Looking for guidance

Hey everyone,
Looking for some advices out there. To keep it short, European who decided to study in Asia. I’ve prepared quite heavily since year 1 for IB and been able to land return offers at a distressed fund and MM bank.

I’ve tried recruiting for EB and BB offers for two years now, and unfortunately given my atypical profile couldn’t get anything substantial. Was able to land multiple superdays but rejections always come down to fit problems (i.e Asian languages where I study and non target uni for European standards).

I’m torn between going for a target MSF in Europe and giving it all to recruit in London, or just accepting one of the two offers I’ve received and starting there.

Pros of going for masters:
Issue lies in that I think I’m well prepared, always received great feedback from my seniors and all these years of rejections have pushed me to become more and more technical, aiming to learn new things to keep the motivation there. So I feel like if I built a better profile, I’d have a decent shot at getting something. Also, I’ve been told that it’s always easier getting into these big banks as a student, and that laterals are extremely competitive, with the chance of remaining stuck for many years if I take any of the current offerings (given that these are in Tier 2 European cities and seem to predominantly focus on domestic deals)

Cons:
London market looks hella saturated and competitive, so even great profiles struggle to get offers. Wouldn’t want to invest into an expensive master to end up at a MM bank I already have access to currently.

Would love to hear about anyone’s experience and inputs.

P.S: I am aware that studying in Asia was not ideal and i take full responsibility for it, so would appreciate overlooking this part and focusing on what I can in the future.

Thanksssss

7 Comments
 

Family living there, zero crimes, top tier transports, beach in winter, great food and low taxes were convincing. Also don’t mind studying at top 20 uni without half a mil in student loans… But I guess I do have a thing for Korean chicks lol

 

I mean, true, but none of that ended up mattering because you didn't land where you needed to land. Also, half a mil in debt from a european school? If you're a citizen of the EU it should be way cheaper than that. I haven't met anyone who has needed to borrow anywhere close to that. 

 

Did you study/recruit for HK or SG? If HK, maybe try SG for masters since HK has a huge preference for mandarin. This is uninformed but my guess is SG is more relaxed and lenient on western/english speaker. Although heard there’s still preference for local hires in SH. I interviewed across UK and HK and agree with you that UK/EU is noticeably more competitive.

 

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