International SA'24 Getting More Discouraged by the Day
Asian international M sophomore attending a very well-regarded but non-target university. Been gunning hard for finance ever since my first semester freshman year, joined all the 'right' clubs in college, worked for a boutique AM in my home country freshman summer, and have an internship at a reputable RX firm in the industry in NYC this summer.
Applied to every bank and buy-side firm I could find that sponsors internationals and networked as much as I could every day this semester. Had 50+ calls so far and some good official referrals in the system at various places, but I have literally not a peep back from a single bank yet. My "dream firm" is BofA given their friendliness to internationals, so that's where most of my calls have been, though I haven't received even as much as a Hirevue from them. Funnily enough, the single place I have heard back from so far was a MF PE firm. I networked well there and made it to the superday, which I was told I did great in by a third-party contact who reached out to my interviewers after, but ultimately I didn't land the offer.
Am I late to the game for recruiting and has the boat sailed (especially for IB)? Some here say non-diversity recruiting is just starting, but I'm getting more worried by the day. I check this site and see that processes are moving along at every firm for seemingly everyone else, but not at all for me. Post-spring break, my hit rate for emails has dropped to almost 0 and even past contacts who passed my name along have been ghosting my follow ups. I might hop on 1-2 calls a week at max now, and I can sense even those probably aren't leading to anything.
I'm well aware the odds are stacked against me, but I'm rather deflated at the moment. I know my technicals, can speak eloquently and, owing to a tough background growing up, believe I can tell interesting & personable stories from a humble perspective. I'm taking temporary comfort in knowing that many AM/research shops open their apps later in the summer. At this point I would grind my ass off for anything and take the first offer I get from a place that sponsors. The few banks that do target my school are also ones which don't sponsor kids like myself unfortunately.
Any advice, keep it real plz
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Perhaps look at applying to London roles when they open up later in year
I was in a very similar position last year and managed to land an internship at a top RX shop. My best tip is to completely disregard the "official" sponsorship status that a firm posts on their website — if they like you/ you're an exceptionally good candidate, they'll make an exception (personally know 3 kids who got CPT sponsorship for firms that traditionally don't sponsor).
Always have a plan B: If anything, apply to MBB firms (which tend to be much more friendly towards internationals) and either leverage that offer towards an IB Junior SA OR do your Junior summer at the consulting firm and try to re-recruit. I know the odds are not the best, but the situation is not ideal either.
Anyways, "worse comes to worst", MBB consulting + a solid MBA (grind the GMAT for deferred admissions your senior year) is also a stellar career start. Wish you the best of luck.
Edit: On the topic of Consulting; prep does not take that much time at all, especially if you also did buy-side recruiting. I did it last year after IB recruiting as a "hedge" and it took like a week to prep. The book "Hacking Case Interview" is around 150 pages and pretty much covers all the bases. Use Libgen to download it for free.
Intl sophomore at a target here. M as well. Its truly a painful fucking process and you just gotta keep ur head down and grinding. BOFA was my top choice too for the same reason but there are other banks who will sponsor u too. Look into MM firms like William Blair
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