Nontarget to Multiple BB/EB/HF Offers: How To Do It

I’m a senior at a non-target school and will work at a top MM HF full-time once I graduate. I also had multiple offers from BBs and EBs when recruiting, but I chose to SA at the HF because I like to invest, and it has way better hours. I’m not diverse, and I have 0 connections through my family. 

Although I think the importance of being at a “target” school gets less and less relevant as the years go on, I wanted to advise kids in the same position as I was before. There are so many threads like this one, so the purpose of this post is to offer advice that doesn’t get brought up that I don’t see given to my fellow non-target students. Anyway, here are some tips:

• Go to school in a big city like NYC, Chicago, LA, San Fran, Miami, etc. I’m surprised I don’t see people talk about how important this is for finance recruiting, especially for nontarget students. Being in a city allows you to network in person, attend firm events, and intern during the school year. Your resume will be way more impressive than those of other non-targets or even semi-targets who go to school in the middle of nowhere. I was fortunate to break into finance because I have been interning at firms in my city since my freshman spring, making me a way better candidate than kids who were partying in the cornfields at their state school/LAC. 
• Cultivate an organic network. This is another one that people don’t discuss much, but I think it’s essential (especially at a non-target). By organic, I mean networking with people you know is much more rewarding than sending emails. Though I wasn’t on WSO until after my freshman year, I knew I could break into finance more quickly if I joined finance ECs.  I also joined my school’s specialized banking program (which was nowhere as good as the Kelley IBW, haha). After spending some time in these programs my freshman year, I realized how dumb they were: everyone was hypercompetitive, and I learned that I hated being around hardos all the time. And since it was a non-target, all of these kids tried to network with the same small alumni network. It’s really hard for one analyst at a bank to push 20+ different resumes. My most successful networking efforts came from my fraternity, non-finance clubs, and internships. I was friends with the older guys in my frat/clubs and older guys I worked with, and these older guys were incoming FT at great banks and/or were close with analysts and associates that would push my resume. I only sent out cold emails to firms with whom I had no organic connections, and nothing came from these networking attempts because of what I stated above. 
• Don't be a finance bot. I know this is pretty counterintuitive because many people on WSO live and breathe finance, but if you’re in high school or are still starting college, please don’t fall into that trap. The kids who were obsessed with IB at my school had no friends (besides the people in their clubs that they weren’t actually friends with and just competed with 24/7), and thus had no fun/never went out because they had nothing to do and just studied technicals in their dorm. I’m glad I had the time and headspace to make friends and have fun. Don’t be that one kid who has the BIWS fully memorized by the end of his freshman year but has no friends or internship prospects. No matter what the kids at your student investment fund say, internships and networking are more important than anything else on your resume. If you are passionate about finance and have time to spend as a freshman, learn how to invest. It’s interesting (way better than learning about accounting and how to do a DCF all day) 
• Don't sacrifice your time and happiness for a 4.0. People will argue with me on this, but I had a 3.8 (rounded up from 3.778) when recruiting and had no issues. The kids in my school with 4.0’s were sweats and had no time to have fun. Having fun is so important. 
• Grind handshake. You’re a nontarget, so don’t expect to get a summer investment banking internship for a boutique after your freshman year. In the early stages (freshman spring and summer), apply to any finance-related or adjacent internship. I didn’t even intern in the financial sector until my sophomore fall, my jobs before that were working with financial data and sales (soooo important to have sales skills). While my sophomore spring internship was at a boutique HF, thanks to my frat brother’s connection, I applied to over 400+ internships just to get one offer for my sophomore fall. And it was unpaid. Overall, interning during the school year is an excellent source of funds, and it pays way better than campus jobs. 
• Last one: don’t study abroad until after your sophomore year, or even study abroad. How will you network or interview when you’re halfway across the world? 

So an ideal timeline would be: 

• Summer before school: learn how to invest, get a summer job, have fun, and look into what frats/clubs you want to join. 
• Freshman fall: Bask in your easy-ass classes and get a good GPA, make friends, join clubs, and have fun. I suggest rushing, too, if it's in the fall. My frat had better placement than the finance clubs and the school’s banking program. It’s also better to pledge in the fall and intern in the spring.
• Freshman spring: Take whatever internship you can to keep your grades up, and start thinking about possible connections you could pursue next year. 
• Freshman summer: Work at that internship, do a great job, learn a lot, and maybe start on technicals, but don’t take too much time on them.
• Sophomore fall: This is the most critical semester. Intern again, learn stuff, start leveraging your network, etc. Have a good list of contacts and know your technicals before recruiting season. Learn Excel, too, if you haven’t already.
• Recruiting season: Practice your people skills; don’t sound like a robot. Start talking to your network (should be your actual friends) and see if they or people they know can push your resume. If you are friends with them, they will say yes, and you won’t waste time sending out cold emails and going on pointless coffee chats. For example, I was able to ask one of the guys in my frat to have his dad's friend push my resume at a BB. If you can't be a nepo baby, just exploit others and become one through them. Apply to every bank, too, even if you don’t have connections where you’re applying. I have no idea how, but I got a first round (that ended up becoming an offer) at an MM and didn’t network at all. 

Overall, just don’t be a total hardo but also don’t be lazy. If you can find the balance of a worthwhile career search, making friends, exploring romance, and just having fun overall, you will have fantastic college years and an excellent job right out of postgrad. 
And btw if you're diversity, you don't really need to follow these tips. Just get involved with the firm's and your school's diversity programs as early as you can, and sit back and relax.