Networking call gone very wrong, feedback/advice needed

Last week I had what might be the most brutal networking call ever. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, so I would love to get it off my chest here. Long story short, I'm doing a tax internship this summer and have been networking for the next IB recruitment cycle. I found an MD on recruiter base that was from my hometown, went to my high school AND college, was in the exact group I wanted (healthcare), at a solid firm, etc. I emailed him, he replied the next day, and I figured it would be a standard 15-minute chat about breaking into his group.

My brain was a littly foggy during the morning of our call, and it must've shown. I was also unusually nervous. Given how much we had in common, I wanted to make a great impression, given his potential as a networking connection. I stuttered a bit and rambled as well while walking through my background, and the guy completely flipped the script. Instead of asking me follow up questions he starts absolutely tearing into me. "Your background is not on track for investment banking" "You don't have the right internships" "Your GPA isn't competitive" – he even said "you're wasting both our time with this call"


I managed to stammer out a few responses trying to defend my experience. The call ended after 7 minutes with him saying "I hope this was educational for you" and hanging up. I sat in my car for an hour afterward just processing what happened.

Here's the thing though - I've had dozens of other networking calls that went great. People who were encouraging, gave solid advice, and actually seemed to want to help. This guy was clearly having a bad day or just enjoys crushing people's dreams for sport.

But damn if it didn't mess with my head. Anyone else ever had a networking call go this sideways? Part of me wants to name and shame but I know that would just hurt my chances elsewhere. Still can't believe someone would be that unnecessarily harsh to a student just trying to learn about the industry.

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