What am I doing wrong in interviews?

Just keep in mind that a lot of it is politics and luck, it honestly is never you and sometimes even your interviewer can't push you in due to a different interviewer with a higher say. You will never look back and regret for trying your best and not ending up getting it.

Wish you the best for full-time recruiting.

Thanks guys. That's an interesting perspective, so what is your advice for beating those odds and convincing interviewers to reconsider you over their preconceived/pre-identified ideal candidate?

I'll keep doing mocks, and I'm also gathering my latest feedback to see where I am now. It looks like I'm oscillating between extremes one interview to another: too little/too much passion for finance, too enthusiastic versus too flat in voice, etc. I'm starting to get confused about reading and readjusting to different people versus being myself consistently? I know that this is a people-oriented industry, but also I'm getting frustrated that these small (or maybe not) factors are getting me dinged.

I'll definitely keep networking and meeting people over the summer though, I'm not looking back.

^Any further thoughts? I'm getting a headache at this point at conflicting advice to be myself versus to read my interviewers and adjust accordingly.

aside from luck/politics, all of the weedout questions, like "why S/T" cannot be answered with either gimmicky sounding lines or lines which imply you're only doing it BC you don't think you can get IB. Other things which could hurt include poorly done haircut or facial hair or excess weight.

I have a specific and personally tailored answer for why S&T. The content of my answers seem to be fine from the feedback I’ve gotten, maybe it’s my delivery.

But going off of that, I’ve had an issue with proving my interest in finance. In my original post, I mentioned that 1st round when my feedback said not enough interest even though I mentioned finance ECs, visiting their trading floor, and taking the time to meet alumns when in NYC, etc. Then for a recent interview, when I directly emphasized the above, the feedback I got was that I went overboard and no one should be that confident they want to be in this industry… Interestingly in both cases, I’ve gotten that I should be successful in whatever industry I end up in, like tech, etc. That frustrates me to no end at this point: I’m either not interested enough or too interested but regardless, I keep getting directed away from S&T it seems? Is it a fit issue?

Appearance-wise, I'm a girl and I look several years younger than my age. I sometimes feel self-conscious about this, though I try not to show it.

I’m really doubting myself at this point. I wish I knew what exactly I'm doing wrong that I'm turning people off in almost every single one of my interviews.

Never done it and don't know the price, but there are people that will do Skype interviews with you and honestly critique you. I don't know if there are any that are Wall Street specific, but it might be worth a try.

@Quintessentially

I think you need to mention your interest (how it came about, how you've demonstrated it etc) in a punchy way and not over elaborate and go too much into your experiences. You want to be brief, punchy and more importantly, explain how your experiences in finance (trading floor visits etc) has reinforced your interest. Don't list every single one of your experiences. Talk about how they impacted and further piqued your interest in S&T.

Also, since you're female...you have a subtle advantage and if I were you, I'd milk the hell out of it. Chances are, if they're deciding between you and a male candidate (assuming all else equal), you'd get the offer. I have a feeling as well that you're OVERprepared. Doing mocks are good but overdoing them really harms you more than it benefits you. Don't forget that your interviewers are humans afterall. You need to let your personality shine through; i.e. be yourself and know how to tailor your personality to what they're looking for.

Put it this way - you've already demonstrated and they already know that you have the smarts for the job (your school, GPA, initial interviews etc)...once you get to the later round interviews, I firmly believe they're looking for someone they'd enjoy/like working with. This is really how people with 3.0 GPAs or lower get offers and why networking to get initial interview works.

Personally, the best interviews I've had (I also recruited for S&T SA this year) were not typical interviews per say; we sometimes went on tangents and talked about other things outside of finance.

Good luck and don't ever give up.

ok you mention you're female...very VERY few females in S/T. Banks can talk "equal opportunity" all they like, but its the actual profile of the staff that actually tells the truth. There are a lot more lady IBD and AM analysts out there, you know. Why? There are reasons but they're long and the hiring in this industry is rather superficial and therefore not terribly rational but I would bet the reason females don't get S/T a lot is that they're thought not to be "tough" enough or quant enough.