Q&A: ESL Student / Non-target -> MM IB - > UMM PE

Hello fellow monkeys,I have been lurking on WSO for years and have received lots of good advice / info from this forum. Want to do a Q&A to help any younger students / professionals who's looking to break into high finance, especially IB / PE.  For some background:Currently a 1st year associate at a ~$10 billion AUM industry-focused PE firmPrior to PE, I worked at an "upper" MM IB in a HCOL city in the U.S.Graduated from a non-target college in a LCOL cityImmigrant / ESL student / first person in my family to graduate from college with no prior contacts in the industryFWIW, I didn't fall into any category of a diversity candidate.Happy to answer any questions either on how I was able to break into IB, how I navigated the on-cycle recruiting process for PE, or any thing that could be useful.

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