Please tell me it gets better

Relax man I know how you feel. My only advice is to keep smiling, force yourself to smile and keep staying positive. Keep cold-calling and cold-emailing every firm out there, start small and build up. There is a light at the end of tunnel I promise.

Remember, wake up everyday and go about your day smiling. Appreciate the small things in life and go for walks. Read a book. You’ll feel better. I guarantee it.

Once that goes up, you’ll notice things begin to slowly fall into place.

Here's a graph showing you how much better it will get

I work with tons of people from non-targets and work in the UK. Albeit at my firm, quite a few of them broke in a long time ago. I’m not going to go through and read your exact goals, but you can go do a top MSF, or a audit/TAS for a few years and transition over. At 20, I felt in a similar position and did no internships in Uni. At 22 I’m working in loan AM and feel I have a good future ahead of me.

You’ll be fine. As a data point that hopefully inspires you, I started in community college before going to a Northwestern Mutual non-target and not even learning about IB until my senior year. I took a longer and more roundabout way to get there but got into IB at reputable banks and now PE. I was an absolute shithead in high school and college, and if I can do it, so can you.

These are all really great posts that I can't really live up to. Was in your shoes too, although didn't learn about this space until college, but that didn't stop me from getting extremely interested and competitive over it. I felt like a failure too for leaving school without an offer. If you think about the people you know who do have them (don't do this tooo often as someone above said can be majorly counterproductive and there will always be someone "above") I would guess you stack up pretty well. Stick with it and be as creative as possible in thinking of a way in. I'm sure you've tried tons of routes, but if you lay enough lines, one is bound to work out. I might take a break for a bit and look for a distraction, hard as that might be to find, then get right back after it once you're working full time. It's a very long career, and you might be later to the table than some peers, but ultimately, who cares. There are tons of people who have been able to lateral in without an IB offer right out of school, myself included, and let these precedents provide some hope. So much of breaking in has to do with drive and persistence, which it sounds like you have in droves (as people on here have noted, lots of folks, likely yourself included, are plenty smart for these roles, and banks don't vet all that hard, since a lot of the job is monotony, etc.) Obviously you have to be competitive academically, but even then, there are plenty of stories of folks getting roles with different backgrounds (see above.) 

You seem extremely ambitious, so I think you'll make it. Just don't give up.

N/a

A couple of ways of moving forward:

1. Go for a MSc program at a top school - LBS, LSE, Oxford, HEC, Bocconi. They are competitive as well, but will improve your branding, give you a broader network and more time to apply. UK programs usually only give you one more shot, EU programs tend to be longer. I was at Bocconi and I could in theory apply 3 times for SA programs during the MSc. Get a good GMAT score, work on your grades, sort out your story, try to get some related professional experience.

2. Go work at Big 4 or similar boutique firms, get your ACA and lateral to investment banks. This has been done a countless number of times and investment banks are looking for ACA holders for lateral hiring (well maybe not at the moment but generally).

3. Go work at the Big 4 or other financial/accounting firm for a couple of years and do an MBA at LBS or INSEAD. Last resort to join banking through a somewhat established pipeline. Aim for the best programs.

Honestly though if at this point this is causing you such distress then you need to spend some time working on yourself and it would be a good idea to have a professional to talk these things through with. If you don't fix the underlying chip on your shoulder and obsession over comparing yourself to others, then you will be stuck in an endless loop and nothing will be good enough. Even if you get into banking (and realize that it really isn't all that it's made up to be) you will compare yourself to your peers who at that point will be already associates at various PE firms. Comparisons will never end. You need to realize that everyone moves at their own pace and each career is unique.

Try getting laid man, can change your whole depressive mindset. Working out helps too.

I graduated undergrad a year late and with a ~2.3 gpa in premed and made it. Just keep trying. You can get a job in audit at a crappy consulting firm and break in after a few years.

Get rich or die trying.

Further echoing some of the previous replies, the best thing you can do as of now is take a step back and take pride in what you HAVE done. When I become overwhelmed or simply sad in general, I take some time to reflect on everything I had done to get to that moment in my life. You have probably done a lot more than you are giving yourself credit for and by accounts of most around you, are a successful and good person. Sure, we all fall flat here and there, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you worked your ass to get here and should be proud of in and of itself. Keep your head up and remember this shit isn't a sprint. 

You are only 20, I'm guessing you are doing a Bachelor. Why not do a MSc and get a second shot? Maybe straight after the BSc or after a year of work if you find it. Sometimes you have to make a step backward to make two steps forward: random internship are not random, they are a cv builder which you need to in order to find an IB internship. It is completly normal. I myself managed to get an IB internship only after other two so you got plenty of time

I am a few decades out of school, went to a complete non-target (I think we were ranked in top 5 of "national party school" by princeton review at the time), I got a shit first job out of university. But somehow, over the last two decades, I was on a PM/trader team at a top brand name asset manager, and now run a very successful crypto fund for 5 years now (no, we didn't blow up with FTX cause we're not morons and don't keep assets on exchange unless they are being actively traded). 

Also, the whole "I'm in London, there isn't any networking" is complete BS. I have a feeling since you dropped the fact that you have "no friends", you probably just have zero networking skills in general, so probably something to look into as you move out of university.

Basically, my advice here, is quit being a victim/p**sy/whatever, start working out to get your head straight and gain some shred of confidence, and go figure things out. In today's day and age its never been easier to make a bunch of money, and the college diploma from a target school isn't nearly as important as it used to be when I was coming up.

So buck up, man, life is gonna throw a lot worse things at you than not getting into the right college. 

Join the marine corp

Went to super non-target in the UK, and got an IB role a year after i graduated with no prior IB experience, pm me for advice. It will be alright I promise.

Holy fuck dude.

Didn't see anybody else say it so I'm going to. Don't take yourself so fucking seriously. Getting ready for IB at 14??? Upset about a nontarget placement as a freshman in college?? Dude state school girls are way more fun - enjoy what life gives you.

Go to the bar. Host a party. Get laid. Play a sport. Make an impulse decision to travel for the weekend. For fucks sake you're 20 years old, you're not supposed to have literally anything figured out. You think IB people do - hell no, we all are trying to figure out what we're doing the next year after we get bonuses. Your pit of anxiety will not get better until you realize there's 8 billion of us not knowing what the fuck we're doing, but shit works out.

Aside from this, there's way more to life than work. You work to make a living, you don't live to work. Too many young people forget this - at the end of the day it's always just a job. I get this may sound like it's easy for me to say being an associate, but trust me it's true. If I wouldn't have made it in this industry I guarantee I would have found another spot in sales elsewhere and never looked back. Maybe would have made more money even, who the fuck knows or cares. Money affords a lot, but we also give up a lot to get it.

TL;DR - nobody knows what the fuck we're doing anyway, so don't feel ashamed for not knowing also - and enjoy what life gives you (including non-target liberal arts girls)

this is why i tell everyone to just suck it up and pay any amount of $ to get into the best school they can

fuck the oh-just-go-to-cheap-state-school-bro-its-as-good-as-an-ivy

OP, the biggest blind spot that drives your frustration is the ungrounded belief that SUCCESS = ibanking.  
 

Seriously, who says ibanking is the metric for success? Let me tell you my story. I went to a school with heavy ibanking culture where over 90% of my classmates are recruiting for ibanking. I was one of them until I realized how brain-dead, soul-sucking, and mediocrely-paid ibanking is (no offense to the ibankers) 200k (110k post-tax) for 90 hours/week and then 400k (200k post-tax ) for 75 hours/week at MM PE, is that really the definition of success ?  There are literally one thousand other well-paid professions. Medicine, law, quant trading, software engineering, consulting, product management, academia, even social media influencer. Do what you love and you’ll miraculously find a way out. 

So you went to a non-target, so what? Non-target is a set-back because ibanking is a non-meritocratic and relationship-based profession, so it cares about your alumni network way more than your intellectual aptitude. But there are places that recruit purely based on merits and pay twice of ibanking. Quant trading for example.  You have a realistic chance at quant trading (even from community college) if you clear that 80 math puzzles in 8 minutes thing. If you find statistical arbitrage in 10 seconds and generate 100M PnL for your desk, who cares if you went to Harvard or XX state school? If you are not cut out for quant trading, there’s  software engineering which doesn’t give a fuck about college degree if you can leetcode. There’re also law and strategy consulting which you can pursue after a grad school re-set. There are one thousands ways to walk out of your current situation if you keep studying hard and be confident.

The following is a realistic list of options for the next step that you can take to further your career:

1. Apply for grad schools in financial engineering / statistics / economics / operations research and then recruit for S&T ( quant trading or strats ) which is slightly more meritocratic than IBD ( also pays great with way better wlb) . You’ll also have a shot at those buyside / prop trading shops and if you get a seat there, your career will go straight up to the moon. 

2. Apply for grad schools with your favorite major and then recruit for strategy consulting which is open to grad students and equally prestigious as ibanking

3. Take gap year, do research, and then apply for PhD, then after PHD go straight to top hedge fund ( skip ibanking and go straight to buyside )

4. Leetcode and become a SWE who makes 200k - 500k while coasting and pajama-partying. ( Although FAANG is in hiring freeze, a lot of finTechs, hedge funds, and prop shops are still hiring for SWE with buttloads of cash )

5. Study for LSAT and apply for law school

6. If you are dead-set on ibanking, you can temporarily settle for a consulting job at big four, try to transfer to deal advisory team, and then apply for a good MBA by properly telling your story. And then recruit for ibanking during MBA. That’s what MBA is for, to give a second chance to people. You’ll always have second chance if you want something really bad. 

As someone who lost my best friend to suicide a couple of weeks ago (he also had recently graduated and was feeling a bit lost), I can promise you that no problem is unsolvable. Suicide just takes your pain, multiplies it by 100x and then distributes it to everyone who cares about you most.

Look, I graduated in 2018 from a non-target, with a non-finance degree with no internships. Took a shitty accounting role and was paid £18,500 base with no bonus. 4 years later my all in compensation is over 5x my starting salary, and I’m working on the buy side in a role I genuinely enjoy doing with very reasonable hours (45-55h/week).

Your luck can change over night. You need to just look objectively at what are the requisite skills that you need and how do you get them. For me, I thought I need to learn to build models. Modelling requires accounting and excel. So I became a chartered accountant and did modelling courses. I then applied for a tonne of jobs until one landed.

People our age (20’s) assume life is a straight line and if you don’t get that banking job upon graduation then life’s over. Reality Check: this is so far from the truth. Just learn from your mistakes, learn about what is truly important to you, and put the work in by networking and up skilling at every opportunity.

Hope this helps

By the title I couldn't initially tell if you were asking as an analyst if the job or as a prospect if recruiting gets better.

I would say life gets better. Your priorities will evolve over your career - wherever you may start.

man ur only 20, if youre in the UK whats your bachelor grade? Cant you go for a good masters with maybe GMAT too?

got a 3.3 GPA on my undergrad then took a gap year for big4 and regional bank IB internships, moved to target master in LDN and now got BB SA offer lined up due to gap year experience and target master at 24.

Hoping the best for you man

What are you on about? You’re from the UK. Apply for a job, do the test, and you have just about the same chances on the interview as someone from a “target” university.

It’s down to you if you’re going to show some differentiating factors during the interview that will make them say when remembering you: “You know that guy who liked X and did Y, I want him”.

Your life is what your thoughts make of it. Your attitude dictates and determines the quality of your life.

So you’ve known about this industry since you were 14 and still weren’t able to prepare accordingly?

I think there are deeper issues in your life you should work on figuring out. Getting a job offer isn’t what’s going to make you no longer depressed or eradicate your suicidal thoughts. Take some time to focus on yourself and understand why you aren’t happy.

Things will not get better and you will stay miserable. Peon.

You’re still so young and way further along then you think.. when I was in undergrad I didn’t know a single thing about Investment Banking, private equity, etc. I came from a non-target (you only need a ~2.5 high school GPA to get in), finished with sub 3.5 gpa, started as a tech recruiter making $30k a year, next worked in a warehouse for an year doing some supply chain analysis work, then B2B sales for about 1.5 years, then went back to get my MBA at a non-target. Landed an internship at a large PE fund after my first MBA semester because I had a 4.0 GPA and passed my level one CAIA exam. Finished MBA with 3.97. Worked in Corp Dev for 2 years and and at working at a reputable Middle Marked IB. Point is, it was be demoralizing when things don’t go to plan, but just because you don’t get into IB out of undergrad you can still get in later… trying looking at Commercial banking, Credit, FP&A, Corp Dev, etc., if IB isn’t going to work out now. Just go for jobs that you can use as a stepping stone. Also go get some extra accreditations, that’s what separated me from other non-targets, for example Wall Street Prep course, does UK require FINRA exams? - if so take the SIE, or take CAIA, CFA, or CPA.

I'm sorry that this has to happen to you.

I hope that this track brings you as much solace as it did for me.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3HyDpKAuR3e4l6QB7hSB2l?si=fpy2tw4eQ3uXYH…

I have many similar thoughts as you. I am a senior who has worked my ass off networking, working internships while being a full-time student, and being involved on campus/ a student-athlete. Does it piss me off to see others who may "not have the same credentials" as me get the BB/EB I want? Yes to the fucking max man. But here's the thing you need to realize, life isn't fair. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how much you think you deserve a role, it may never happen. You might be going up against a genius or the MD's kid. And there's nothing you can do.

So what are your options? You can pout and say the world is out to get me. Proclaim you will never get to that "coveted" BB role. And I can ensure you, you will not.

Or you can stay persistent and make the best out of your situation. Believe me, people love a kid that acknowledges their short-comings and will do anything to get what they want. The people you idolize (Lebron, Zuckerberg) are the top .00000001% where everything worked in their favor and they were rich and famous on their first endeavor. The rest of the world has to grind and hopes to one day get that same opportunity. Jeff Bezos, Travis Kalanick are just two examples of people who were told no and their ideas were foolish. Did rejection make them quit?

You need to put life into perspective. There are children in Africa working 15 hours in lithium mines. Women in Afghanistan who can't attend school. They would kill for your opportunities. Would I like my career trajectory to be MS TMT/ MF PE/ HBS/ Founding a Unicorn. Damn right. But at the same time, life is beautiful when every day is unpredictable and not structured. You are 20, I am 21. We are so young and can do so many great things beyond an entry level IB job. I wish the best for you, but it depends on how you react to adversity. 

Hey,

If I may, as long as your personal life, your relationship with your family aren’t fixed, as long as you haven’t met people that you can call friends, f*ck the industry, the competition, the meritocracy and all of that

You and your health should come first. Even if you get an offer it might even make things worse since it’s not easy to spend most of your weeks working, and it would be even more difficult if you can’t enjoy the few moments you’ll get for yourself

To finish with, and even if it may sound harsh, maybe this is the very reason why you couldn’t get an offer ? Recruiters in the industry are looking for balanced people that can tie bonds easily, since it’s what you should be doing later

My point is that no matter how you look at it, the solution may be the same every time : take care of yourself first king, everything else is secondary

LONDON I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL

I LOST MY QUEEN TOO