Graduate Early? Incoming Sophomore BB S&T Intern

TL;DR: Upcoming sophomore intern from US lower target in BB S&T in Southeast Asia. Should I graduate in 6 semesters and accept FT offer or 7 semesters and try to lateral to better locations? What are the best strategy and chances and how not to burn bridges along the way?


Full story:

I'm currently a sophomore at a lower target (Brown/Dartmouth/Northwestern) with a 3.8 GPA. I will be interning in one of the Tier 2 BBs (Credit Suisse/Citi/Barclays) in a developing country (such as Bangkok/KL) this summer in their Global Markets S&T division. I speak English and another Southeast Asian language.

My situation is rather unique. I am eligible to graduate in 6 semesters - May 2022 (since I've overloaded a lot and taken summer courses), but I can also extend to graduate in 7 semesters - Dec 2022. I'm planning to graduate early and work back in Asia.

I am really determined to try and get myself into S&T as an analyst. 

  1. During the upcoming summer internship, should I focus solely on getting the FT offer? Should I network with bankers from the same bank in Singapore/Hong Kong - conveying the message that I am interested to work FT in their office? What will my current office's higher-ups think when I convey this message? Should I keep it discrete until I receive my full-time offer first? What's the best strategy?

  2. How easy/possible it is to leverage your return offer from a developing country in Southeast Asia to SG/HK? How not to burn bridges and try to lateral from a smaller office to a larger one?

  3. Should I accept my FT offer, graduate in 6 semesters, and start working if I receive the offer back in the developing country (salary is ~25-35% of that compared to SG/HK, smaller office size, plain vanilla products, higher tax rate)? Should I only accept the offer if I receive the offer back in SG/HK?

  4. Should I apply for full-time (6 sem) or summer analyst roles (7 sem) in other banks as well as a backup plan? What do you all think about my chances (both SA/FT 2022 in Asia)? What's going to be the best strategy - applying as an FT on 50% of the banks and as a SA on 50% of others.

  5. Who'm should I network with? Analysts/Associates/VPs? What are the possibilities for off-cycle internships and accelerated FT recruiting - Who should I network or contact?

Would really appreciate any advice and suggestions. Feel free to private message me as well :)

 

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