I did it. Open to any questions about recruiting for anything
Lfg boys, 1000s of networking emails, 100s of calls, so many final rounds and so many rejections and I finally got the offer at an investment firm
I’m a sophomore requiring sponsorship so I recruited from pretty much every single role from IB M&A to IB RX to RX consulting to PE to HF L/S for the summer of 2026. So please, wso really helped me during my recruiting process, I’m happy to answer literally whatever questions people have, about any bank, any firm on the buy side and sell side that I know of.
Posting on the IB chat cause I know that’s where most kids spend there time scrolling. There’s a lot of niche things about a lot of different banks, I can’t promise my answers will be 100% right or that I’ll be able to answer everything but I can promise that I give you the answer based on my recruiting experience and everyone that I know that’s recruited.
What I’ll be best at answering is the kind of prep and networking required for different firms (again based on my experience, this stuff’s pretty random)
ahhhhh hell nahhh
What were the processes like for everything you recruited for (IB M&A to IB RX to RX consulting to PE to HF L/S to Credit investing), opinions on each, which ones you got offers for, and based off your convos, what exits were most likely from each?
I know that interview experiences vary hugely for the more niche areas (RX etc), but it'll be helpful nonetheless
Yup I can do that briefly, for context I only got an offer at a credit HF which I tookIB M&A - Very clearly networking based, at BB from my experience you need to speak to some senior in the group or you dont have a shot at a superday and you need someone with some say rooting for you on the other side, interviews are pretty chill once you get them for all BBs.When it comes to EBs, if you have an analyst really rooting for you, you can get an interview, the interviews are kind of tough but honestly its all pretty easy once you reach that stage (except Q)In terms of exits its the general IB --> PE or HF if you want that, where you land on the buyside depends on your bank and ur group.IB RX - This is what I was really gunning for, very very very competitive, you need to make a good impression on the analysts you network with, you only really need one person to back you to get the interview but once you get there you really have to kill it, interviews for PJT/EVR/HL are miles harder than regular M&A, at the top shops or honestly any of the shops you get very good exit looks into whatever you want to go into (by any shops I mean Moelis, Lazard, Ducera, PWP, Gugg, etc.)RX consulting - Didn't do much for this, just A&M mainly, interview was quite manageable, had a great contact but didn't convert to superday, there are a lot of recent threads recently on RX consulting exitsPE - There are a lot of MM shops which keep opening up, you have to be a target/semi-target that they're looking to recruit from, return offers are dicey compared to the sell side and training programs for analysts are also not considered as good, very very few MFs recruit out of undergrad and you really have to be cracked at a top target to get one of those seats, once ur there you hold on to it, this is based on all the conversations and interviews I hadHF L/S - P/C have summer programs, C is more resume based, P is more looking for passion, I reached the final round and then got dinged, its mainly behavioural and a stock pitch, they wanna see how much you really love investing, pod shops are all the rage right now so very coveted seats, P's internship doesn't always convert to full time, but you should be able to rerecruit. M only recruits full time about 15 months before you graduate. P & C also open full time apps then. LOs are also the same format, but even rarer they open apps and only for target schools. Small public investing shops continously open through the year and you can get more looks by networkingCredit/macro investing - I would honestly say its pretty much the exact same thing as PE, there aren't a lot of seats out of undergrad at all, very hard to break into.Lmk if i can clarify anything else
Very very helpful, I’ve also got two questions:
Huge congrats man, super happy for you
I had a question about P/C, how does P gain passion from the resume?
Wow, massive congrats brother that’s a huge win. Always love reading people pulling off the impossible, cheers.
thanks bro means a lot
Where did you get interviews + what were your stats? (gpa, diversity, target, etc.)
I got looks at pretty much all of the places I mentioned except PE, wasn't really trying for it
GPA - 4.0
Diversity - nothing at all, intl student requiring sponsorshop
Go to a non HYPW Ivy
I go to a non-ivy b-school target i.e. Stern/Ross/Haas and have a 3.6. I was wondering how much you think GPA affects the recruiting process, for all the different shops you mentioned. Does a 3.6 discount me from getting looks at all the top firms in BB/EB/RX? To what extent would I be disadvantaged in recruiting?
Congrats! Would you be able to list firms that you know 100% that sponsor?
Yes this I am now an expert at. I’ll keep editing this list as I remember places, it’ll mainly be IB, all the big PE and HF sponsor, the smaller ones you have to reach out but if they like you they will sponsor or be straight up and say they don’t, it’s very case by case
Firms that sponsor
IB BBs:
Barclays doesn’t sponsor IB, only S&T
EBs:
PWP, Gugg, Ducera do not sponsor
I’m not too sure about the MM banks, most of them do not, but I would double check.
If you can ask me specific firms I can tell you, nothing else coming to mind right now
Did not mention Bofa and Citi, do they sponsor?
Any idea on buyside sponsorship for analyst programs
What internships did you do prior to recruiting and how many? Also, how much do leadership positions for finance-related clubs matter?
I worked in the investment space in summer but honestly I think the only reason I got any interview was because I networked, all my internships were in my home country, so nobody would give me an interview without networking, you HAVE to network if you are international non diversity
I was in the investment club at my uni and had a few other positions at other clubs based on my interests
Thank you for the valuable information. It seems networking is the most important. So I'm guessing on ur resume, your "clubs" section was filled with just leadership positions? I have one leadership position, and I will get another one, albeit not "A-side." Do you think this is enough?
Can you talk about how you approached networking and how you prepped for interviews?
Sure. I reached out to every single alum from my uni no matter their position, even the CEO. Besides my uni I reached out to every person on LinkedIn who played a sport that I had as that had a pretty good hit rate. There’s success in numbers.
Interviews just ibvine.io and some rx specific guides. Honestly the reason I got my seat was just cause I was obsessed with distressed investing and rx in general.
how long have you been preparing for, since the visa especially requires a lot of extra work... must have been planning way before. congrats bro
Lowkey freshman spring I became obsessed with rx and been prepping since then, but really I failed to recruit for rx
By start October (start of sophomore year) if you start networking you are in a great place, prep doesn’t take more than 3 weeks of concentrated effort (which you can do over winter break because you should be done networking by then)
Curious what resources you used when recruiting especially since you mentioned that Rx is more technical.
I was curious if you used like marginofalpha because people say they have more accurate questions or like the restructuring interviews for restructuring questions specifically and if any thoughts? Thanks!
My comment was removed by the mod team for some reason but
Just like used ib vine for regular stuff and then rx interviews (goated) and a fews rx newsletters to keep up with the industry
rx interviews goated
gotcha, are you going to a SM as above you mentioned you struck out with the MMs. Curious what your thought process was of doing undegrad HF vs IB/PE
Del.
My college doesn’t have a business school and I have combined econ with another stem major. Try and do something stem related like math or stats, I think that looks really good but also ur major doesn’t really matter u just have to network
Thanks so much and congrats on your offer
1) how many offers did you end up getting?
2) which country are you from?
Asia
ibvine has some good ones and marginofalpha should as well
On a scale of 1-10 how hard was it recruiting for these high finance roles as an international non diversity at a top school?
How many other internationals in your school broke into these roles (ib, hf, pe)?
Honestly I don’t know any other non diversity kid requiring sponsorship who got an offer
The combination of the 2 just makes it really really hard you have to have a reason for them to hire you
Congrats!
How was the sponsorship situation this year for BB IBD? Any idea which bbs sponsor internationals? Anything different from stem OPT or tn visa?
I think with BBs it was as usual they pretty much all sponsor without bias from what I know
The other question I’ve already answered scroll up
rising sophomore who is also intl student at UVA. Whats your advice on networking like emails and such? Could you send me your templates
Hey, you mentioned you are going to mm distressed credit. I am just wondering what recruiting for that is like, and what shops hire out of undergrad for distressed, including non mm?
Very interested in going to distressed/ credit straight out of undergrad!
I think it’s pretty random, I don’t want to mention where I got the offer but rx is more likely u should try for that
There are a lot of credit shops that do open apps, but you have to network to have the doors open up cause it’s not a conventional path
I know your major has to go with your job offer for Stem OPT extension. WHat do you know about that. Like what Stem Major are you doing
Math, you have to do OPT cause u need the 24 month stem extension
Have you seen Math majors before get Stem OPT extension? I know from immigration regulation your major has to be "applicable" to the job. I ask because I am also a sophomore doing Math
del.
Just a question for RX consulting. I'm currently a sophomore and upcoming junior and interested in RX and credit too with some knowledge on it. I know consulting starts recruiting starting this summer, but did A&M Restrcuturing for 2026 Summer already end?
Yeah it did in early Feb
Any tips for an incoming freshman at UVA?
Get into the top clubs - AIF, VVF, AkPsi, if you manage that it’ll make ur life a lot easier, figure out what u wanna do in finance and just enjoy freshman year
Saw a comment you left here about your aggressive networking which I admire.
I'm lacking in that area. What sort of questions or messages did you leave peers and how did you show them that you were interested in specific areas, such a distressed investing or rx.
I was just reading so much about many different investment firms that the questions I had would naturally just come up
If you can’t figure it out, ChatGPT can help you come up with some pretty useful questions if u feed it the right info/prompt
Few questions: what were your email titles to make them stand out amongst the barrage of other emails? Did you ask a referral after the initial call or in a follow-up call?
Never really asked for a referral, if I had a great call I assumed I would get one, just told them when I applied
One question: Is it the name brand of the internship or what you actually did that matters more? What is the number of internships where you start seeing "diminishing marginal returns," and it's better to focus on networking?
Quick question: Did you check the ‘do you need sponsorship’ box?
Corporis amet similique asperiores repudiandae. Est esse nam laborum vel natus. Provident nulla consequatur nostrum voluptate voluptas ullam et. Et reiciendis reprehenderit mollitia animi cumque laborum nisi.
Voluptatem neque voluptates facilis labore maxime facere. Est ut placeat magni esse.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Possimus qui veniam odit impedit dicta dolore vitae. Provident autem aut magni velit sit molestias ab. Dolores distinctio dicta dolorem autem sint dolor.
Eligendi est quae tempora tenetur rerum officia reiciendis. Deleniti tenetur sit nobis culpa facilis.
Qui qui fuga laborum inventore possimus. Corrupti optio illum voluptas esse aut ullam. Libero vitae exercitationem non esse odio nihil a. Aperiam aut et consequuntur doloribus ut et eligendi.
Voluptates reprehenderit occaecati cupiditate voluptatem rerum. Delectus autem reprehenderit sed dolorum qui recusandae iste. Veritatis dolorum ea officiis dolores aperiam non tempore autem.
Adipisci aut earum eveniet impedit sunt. Quaerat rerum deserunt autem et numquam. Laudantium dolor pariatur nostrum ut quidem rerum et. Fugit debitis similique qui provident. Quibusdam id maxime excepturi autem officia molestiae commodi. Dolor quam qui explicabo non.
Hic accusamus consequatur eligendi facilis consectetur. Quia omnis impedit ratione libero pariatur corrupti. Magni facere quod et qui. Consequatur dolorum eveniet incidunt aut nobis rem tempora et. Aperiam quisquam tempora sequi sint.
Unde quisquam autem numquam tempora. Neque quidem saepe aliquam assumenda modi et. Illum et nulla ullam. Architecto minus rerum ut similique laudantium magnam totam. Omnis dolor nostrum voluptatem voluptatem doloribus quaerat quidem.
Labore assumenda provident ea consequatur placeat. Esse ducimus dolorum aut quos sequi excepturi. Molestiae iste ut maxime. Veritatis qui quis quas. Perferendis aut accusamus impedit consequatur voluptas. Accusantium repellat vitae reiciendis cumque.