Am i too cooked for breaking in?

So I’m not “non traditional” but I am “non target”. For a little background, I went to a school where, in the ~60 years of existence, never had an investment banker. Not even narrowing it to out-of-college IB, I mean 0 alumni currently are or have been in IB. (At least that’s what I gathered from professors, students, and my free month of LinkedIn premium). So very nontarget. This wasn’t from lack of trying either, other alums have told me about how people have tried, and failed to break in. I saw this pattern repeated with a peer mentor, but his vigor and interest for the industry is what first made me enamored with the job. Through that, I decided that I was going to break in, no matter what. I had many networking calls with other state school alums in my region, who I hoped would take pity on an ignorant student like me. Eventually, I landed a junior internship with a MM coverage group. The internship went super well, I made some great friends, learned a lot more then I thought I would, and then they couldn’t hire any of the interns in my office due to headcount problems (the market was weird back then). So I was thrown into the black hole of re-recruitment. Once again, way out of my depth but with a little more experience (and jadedness). After constant applying, studying, interviewing, calling, and emailing for everything from wealth managers, FP&A, BizDev, Trading, etc… 11 months. It took 11 months, but I finally landed a full-time IB position like I decided when I was a freshman. I’ll suffice to say this, as a non-target/traditional student, you are faced with a massive question: Are you going to find joy in the pain of getting rejected, ghosted, denied, or straight up told that it’s impossible? Or give up, and let the fear of failure or humiliation control your desire for success and learning? That’s the choice that I asked myself everyday during re-recruitment. Would I do it again? I absolutely would. I grew immensely from the struggle, the year of pain I endured made me more confident then ever to say that I can handle whatever IB throws me. To stop being so motivational sounding. Look, it’s not about your age, school brand, looks, or prestige. It’s about your damn grit and effort to go take something that you want. That’s what business is about, that’s what finance is about, that’s what deal-making is about. So truly, I hope this was helpful in some way, and best of luck with your efforts!