MSF for Equity Research??

I am a spring graduate from a non-target American school where I studied Finance and Econ with a GPA a bit above 3.5. Throughout UG I was able to intern for a regional boutique investment holding firm as an analyst as well as in equity research at another regional boutique, one of these being in Europe and the other being local to my University.

Post graduation I work in financial ops at one of the bigger financial services firms (think Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, State Street etc.) and am not satisfied at all. I spend hours post work everyday and on weekends doing things like studying accounting, improving upon my modeling skills, mastering my technical's or just keeping myself up to date with the market. All with hopes of ultimately achieving a FT job within ER or IB ideally in NYC. I have begun thinking about my next move of attending a MSF program at a more elite university regardless of location and possibly interning for another boutique within one of these desired fields prior to beginning in Fall of 2025 ideally spring of 2025. Am I shit out of luck for recruiting without this MSF? Would a MSF even help my situation? What schools should I be looking into? What would be some other feedback for me? Should I start connecting with these boutiques that I am interested in interning for now or should I wait?