What do I do now

I’m a current junior at a school in California that is rival to stanford, and I’ve been recruiting throughout all of this year for summer 2025 as a sophomore for IB and PE roles and now as a junior for any last minute applications that pop up. I’ve made it to 4-5 final rounds with multiple MM PE firms and few IB boutiques, but now I just faced another rejection and I’m lost on what to do now because I’m not seeing many more summer analyst opportunities arise. Anyone have advice on what to do? Should I start cold emailing firms? If so any recs?

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If you’ve made it to 4-5 final rounds I wouldn’t call this a skill issue but more so you struggling to convert due to fit/competition. Given that, here are some options.

A) delay graduation: this sometimes works but if the reasons you got rejected stay the same you’re gonna find yourself on the same boat.

B) aim for regional boutiques, beef up your resume, delay graduation and re recruit again: this could work, maybe it’ll help with your overall ethos. Again, don’t know who your competition is or if your school is a true target.

C) take something else like Big 4 and then recruit in your final year. This could work out but this is tougher because lots of people gunning for these roles are those looking to upgrade after receiving a return offer. May be tougher.

D) Masters of finance, and re recruit there. Similar strategy to A. This could allow you to re recruit in a different city with more opportunities. Some people have succeeded in this path, and maybe this could work for you.

E) pivot, do something else, and revisit during MBA recruiting. I’ve met people who couldn’t cut it for IDB when they were younger, did other relevant fields, and re-recruited successfully during their MBA. This could very well work for you, and it’s a much smarter path than delaying life to hold out for IB.

Think about what you wanna do, but the thing you gotta understand is that it’s not over, just the way you’re going to get the job changes a bit.

 

What would other relevant fields be? Am still recruiting for FT but roles are getting thin, would LO AM be close enough for recruiting for MBA IBD? Concern is that my role doesn't have a ton of financial modeling. Cheers

 

Thank you so much for your advice. This means a lot and I’ll definitely consider all these options. It’s definitely been getting a bit discouraging but it is great to consider these alternative paths.

 

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