own equity investments and have loved doing it - more than real estate. In addition, I've been active in the school's capital management club, real estate club, economics and finance society, and virtual trading competitions. In an effort to transition towards equity research I've applied to several investment orgs, (one of which the Ex-CFO went way out of her way to call and refer me to upper management and HR, and I spent 4 days on the cover letter trying to make it perfect for that org), yet have gotten continually rejected for even interviews. I'm getting the sense that I am just not the target-school, 4.0, prior Merrill lynch intern that they are looking for and its beginning to feel hopeless. Do I have a chance against the MBA's and CFA's that are probably applying for the same shit that I am? Networking is the obvious option at this point but I don't want to waste my or their time as an underqualified candidate. Should I just position myself towards real estate firms now and just make it a goal to break into a hedge fund sometime in the future? Thanks