Do I apply for graduate analyst, or re-recruit for summer analyst IB roles next year?

Hi all,

I'm a penultimate-year student at a target uni in London. This summer, I have an internship role at a super small boutique M&A shop and I am looking to recruit for EB/BB positions next year.

The thing is, I don't know whether to apply for 2025 FT Analyst roles or instead, pursue a masters and re-apply for SA positions next year. Ideally, I want to apply for a FT role as I don't have enough money for a masters, but I know that this last recruitment cycle had little graduate roles open and instead they used their previous year's SA cohort as a pipeline for new Analyst intake. I'm therefore thinking that applying to grad roles is a waste of time and my chances of breaking into IB/BB is a lot better if I re-recruit for SA, but of course this will be sticky in the case that I can't finance my masters degree.

Any advice as to which direction I should go much appreciated. I think this is a zero-sum decision as most banks won't allow the same candidate to apply for an Analyst and a SA role in the same cycle.

6 Comments
 

For many banks, you as a final year would be eligible, and indeed many SA classes at BB banks are full of final year students with nothing lined up (they do not even need to show a Masters or anything). The SA is the main recruiting pipeline for firms and this is the easiest way to get a FT seat. FT graduate recruiting is usually for like one or two seats per bank - not great odds.

 

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