Is it normal?
This past recruiting cycle I was overlooked by a lot of banks. While some of it was clearly my fault in preparation I do personally think some of it was out of my control. I ended up landing a bank people typically saw as MM but it has since been doing great.
My question is, I used to want to do the whole two years in IB then get out thing. I still think this is the path for me. However, is it normal now that my motivation went from just wanting to complete, to now wanting to do it as well as possible just because I was rejected by banks I thought I deserved/ to prove to the bank that brought me on they made the right choice; or am I taking this all too personally and I should just go back to my original plan?
You're taking it too personally. Realistically, interns/new grads are all pretty equal to each other - it's truly not about you, you were one of 10,000 applications and they are not digging in to get to know each and every one of you. In 5-7-10 years, people take such diverging paths that being in the 90th vs 95th percentile starting point matters a lot less.
There is no prize for working 500x harder than the next analyst, except maybe an extra $10k. You can calculate the $/hour on earning that but it's pretty grim. If you want to stay in IB forever maybe it's worth impressing everyone, but if you're leaving in 2 years I wouldn't burn yourself out trying to prove yourself.
Honestly the best advice I have is get off this website / out of the prestige circlejerk at your school. You have a great job lined up, go live your life for a couple years, find some hobbies outside of finance and be excited for what you have coming up.
During these economic times, nobody really "deserves" anything. You are lucky that you even got a job. I know plenty of grads who struck out on any interview and are living with their parents.
I hear such conflicted view points on this. Some say this was an easy IB year for recruiting others say otherwise.
If you have access to data, research how many applicants were in which intake pool. Then figure out the selection rate.
All the big banks should have a couple thousand people applying each year. Back in my day the intake for M&A was around 115 people in that specific year for a tier 1 bank in one location (NYC).
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