help!! i'm stuck! what do i do??

Sorry i dont have any good advice here, as the others on here can give much beter advice.

But I am really interested in this "unusual relationship" with the manager oyu had in this foreign country.

Can you tell us more about that?

And maybe what country out of interest?

if i were you i'd rethink the direction i want my career to go in. sounds like top banks aren't the thing for you at the moment. either find a finance position at a corporation or check out other employment directions. you can always try banging more doors and i admire the persistence, but you need to know when you've done what you can and try something else.

You can maybe fill in your gap by volunteering with a local non-profit. It wouldn't require as much commitment as your "Teach in English in Korea" idea.

In the meantime, keep applying/interviewing anywhere to give yourself options. Seems like you've gotten interviews, but consider reaching out to a career counselor or trusted friend to evaluate your interview style. B-school route doesn't seem practical for you at this point (no GMAT scores, recommendations, work experience, essays, etc.) so I'd cross that off the list.

Which big cities are you considering moving to? If you're living at home, it's better to stay there than to rack up more expenses you can't afford.

i agree w/ dagro. and in the meantime get GMAT out of the way.

how exactly does one get a corporate finance entry level job? I've applied to a bunch listed on my career site and interviewed for one or two but not much came back successful. Also, i tried applying on their company websites but of course those resumes get lost in the intrawebs.

i would do teach english in japan. before tokyo is a fun place. i know many consultants and bankers they actually started from teaching english. then they picked up japanese, then get into finance.