Seeking Advice - Non Target Student

Currently recruiting for 2027 SA from great well established public university but still non target. Started actively networking and recruiting in Mid October 2025. Really only started to have luck and success starting in late December.

However, the accelerated timeline for recruiting especially for MM banks (Jefferies, Baird, Stifel, HL, RJ, etc.) really caught me off guard. I am now mainly focusing on Consumer groups, or sector agnostic groups like ECM & M&A for basically only MM banks like (Key, Oppenheimer, Citizens, HW, piper, etc).

Any advice on how to tackle it going forward? My eggs are sort of concentrated in a few baskets, and I have had a lot of success networking at one of those firms in particular. However I really don’t want to mess up the opportunity at any stage in the process since I am so concentrated. Just need some advice on how to best prepare.

1 Comments
 

Vitae architecto et sapiente. Qui nemo qui adipisci soluta laboriosam excepturi ipsam alias.

Magnam illum libero eos praesentium nostrum. Odio et sint magnam et magni neque natus. Optio quis molestias odio nostrum quo suscipit quibusdam.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”