Super Target (one of HYPSM) Flops - Reflection on SA 27 Recruiting

Coming from a POV of privilege having come from a target school but here's what I've learned from recruiting, which I hope will help kids in the future:

(For context, im an indian male from the midwest / public HS who came into freshman year as a stem major ; decided to recruit IB May of 2025, so right after freshman year ended - signed at a pretty reputable MM IB in ny)

Takeaways:

1. Target school helps a lot: yes, being at a target, i was inherently advantaged compared to my friends at non-targets etc. I got several interviews (at MM/small PE shops) just from cold applying, which is definitely the cause of being at a top school.
2. Diversity matters: underprivileged groups: races, women, etc - DEI matters a lot and can genuinely get your foot in the door. if you fall in this category, please use those programs / pipelines to your advantage as Ive seen it firsthand become the difference maker for a couple of my friends
3. be careful when comparing yourself to others: there's always going to be kids who have backdoor methods (family connections, etc) and you simply can't beat them. but also don't blame them bc id use those connects if i were them too!
4. technicals are more important than i thought: i personally had a bit of an ego and thought technicals were going to be "easy". sure i could do any of the BIWS 400 q's, but for the one Elite Boutique interview I got, i got cut because i missed technicals. spend time building business intuition, practicing "out of the guide" q's, and mocking. technicals should be the check in the box and one of my biggest regrets was not having technicals hammered down ASAP
5. networking / behavs are important but with a grain of salt: i personally cold emailed alum a ton and got a couple of referrals from those but I think the way I approached calls was always either too casual or too prepared. it's hard to find that careful balance of seeming very prepared/interested but also just a chill person to be around/work with.

For me, I think the reason I may not have placed at a super great EB/BB despite coming from a target was my networking. I networked relatively heavily (80+ calls) and got my foot in the door at only one BB and one EB... but it comes down to just being a likeable person. some of my calls, I came too prepared with questions about their group/ maybe even a deal. in others, i would approach the call with the mindset of talking about football or sports to get them to like me.

i think the key is to be adaptable, be very thorough with your research, but also have high energy and speak in a tone where you come off as genuine (which is hard). The other thing may be that I wasn't interested in Finance to begin college - some of my peers may have been planning to recruit a bit earlier than me. Overall, my goal was to break into finance in NYC so im pretty happy where Im at. But im also making this post for other kids at "targets" who may be too confident going into recruiting (like I was, i kind of assumed id place somewhere) but in reality, its very very competitive and striking out is a real possibility.

Pm if u have Q's really looking to pay forward the advice i got from some juniors/seniors who went through recruiting