Ending My Life if I don't get an SA 2025 Offer

Take a deep breath and relax bro, there’s so many kids I know who didn’t get any SA offers and did like something random and went on to get fire FT shit. market sucks rn and ur trying ur best. Trust me ur gonna be alright dude the people who get fucked at the end of recruiting are the ones who never tried, you keep pushing u will land something and also something good trust me on this

Come on bro people like Leon black struck out in wall street recruiting out of undergrad and look where they are now. In 30 years we'll be hearing plenty of similar stories of super smart and successful people who struck out back in undergrad because of diversity hiring. Always bounce back and never give up in life.

Dude I’m an asian male international kid at a semi-target; went through recruiting last cycle - I definitely ground myself to the bone last year before landing an SA at a mm in Sept.

That was a terrible time but believe me, you will make it as long as you grind. Apply for everything and everywhere, and you will get interviews. Many would give up in summer if they still couldn’t convert anything, and you will have a surprisingly higher chance in fall if you still couldn’t get something in spring.

Try to do anything to keep a positive mood, so that you won't mentally get crushed before getting interviews. Best of luck dude

keep at it man

Honestly, just accept that IB isn't for you and move on... There are plenty of other high paying jobs out there.  Stop being such a hardo loser chasing "prestige" like all the other clowns on this website, and go touch some grass.

Complete not target and made it to an EB tech  group FT without an internship. In the process for a number of solid tech buyside shops. Keep trying, and if it doesn’t work do something else. This job sucks anyways, analyst pay is just ok for 2024 prices, stress daily is high, personalities are often bad. Try consulting 

The human mind has the unfortunate ability to convince itself ‘the world will end’ if something doesn’t happen exactly as planned. Just keep consistent effort and create multiple contingency plans. In the long arc of your career you can bend toward what you want to do. Anyone can learn this, it’s why it’s so competitive. It’s distilled down to the purest competition because everyone knows how lucrative front office finance roles are. You got this man just stick it out and there’s nothing wrong with taking a more itinerant path.

Double post

brother, it’s simply not that deep

it's really not that deep ending your life is just crazy lol

Don't let them win that easy bud. We've still got a lot of people to prove wrong

Real real real real real real real 

I can definitely empathize and might come back to write a longer comment, but for now I'll say there's so many people who hit huge struggles in their life and still hit it big. Just read Jack Ma's biography for one example. I went through exactly what you're going through and made it through the other side, in a year or two you'll realize none of this shit matters and wonder why you ever considered something so drastic for such a silly reason

Keep pushing man and you will get something. I know recruiting at this moment seems like your whole life but there is so much more to it

You’ll be fine man. This is coming from someone who graduated from a very non-target school with zero IB network or finance internships. It took a few years but I made it. There are plenty of others who did the same as well. Keep your head up!

Imagine saying you’ll end your life if you don’t get an offer to work 80+ hours a week, give up your social life and everything that makes you interesting, all so you be a glorified executive assistant and not even make enough to live alone in nyc. Like is that not embarrassing? This shit is not that serious please stop manufacturing problems for yourself. This is like a high school kid who throws tantrums because they got a 89 on the exam instead of a 95.

Dude. chin the fuck up, seriously. I was in your shoes 4 years ago, graduated with no job, worked at a shit bank for a year and now am in  a far better place. keep fucking goin

You're in your junior year of college. You're only 20 or 21. Your life is just beginning.

I know it sucks. A lot of people are in the same boat you are. Just because you didn't get into a good bank doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

Remember how you were freaking out over college apps a few years ago? When kids thought it was the end of the world they didn't get into an Ivy? This is the same exact thing. Where you go to school or where you get your first job is not the end of the world. There are many kids who don't get into Ivies who become extremely successful, and there are many young men and women who make it big even though they didn't get into Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley right out of college, or at all.

Again, I know it sucks. Take a deep breath, understand that exactly like your college, your 1st job will not decide your life. If you work your ass off, you can and will succeed. I'm cheering for you bro.

im-going-to-end-it sub-forum when?

Why this chain kinda wholesome (for wso standards). I woulda just said womp womp

No two career paths are the same. Plenty of people take other jobs before landing in their chosen career paths. You do not determine your career in your junior year. You are not your career, and you must separate your sense of self worth and happiness from your career. Good luck! Recruitment does not end until the end of next semester, and even then you can still find opportunities. Worst case scenario, you try again for FT.

This is what weak parenting does.

Kids grow up entitled to everything and threaten suicide if they aren’t given a highly-competitive internship.

Cya

going through the same thing rn - it's fine not the end of the world. don't set a deadline for yourself. 

Brother there is more to life than working on Wall Street… if you really want it something will stick, if not now then in a few years.

Trust yourself and keep going. This is not the end of the world, sounds like you’re a driven, smart guy. You will be perfectly okay, can’t wait to see what you accomplish in the future.

Was in a similar boat, keep going

Is there a tracker site for when FT apps open up? 

If you want to end your life because you struck out on recruiting; you'd probably be the same type who'd want to end your life because of how much banking sucks.

I actually made a similar post on WSO about how fucked my situation was and how I was at the point of giving up, and got some good advice about keep sending out the apps and shooting my shot. It worked out and I ended up at a UMM Tech PE firm (ignore WSO title here), getting paid VERY nicely and I am not really that much happier. You should look at something called the "Hedonic Treadmill" basically the concept that your happiness averages out to baseline after a big event that you're looking forward to; getting the offer, getting promoted, getting laid, etc.

I don't feel that much happier or different from pre-offer, my financial and career situation is just better than before but also presenting new problems for me existentially (having to work my youth away) and practically (challenges at work, in my relationship etc).

Anyways, this isn't a dark post meant to say you'll never be happy, but rather you right now can be as happy as you would be post-offer. And you WILL get an offer somewhere, it's just inevitable if you keep endlessly shooting away like I did.

One last thing I'll recommend, manage a pipeline of opportunities, treat networking/getting an offer like a sales job. You should have a target of how many firms you email or reach out to per day, I'd say 50-60. Then you should keep track of how many respond, and how many you've already networked with that you're on a weekly/monthly cadence with.

Build a pipeline here of actionable leads, up-coming interviews, and review every Friday where each firm is in the interview pipeline stage. You should have a quota of 5-10 networking calls per week and at least 2 interviews per month. You getting an interview should be counted as a big win, not you getting an offer. If you keep getting responses and initial phone calls set up, you will inevitably get interviews, which will inevitably lead to an offer at some point.

You got this man, I know you're not stupid enough to actually want to die about something so stupid and small. In reality, you just want the part of you that failed you to die; but this is all mental smoke and mirrors. You only fail when you give up.

Hey man if it makes you feel anybetter. One person ik backed out of ms ib ft at becuase they didnt want to work for anyone. she literally said fuck this job so much she gave up her safety net to chase his dreams. I hope this lets you know this job is not everything.

just lol at students who wants to end their life over a fucking summer internship when i've been retrenched twice, didn't get a summer IBD internship, fucked around in other finance jobs before getting his shot at M&A after 4 years. 

Keep your head up!

2023 was a dark year even for interns who got a summer internship. Average return offer was like 50%.

Not the end of the road.

In a very similar boat. I started at a semi-target in 2021 and failed to secure anything beyond corporate finance for my freshman and sophomore summers. Had 2 interviews for banks for my junior year summer and failed all the chances I had.

Transferred to a target school and got an interview at an EB for SA 2025 and completely failed it. Plus, to do that internship I would have had to take a complete gap year anyways. I have now failed for two cycles at IB for SA 2024 and SA 2025, and all I have to show for it is a shitty Big 4 Audit position for my junior year of SA 2024.

If I don't take a gap year, I will be crushed in FT recruitment. I have been recruiting nonstop for over a year and have to continue doing so for another year to even have a shot if I want to try for Fall 24 / Winter 25 off-cycle internships. SA 2025 is a lost cause at this point.

My outlook is extremely bleak and I have been feeling so utterly depressed these past few weeks in particular.

Hey, man I am in the same boat, I go to a nontarget, low technical knowledge compared to most people applying with a few internships under their belt at search funds, regional banks, and PE. I have done over 150 applications and I have gotten dropped from many and even made it to the third round of interviews from a firm and then was dropped. Not the end of the world, I know we are all grinding but at the end of the day realize that we are the top 1 percent of people in this field. There are plenty of other ways to find a career similar to this that will pay the same if not a little less. Why not work at a smaller firm gain experience then attend business school before either recruiting or starting your own PE firm? What about the new growth potential in DEFI? The world is so much larger than investment banking, fulfillment doesn't have to look like 90-hour work weeks and big paychecks. It can be teaching people about financial concepts or helping small business owners in America sell their family-owned businesses to a firm that will help them flourish. 

Gotta relax man. I was in the same situation last year. Had the GPA/Internships/Sports but couldn't get an offer and was extremely stressed out. Ended up getting a NYC B4 offer and making pretty decent money and yeah ik its not the most glamorous but everything will work out in time and if you think IB is the end all be all of life I'd probably reconsider it as a career path.

It’s not easy in this job market and IB is highly selective on paper, as a non target you need to know someone to push you along / personally introduce you to hiring managers, others in the team, and even their co-lead if applicable. If worst comes to worst and you can’t land anything, make sure your summer is constructive. Do some online classes to lessen the load during semesters, do some financial modeling courses / take the SIE (shouldn’t take you all summer), or travel and try to learn something about yourself if that’s your thing. I promise you there’s light at the end of any tunnel. Good luck!

I’ll be honest with you man. Considering that I’ve worked with people with serious mental health issues, I’d rethink Investment Banking as a whole. It’s not that serious, but to you it is. Also, blaming your lack of success because “I’m not diversity” is an immature perspective to have.

Truly, I wish you the very best of luck though.

I sure hope you’re not serious. No career is worth your life. If anything, I’ve seen more people fall into depression and destructive tendencies because of banking. You’ll be fine and will find something. If it’s purely money you’re after, that will change when you’re older and  realize health and meaningful relationships are far more important. And if it is money, go into tech instead. You’ll actually have time to enjoy it