Third Year, Semi-Target, 3.25 GPA: Couldn't Land SA IB internship, what to do to best prepare for FT IB recruiting?

Whats up guys,

I currently am a third year student at Texas McCombs School of Business. Over the course of 4 months I have been fighting hard to help land a Summer Analyst internship and it sucks to say I have lost this battle.

Going into recruiting I had a 3.25 cumulative GPA and I knew I would not have a slim chance at Bulge Bracket banks so I was banking on either Middle Market or Boutiques. I knew I would have to network my ass off to even think about getting a shot and I attempted to do that. I cold called/emailed various professionals and had a low success rate but had some successes none the less. Did informational interviews and even had some great conversations with these people. I also went to all the IB info sessions at my school networked with the associates from those banks and got great feedback from a few and got some cards and contacted them shortly after. First exchange of emails went great but contacting them a second time I had no luck.

On campus recruiting time came around and I dropped my resume for every bank that was recruiting and miraculously managed to get 3 first round interviews at boutiques: Tudor, Pickering, and Holt; Raymond James; and RBC Capital Markets. The interview rolls around and I feel like I did well but I don't get called back for a second round. I honestly don't know why because I answered all the technicals and fit questions very well. if I were to pick a factor though I feel like it may have been my story.

After not getting called back I started panicking because time was running out so I went on a different route of recruiting. With no other IB posts on our online recruiting I had to resume drop for corporate finance since that was all left. As of last week I accepted a F50 financial analyst internship in Aerospace/Defense industry. The whole situation is a bummer and it has been a rough time, but I want to keep on pushing for full time recruiting.

With this I was hoping to ask you guys:

* what should I do to now to best prepare for Full Time Recruiting?
* did I make a bad choice accepting a corporate finance internship?
* How bad will a corporate finance internship hurt when recruiting Full time?

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any insight and advice

TL;DR: Got three SA interviews from Boutiques and didn't make it to second rounds. Want to try for FT recruiting so what do I do now?

 

You didn't make a mistake by doing corp finance. It's definitely better than working at McDonald's for the summer or cleaning pools. Maybe reach out to local boutiques in the summer for part-time fall internships. It won't be as comprehensive as a summer analyst program but it's better than nothing and will certainly help for FT recruitment.

 

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