Last second switch from IB recruiting to S&T?

Hi everyone, I am considering backing out of IB recruiting to pursue S&T. To give context, I grinded very hard to land six internships and complete five of them by junior year. I also took a semester off in between, which extended my graduation by one semester, making me eligible for both '26 and '27 internships. IB recruiting is around the corner, and although I am confident in my interview preparation and ability to succeed in the role, I am looking to switch to S&T.

I think I just got hooked on IB very young and structured my entire college years to open a door for me in the future. But after completing the internships and my life turning into recruiting, I am simply no longer excited about the industry. Completing internships, building relationships with people in the industry, and prioritizing interview prep over graded coursework - it feels like I am throwing it all away by backing out this deep.

My rationale is not that I don’t want to pursue IB because something changed about how I view the industry, but more because I know I will enjoy S&T more and have become increasingly intrigued the more I learn about the division. The reason I am slightly comfortable possibly making this decision is because I have acquired a lot of market and trading knowledge since I started investing, trading, and following markets since high school. I did a mock S&T interview just for fun (mix of FICC and equities questions) before I seriously considered this decision and scored really well, given the strength of my foundational trading and market knowledge. I understand the nature and dynamics of both these roles, but I think I would enjoy the kind of stress in S&T more than IB because the work is much more stimulating.

Another dilemma is the money. I don’t come from much, and the IB money would certainly allow me to begin building a financial foundation much faster.

Internships:

• MM Tech M&A Advisory Firm – Intern
• MM PE Fund - Intern
• Search Fund - Intern
• Search Fund - Intern
• Big 4 Firm - Intern (unrelated but needed the cash and had no other offers at the time)

Stats:

• West Coast T1 Public
• Major: Economics
• GPA: Above 3.7

Thank you for reading all of this, and I appreciate any insight.

Also absolutely ZERO s&t networking done but im ready to fkn grind