Disheartened with my SA24 outcomes so far

Have been applying for most SA24 programmes in London. I have a specific interest in ECM origination; I know that people on this forum aren’t big fans of ECM as a sector, but I’m very interested in it and have recently finished an internship at a hedge fund that specialised in harvesting alpha from new issuance, which was a fantastic experience that has obvious transferable skills to a sell-side role in ECM. For the programmes that offer it, I’ve made sure to be candid about my interest and previous experience in the sector. 
 

Despite this, I’ve either been rejected from several banks, haven’t heard back at all for a couple weeks (basically silently dinged), or haven’t got past the HireVue stage. This was the same earlier in the year / last year when I was applying for spring weeks. I go to a semi-target which has been increasingly recognised by recruiters in the past few years, and BBs now directly recruit from it. Admittedly, I’m not currently on track for a 1st but have a strong 2:1, as well as good extracurriculars & past experience + involvement / senior roles in relevant student societies. I’m going on a year abroad in a couple weeks but not sure if this is relevant info in the grand scheme of the recruitment process; several bank employees I’ve spoken to have told me it’s not relevant and they can easily adjust ACs to be virtual. 
 

I get that the recruitment environment is really tough right now, and that it is more competitive than ever, as well as the fact that we are still pretty early in the process for London, and I definitely don’t want to seem entitled, because that’s the last thing I am. But I feel like I have a pretty competitive profile and have built a solid network that have told me they like my profile / background and have offered to help me through recruitment, so I’m not really sure where I’m going wrong. I’m sure it would help if I was on track for a 1st at LSE, so maybe I’m just not a competitive enough applicant, but I’m sure many can relate; it’s tough to put endless hours into filling out forms, structuring preliminary questions, doing assessments, constantly revising your CV etc. only to get absolutely nowhere. Any advice / insight / people with similar predicaments would be appreciated.