Has the RX boat sailed?

Hi. Hope everyone is having a great day so far.

To give some context, I'm a rising sophomore at a non/semi-target on the west coast. Over the past couple of months, I've become interested in the world of restructuring. This mix of law, psychology, and finance is one that greatly appeals to me and I've been taking the necessary steps to familiarize myself with it. (Moyer, PACER, cap tables, etc.) 

While there are factors that I can definitely control (networking, technicals, following cases), I realize that there are aspects of recruitment that are somewhat out of my control. I'm aware that recruitment is extremely competitive as a majority of SA positions are usually held by those attending select schools (eg. Wharton). As someone attending a non/semi-target, I already face an uphill battle in the recruiting process. 

To add to my troubles, I haven't been able to secure anything for next summer. While I am still trying to find positions relating to LevFin/Credit; there's not much out there for a nondiversity.

While I do understand that there is time left, part of me wonders what could be done if I re-routed back into the M&A space. Is it too late for me to succeed in RX recruitment or should I continue to push on.

TLDR: Haven't secured anything for the summer of 2023. Is RX 2024 recruitment out of the picture?

Really appreciate you guys taking time out to read this. :)

 
Most Helpful

Didn't recruit for Rx myself but have friends who recruited to some of the top Rx shops (PJT, HL, Evercore, Laz). The restructuring boat has definitely not sailed. Many firms do not look too closely at your freshman summer internship unless its a well-respected name (which for most people it isn't). The more important thing here is that you get something for this summer. Doing nothing looks terrible so getting anything in business would be helpful. A good chunk of my most successful friends worked in things like PM, tech, marketing, fp&a, etc because the reality is that it is hard to get something finance-related for freshman summer. Rx recruiting will be harder for you, don't get me wrong, but is definitely possible. 

That being said, your comment on recruiting for M&A is a good idea IMO. Especially with how hard Rx recruiting is from non-target schools, there are no guarantees of you getting a good Rx job, even if you are extremely qualified. At the end of the day there is a lot of luck involved. Thus if you really want to go into IB I would recommend you also recruit M&A (you should know the technicals anyway and the process is at the same time). Less conventionally you can also recruit for credit/distressed funds. This'll open up your opportunities, give you a higher chance at an offer, and allow you to even possibly attempt FT recruiting. 

Best of luck!

 

I would not say it has sailed. I’m currently an SA in RX and I had not fully secured my sophomore internship before getting an offer. As the poster said above you need to do something during your summers and be able to speak to it. For example say you do Corp Dev. You could say that you enjoyed looking at companies, but that the situations you read about in Moyer were much more interesting because if XYZ. My point is you can spin any experience to your advantage if you have done outside work to demonstrate RX interest. Furthermore, M&A interviews are pretty cake compared to RX and you could easily prepare for them within a week or two if you have all the basic IB and RX stuff locked down prior. Feel free to PM if you have more questions

 

Rx sounds depressing. Companies failing, difficult situations to analyze, hairy and complex deals etc

 

It's the opposite bud, restructuring on the west coast tends to be a lot more non-target friendly (especially HL LA) than NYC, where Wharton spams resumes. Of course, the big caveat is that most restructuring practices are based out of New York, with the LA offices generally being there to cover clients like Oaktree

 

Just checked and some alma maters of current analysts are ucla, Berkeley, usc, northwestern, Michigan, Ivey. Sure it's not H/W but to call it non-target friendly? Lol

 

Yeah, those are basically all non-targets/semi-targets so the above poster isn't completely wrong. Just not at the same level as the east coast which is dominated by Wharton/Harvard/Stern/Dyson/Columbia/UChicago etc. 

 

Which of those are non targets? All are strong west coast targets and semis for NYC recruiting. Don't think you can call a group with literally zero bonafide nontargets a "non-target friendly" office

 

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