Still time to get into IBD or S&T?

I am a 3.7 GPA, senior accounting student at a non-target, and to be honest, I'm thinking of delaying my graduation. I'm an accounting assistant at a regional fast-food chain and an incoming big 4 audit intern. I transferred here from abroad (i'm an immigrant) so this was the only option for me logistically. Is there still hope to get into investment banking? Or Sales & Trading. I could push graduation back. I'm thinking of either delaying graduation, or applying for MSF programs. What do you guys think?

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Pretty sure we talked about your resume a while back. Unfortunately, the area you immigrated from won't have you count as "diversity", and therefore you won't get an easier or expedited interview process at banks. You would have to push your graduation back two whole years to be eligible for internship recruiting (normally you interview for junior internships the spring of your sophomore year), and honestly you wouldn't be a very strong candidate even if you did push your graduation back. You would have to try to recruit for fulltime roles, and with the state of the market those spots are incredibly limited and intensely competitive. Sorry if this is harsh, it's just the state of the game.

If I recall correctly, you were trying to break into Big4 TAS from Audit. A very common path to IB is to do two years in TAS and then lateral to an analyst position in IB. This is head and shoulders your best bet to break into IB, and you'll be making money and building relevant skills for those two years.

re: MSF. Not super knowledgable on this front, but this entire site seems to agree that an MSF is pretty useless for banking. Your only option for more school would be to do a top 7 MBA and recruit into banking as an associate, but you'd have to ask the business school forum if you're competitive for those schools.

tldr: Do 2 years in TAS then lateral into banking as an analyst

 

corrido

Pretty sure we talked about your resume a while back. Unfortunately, the area you immigrated from won't have you count as "diversity", and therefore you won't get an easier or expedited interview process at banks. You would have to push your graduation back two whole years to be eligible for internship recruiting (normally you interview for junior internships the spring of your sophomore year), and honestly you wouldn't be a very strong candidate even if you did push your graduation back. You would have to try to recruit for fulltime roles, and with the state of the market those spots are incredibly limited and intensely competitive. Sorry if this is harsh, it's just the state of the game.

If I recall correctly, you were trying to break into Big4 TAS from Audit. A very common path to IB is to do two years in TAS and then lateral to an analyst position in IB. This is head and shoulders your best bet to break into IB, and you'll be making money and building relevant skills for those two years.

re: MSF. Not super knowledgable on this front, but this entire site seems to agree that an MSF is pretty useless for banking. Your only option for more school would be to do a top 7 MBA and recruit into banking as an associate, but you'd have to ask the business school forum if you're competitive for those schools.

tldr: Do 2 years in TAS then lateral into banking as an analyst

Thank you for your response. I am currently just looking at possible avenues and how investment banking recruiting works. I think TAS is probably the least headachey of all. I still know practically nothing about IB

MSF from top 5 programs can be useful for getting into banking, that I know. Another issue is that TAS recruiting is DEAD right now. Like completely DEAD

 

Doloribus nihil officiis ut magni fugit atque id id. Esse itaque reprehenderit et. Sunt soluta hic error facere non. Dolor ipsum qui consequatur possimus ut.

Alias voluptatibus veniam nihil voluptas laudantium aliquid saepe esse. Et cumque qui consequatur est.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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

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...”