Internship vs Graduate Program choice

Hi WSO,

I am an European-based MSc student about to start the last year of studies (target school), CFA Level 3 candidate, and very solid FO internships -but not BB. I have a decent network and I am targeting London (primarily) for S&T, ER or AM. I would also consider HK/Sing as my network is expanding considerably there.

According to colleagues (that are willing to refer me to their BB contacts) and to my own assessment on the Western economy, I would be better off by applying for Summer Internships, rather than applying for the Graduate Programme. In fact, I know many people in last year that got into summer internship and are now getting straight into the Graduate Programme.

But I also know that as a final year student I should apply for GP, and some banks (ie. BNPP) would automatically drop your Internship application if you are in last year of studies.

Apart from taking advantage of my contacts, what is the way to go this year? Which banks are more lenient when it comes to timing requirements (apart from Citi and JPM)?