Non-target kid looking to make it

Being at a non-target certainty makes the process much more difficult. Although if you are willing to put in the time to reach out to your school's alumni who are in Investment Banking and use resources (Career Services, LinkedIn, etc.) to contact others outside your school's network, you'll definitely stand a good chance of breaking in if you have a good personality and great credentials (GPA, work experience, EC's).

I myself am a Junior at a complete non-target university. My school's career services does not have the resources to help any students in investment banking recruitment so I was on my own and made great use of LinkedIn in my networking efforts. Through extensively cold emailing and cold calling ibankers, building relationships with these individuals, and then leveraging these relationships to get actual interviews, I was able to secure Summer Analyst offers from BB and top MM Investment Banks. My friend who attends my non-target school used a similar approach to networking as I did and will be working as an IB SA at Credit Suisse this summer. I too will be working as an IB SA at a BB. Numerous others from my school and from other non-targets whom I know were able to break in to IB SA and FT positions. So with the right attitude, perseverance, and a little bit of luck...it is surely within your reach to break in.

This is a great WSO thread that lists the email formats for many prominent investment banks which I used when emailing ibankers that I found off of LinkedIn:

//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/company-email-addresses-guide