Missed the boat on recruiting senior year

Questions:

  1. Is it possible to break into finance a year out of college?
  2. Should I try to apply again to first year analyst programmes or wait until I get an MBA to begin applying?
  3. How should I frame the choice to switch industries back to finance in interviews?

Background: I went to a target school, on a sports team, studying Econ & Poli Sci (liberal arts) with an average-ish GPA. I interned for a fairly prestigious English IB the summer before my senior year and came out thinking I was hot shit. Long story short, I proceeded to fuck around for the whole of my senior year and so completely missed the boat on US IB recruiting.

As a result, I ended up getting a job working in an industry related to finance but its not something I love or could see myself in long term. I know this has put me on the back foot, so to compensate for my gross ineptitude I have been putting in serious work improving my technical and financial skills. I wanted to know if there is anything else that I could be doing specifically to help put myself in the best position possible.

1 Comments
 

Deleniti praesentium libero quidem soluta cumque consequatur ullam rem. Neque non ut eligendi cum ratione. Possimus sit earum ullam voluptatum est.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (77) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”