Ask for honest (can be brutal) advice for me as a IBD 2026 SA applicant

Hey y'all, this is an international student currently in Semi-target (ish). I would need some help and suggestions for future few months as the application might open for a few shops.

Right of the bat, I got three internships experience from PE shops (Across Spring 2024, Summer 2024, and now Fall 2024). I learned a lot from one PE shop because it has live deal going on (12.5MM US buyout) so that I could talk a lot about it ig. I got mediocre contributions in school activities - limited leadership roles, but I am in some investment related clubs plus some clubs of my personal interests (not GOLF). My GPA is 3.8x/4.00. So far the networking process is pretty enjoyable and conversion rate is around 10%, one referral gained from an analyst. Technical prep is pretty smooth that I started to mock interviewing around with advisors and buddies. Behavioral prep is a bit lagged tho ik it's as important as technical part, it doesn't have a standardized preping process.

Anyway I guess these are all things on top of my mind and I will reply to every comments/thoughts below (if any). Thanks!

1 Comments
 

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