Rising Senior, Looking for help on FT recruiting after 3 boutique IB internships....is it possible?

Hey everyone,

Longtime lurker first time poster, and thought now would be the perfect time to look to you guys for some advice on my current situation. I'll try and make it as short as possible, because if I just let the words spill onto the keyboard I would be writing an essay today.

Long story short:

I'm a rising senior at a semi-target university on the west coast, that typically places well in LA and SF but not so much elsewhere. I have a 3.54 GPA, am part of the Honors Business Program, and have been in charge of my fraternities rush for a couple semesters now.

In terms of experience, I've been fortunate enough to have 3 boutique IB internships in the past 2 years. One last summer working on a capital raise at a boutique IB in Houston focused on renewable energy; One this last spring while going to school, involved in target selection for m&a deals within industrials and various random industries coming out of Japanese and other Asian subsidiaries in the US; and finally one this summer, which I just finished, focused on m&a in the tech sphere (easily my favorite of the 3, and something I would love to be involved with out of college).

All my internships have been great, I've met some great people, and gotten some real good experience...however, I know 100% that upon graduation I want to be part of a BB, EB, or even Middle Market shop as my entry into the industry.

My question to ya'll is what you think about my chances based on the bit of info I've given you? (I can provide more through a PM if you want). Given that I study for interviews accordingly, do you think I have a shot or could make it past the resume screening in order to get 1st rounds? I have no preference on geography, and would be willing to work in Antarctica if the deal flow was good, and senior management was connected lol.

Also, in terms of networking. I've been trying hard. It was difficult to really do during my internship, because I didn't want to seem unappreciative or perform poorly while working, but I've been hitting the networking pretty hard this past month to very little response. I've scheduled a couple lunches with some real nice folk (one at a BB, and one in management consulting), as well as a couple informational phone calls with others. I'm still continuing outreach, but it's proven very difficult. So another question I have for you all, is whether or not it's too late in the game to really have meaningful networking? Am I (for lack of a better word) screwed in this respect?

And finally, just in general, I'm really confused how FT recruiting even works? Is there typically a strong campus presence? Is it entirely dependable on networking? General guidance or insight?

Sorry for the long, jumbled post, it was harder than I expected to condense all my thoughts into something short and quick haha. Hope I made some sense! If you can't tell, the stress levels are beginning to elevate exponentially haha

Appreciate the help.

 

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