How to get back on track - advice needed

I have considered posting this for a while, and believe now is the right time.

Context

I graduated in May 2023 from a T-50 public university and have had a very difficult time landing a FT FO role, preferably IB. I interned my junior summer at a reputable MM PE firm on their investment team, and did not receive a return offer. Offer rates were <25% and I was told my performance was not the reason. Personally, I believe it was due to lack of networking internally with the team to build rapport. Nonetheless I kicked off my FT recruiting process during the last 2 weeks of the internship and landed my first interview in September of 2022. Since then I have had over 40 interviews in a broad range of roles including EB, MM, and boutique investment banks, LMM PE firms, and some leveraged finance analyst roles. I have had 6 superdays as well and have managed to secure at least one interview every month for almost a year and a half. In the past month I got rejected from 3 boutique investment banks in later rounds due to lack of experience from experienced hires with 1-2 years of experience.

Rationale

I was told that official FT recruiting was a 1-2 month span after the interns wrapped up (for IB), but I never let that stop me as I continued to get interviews well over a year from that timeframe from networking and persistence. For the first time, I really believe I need to pivot or change my strategy to getting a role. In October 2023 I picked up a contract based corporate development role for a small company that was looking to acquire 1-2 smaller firms to build their prescence across the U.S. (family connection). I have worked on a few projects here in the interim using it as an experience on my resume to avoid the employment gap, an opportunity to work on projects correlated to the analyst roles I am recruiting for, and to help pay my student loans. Aside from this experience I have prior sophomore year internship experience at a VC-backed start-up and in venture capital along with some investment organizations on campus. I believe that my resume relatively strong and gets me involved in at least a phone screen for first year analyst roles, but is not enough to combat against professionals with 1+ year of post graduate work experience who I find are recruiting for the same roles.

Options

After some reflecting, I believe it is in my best interest to re-evaluate my strategy and decide if there is a more efficient way to go at this. I have a few ideas that I would like to hear feedback regarding, or any other advice.

1.) MSF

I have looked into some of the top programs that I believe I would be competitive for including Vanderbilt, UT Austin, etc. I believe that this route would allow me to not only broaden network, but allow for another shot for more on-cycle FT recruitment with a better brand name on my resume. I believe I would be able to secure a boutique IB internship from connections I have made for this summer to stack up some more experience and bolster my resume even further. The biggest problem here is the amount in student loans I would have after the program. I am currently sitting on 100k+ from undergrad (no financial aid, no scholarships, out of state tution) and the thought of almost another 100k is concerning to say the least. In undergrad, I followed the guidelines of securing a FT role with a salary the same or slightly less than my outstanding loan balance. That would be thrown out of the window with 200k+ in debt and I am really not sure if that is something I am comfortable doing. My parents will not contribute to my student loans, but have been helping me financially to get on my feet. Aside from the loans I believe this option would be the most beneficial for my mental health in that I would get to be back in school for two semesters, meet new people, and spend some time in a new city.

2.) An Adjacent Role

Some of the common advice I have heard along the way in this journey is to find an adjacent role, get 1 yr of work experience and try again when the market picks up. I believe this is a solid option in that I will not have to take out student loans, can live at home given my vicinity to 2 major cities in the tri-state area, and can begin to tackle my student loans and CC debt that I have accumulated throughout this process. The problem here is that I have had 0 traction in terms of adjacent roles. Starting late last year, I really began to cast a wider net and apply to essentially anything finance related near my residence, but have not gotten a single interview from any of those roles. I have had much more traction from boutique investment banks in terms of interviews, but again face the problem of more experienced hires in later rounds. 

3.) Hit The Pavement Harder

Most of my efforts in the past few months have gone towards firms that have posted openings and networking in that way. I believe there are a decent amount of small 10-20 employee boutiques in the cities surrounding my residence that I have not exhausted fully yet. With this plan I would also look to rekindle a lot of the relationships I have created through networking in the past 2 years. I have had 200+ networking calls since sophomore year of college, and can follow up with everyone I have spoken with to see if there is any traction there as well. Networking has been my competitive edge in the past to get involved in processes coming from a non-target with little to no OCR. Mentally I feel absolutely burnt out from this method and do not have much financial runway to keep up this method. I will have to pick up part-time unrelated job to help supplement this grind. Aside from the mental fatigue, I am worried I will again run into the same problem of more experienced hires edging me out.

Conclusion

Apologies for the long winded post, but I wanted to see if there was any insight or advice here regarding my situation. It has been horrible to say the least, but I have been focusing on things in my control in the meantime to help with my mental health. I am in the best physical shape of my life working out twice a day, spending time with my family and improving the quality of relationships there, and picking up some hobbies I lost in college such as golf and reading. Any and all advice is welcomed here.

Side Note - Feel free to PM me regardless of industry if you want to learn more/connect. I am always happy to expand my network and enjoy meeting new people.