I-Banking Job w/o a Network
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Are you in M&T by chance? What do you mean by no network? By virtue of going to Wharton you already have a network stronger than the vast majority of people have. And what do you mean by recruiters? You realize that the people who are going to pick your resume are going to be alumni from your school right? This isn't like college admissions.
The answer is simple - it's just a formula with a matter of probability. The formula is effectively weighted by school rank, GPA, work experience, networking and then extra curriculars (generally in that order of importance, but networking becomes increasingly important the poorer the rest of your stats are). With regards to the first two, your chances become exponentially lower if you aren't in the dozen or so target schools and as your gpa falls below 3.5.
It's not a world of black and white, just do your best to maximize your chances. Keep in mind once you get the interview, hardly any of the above is really going to matter much anymore besides just crushing it. For reference, I know someone with a 3.9+ gpa, experience at a large MM boutique, attending a mid-target who received interviews at roughly half the BB's without networking at all.
3.9 GPA at Wharton?
Hell, you could be in the running for the spot at Silver Lake.
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I have a list of about 2 dozen really good contacts that I can call/email about anytime. About 95% of those I didn't know before I introduced myself via cold email and setup a call/meeting. If you have a passion for something and want to be one of the best, there aren't any excuses for not reaching out to professionals in the field.
You need to realize that there's more to your school than it's reputation. Coming from Wharton, you have the enormous advantage with the network your school provides you with due to the volume of alumni work your school working on the street. Those alumni are precisely who you need to be reaching out to.
Yes, a lot of your friends probably have familial connections and that will definitely help them, but there are plenty of people who make it into the industry without family connections (including first gen kids of immigrants). You just need to network in a different way. Get on LinkedIn, ask your career center if they can provide you the contact info for people from your school who are working in different areas of finance. That's how you build a network if you don't have family to do it for you.
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