Should I apply for an FT or internship position? - IB recruiting

I’m currently finishing my MSc in Econ at a Nordic semi-target. Last summer, after my 1st year of MSc studies, I did an internship in big4 strategy. Immediately after, I started working in real assets M&A (buyside) as a fulltime analyst at a 1-5 BEUR fund. Working 50-70h pw alongside my studies tanked my gpa from 4.7/5 to 4.15/5.

Should I target internships as I’m still a student (graduating next spring), or go for FT roles? My target is London IB, maybe energy/infra coverage as my experience is best suited for that. I’m honestly willing to go for any other group as well. Thanks for any tips

 

OC and SA for sure. I'm assuming Big 4 strat was in the Nordics in this case but in general my advice remains he same. Without a recognizable London IB / PE / MBB brand it's very difficult to do straight FT recruitment. 

Caveat to this - for UBS apply for FT, I've seen people go straight in there.

The advice above is for London IB generally but particularly relevant for M&A roles, have seen a couple of people squeak into Capital Markets roles with no experience but still quite rare.

 
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A few threads kicking around on this recently, quick summary from what I've seen across multiple grad classes:

Ones that don't have any issues for SA for sure: GS, PWP, LAZ, EVR, RTH, MOE, BARC, PJT, GHL, Citi(?)

Ones that have an explicit filter on your grad year to block SA but are fine once you're in the process: JPM, Citi(?)

Ones that would consider you for SA but you should probably apply to OC as they prefer it: MS, CS

Ones that you can apply for FT instead of SA: UBS, DB(?)

Ones that I have no idea about: CRV, BofA, DB(?)

Think that covers the main banks, at least those that come to mind. If I have a half idea I've included with a subsequent (?) for the options that seem plausible.

 

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