Extra year to re-recruit and how to improve?

Hey all, I'm at cornell and went through the recruiting cycle where I networked with a bunch of bankers and interviewed also with BBs/EBs and 2 MMs (since I thought it would be probable that I could land a BB/EB offer) but made it a to quite a few final rounds but just had none convert. Was told that for alot of these final rounds they were interviewing like 50 kids for 10 spots so perhaps this is a numbers game. Also didn't do as well as expected at the EBs for technicals but can't directly attribute why I didn't convert at BBs (know that it is hard).

Was wondering if people think it would be good to re-recruit next year or to perhaps try consulting or other fields then pivot into finance? Also does anyone have any recs on perhaps what to focus on in the final rounds and being very good with technical questions?

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I'm now in banking at a MM and faced the same situation back then. Honestly think if it's not too much of a financial toll definetely worth trying to re recruit - consulting is also a good option honestly.

 
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Recruiting this year was brutal especially for non diversity. Also so many non diverse kids just labelled themselves as diverse which was also absurd. I really fortunately converted 1 from like 6 superdays which was crazy to think in hindsight. I think its a numbers game. But honestly if you take a year extra and luck out that could also suck. You should consider consulting for sure thought because they always like targets.

 

It really wasn't a bad year and was probably better than last year. Most offers went out before the market crash in March/April, and the class size targets were set way before then.

The lying about diversity thing is super true though and breaks the entire system. At this point there's gotta be more diversity applicants than non-diversity applicants.

 
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dei/nepo at Cornell recruited to some of the best places out there on the street. I've not seen a girl interested in finance without an offer. Non-dei recruiting is extremely cutthroat.

 

This year was a lot better than last year, that shit was brutal. I re-recruited and landed a top MM offer, and I'm overall happy with the outcome. Just need your foot in somewhere for this industry.

I'd say try for consulting only if you see yourself enjoying consultant work/lifestyle. I was very much IB or bust, so if you're similar then I recommend adding an extra semester/year to re-recruit. If you were at a non-target, I'd say cut your losses, but I think being at a target means that you're more than likely to get an offer now that you have the time to recuperate and try again. Make sure you're prepared and come back like a lion, but stakes are higher the 2nd time once you declare extra schooling.

 

Re-recruit, add a major or minor. It will pay off in the long run. Full time recruiting would be 100x tougher than going for junior summer. Make sure you find something to do this summer, even if it's a long-term volunteering thing. Make yourself unique. Know your technicals inside and out and next year you may just land evercore or centerview

 

What makes it brutal? I was planning on just reaching out to past connections, friends at BBs, and not over do it, maybe like 15 email outreachs. Im at a MM this summer in their top group. If you have any advise there, thank you!

 
  1. No one knows whether they will have spots for FT no matter what has happened in previous years. All your efforts could be completely worthless
  2. It is incredibly sus and difficult to carve out time for coffee chats when grinding 100 hours
  3. The process is completely unstructured. Most processes are either closed or semi-closed. A lot of resume drops are fake and only there for admin purposes
 

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