What actually got them the offer.

I double major and double minor at a non-target school. During my freshman year, I interned at a local company. It has nothing to do with finance, but I had the opportunity to work directly with C-Suite executives and took on important initiatives/projects in the business operations. During my sophomore year, I had two remote internships at boutique shops. The experience was good enough for my narrative and behavioral interview. I also got involved with every single finance-related opportunity in college like the Finance Club, competitions, etc.

I had the opportunity to review different resumes applying to IB and Finance in general, and I found everyone's resume nearly identical. Then I asked myself, if I chose to do the same thing as everyone else, like a packed resume with Finance-related courseworks, internships, extracurriculars, and even interests, how could I stand out? I believe that being unique is a better strategy than being the best. Therefore, I spent time crafting my narrative, clarifying my unique selling points and articulating them in emails and networking calls. I believe that I was chosen for being personable and memorable.

FF's weekly meetings provided me with guidance on my progress and connected me with other peers who ended up helping me with mock interviews. We still have a group chat to rant!!! I think the EQ and behavioral interview courses are the best!! I still read them over and over again to improve my EQ.

Take this recruitment process as a chance to get to know yourself: I never hated my process, even though it was very long, a bit unlucky, and exhausting. I enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone, getting to know new people, and, most importantly, getting to know myself more deeply. After every conversation, I reflected on everything: people's stories and advice, how the conversation flowed, what I did well, and how I could improve. Over time, my mentors and I observed clear development. So when I got stuck and felt uncertain about the offer, I never questioned my choice to pursue this path, because I knew I had become a better person.

Focus on your own journey: Everyone has their own timeline, pace, and advantages. You'll see people who start very early and end up with offers much later, and you'll see people who cram at the last minute and still land their dream job the earliest. It's not like a test in school - doing the right thing and studying hard doesn't always mean you'll get perfect grades. The final outcome is a combination of many factors, most of which are outside your control, so an offer doesn't define someone's worth or capability. If you focus on how you've grown throughout this process, you'll enjoy your journey - and positivity attracts the same.

I was a Economics major at a non-target university and intended to switch my major to Finance. I had a freshman year internship at a super boutique consulting firm, and was participating in a sophomore year fall internship at a small search fund when I was starting recruiting. I was also involved in my school's investment banking club & another finance organization on-campus. My major switch went into effect going into my 2nd semester, so a lot of my interviews were as a Finance major.

I had started recruiting pretty early. I started networking with bankers at boutique firms in NYC during my freshman summer in an attempt to get a Summer 2026 Role and I think starting that early helped me. I learned a lot of the basic technical questions early on in the summer, and had ~20 calls across different boutique firms. When I came back to school, I shifted my focus to 2027 recruiting.

I had an Excel sheet that I used to track all my outreach. I segmented it by ~30 Banks and would send one email to a person at each bank per day. From there I followed a very structured follow-up schedule of following up a week later no more than 3 times total. I color coded the dates in my excel sheet so I could tell how many follow-ups I had sent, and when my most recent one was. I also tracked the amount of calls I had at each firm so I could see which firms I would have the best chance at come interview season.

My biggest advantage was starting really early and sending out a ton of emails, and being strong technically. I was not that good at maintaining relationships, and to be honest was way too awkward in hindsight, but I think because of the volume I got lucky that a couple of people were willing to fight for me to get interviews. Once I had interviews, I was always able to channel my nerves into excitement and walked into them feeling really confident.

I think Faceless Finance as a whole was one of the best resources I used. From the deep dives into technical concepts like LBOs, or small stuff like best practices for sending a calendar invite, the course is very conversational, gives relevant world examples, and I used it for the majority of my summer prep learning the basic ins and outs of recruiting.

I think building and maintaining relationships is the most important part. I think in hindsight, I really only maintained like 5 relationships of the 60+ calls I had and that hurt me. I only had 4 first round interviews, and I got lucky in the fact that some of my calls liked me enough to really push for me in HR. Being a person that people want to talk to and be around will be your best skill, and will make people you reach out to remember you.

I would say another thing is to leave no stone un-turned. I was interviewing for a MM Fig Group, and one of my interviewers in a Superday asked me a very specific question about the Dividend Discount Model. I had looked into the DDM and prepped for questions but would say I did not go into extreme depth, and I don't think I was able to give the answer they were looking for. Ultimately, I did not get the offer, and I think the next times I had interviews, I was extremely diligent in looking into everything I could and it helped a lot.

I was an Econ major. I attended a non-target state school and completed two relevant finance internships prior to recruiting season. On campus, I was in two business related clubs but mainly involved myself in the finance club.

I really turned up my recruitment cycle towards the end of summer by ramping up my weekly networking calls and dialing in on my technicals. I took each call as a lesson for the next one. I also took note of each call and things we talked about to reach out at a later date. Throughout all of this, I kept my behavioral and technical answers at tip-top shape to make sure I wouldn't be surprised during interviews.

I can attribute the majority of my success to Faceless Finance and its community. FF's take on EQ and Behaviorals might be one of the most valuable pieces of help on the internet singlehandedly. Other than that, having a community of like-minded people who have that same drive while being in similar situations is extremely uplifting and was a cornerstone to my success.

Start early. The biggest trend is that the interview dates are continuously pushed further on the calendar. For non-targets, having relevant experience you can talk about is extremely important as well. Technicals should be a foundation; they are the bare minimum to bring to interviews. Other than that, keep yourself grounded. I might obviously be saying this from a place of privilege, but don't have an "all or nothing" mindset. It doesn't help you in any way and only serves as a detriment to you mentally. Some mistakes I realized I made early on were that I came off too hardo because of that mindset when that was clearly never who I was. Other than that, keep at it and good luck everyone!

Finance major with a minor in Psychology.

Have had past internship experiences in Wealth Management / M&A Internship / and Private Equity Internship.

Part of the venture capital firm at school, Investment banking society executive board, cultural clubs.

My approach to recruiting was to start as early as possible and talk to as many people as I could. I started during my freshman year by networking with alumni as well as upperclassmen on campus who had already received offers. I wanted to become confident in my ability to have networking conversations with warmer contacts before cold networking with people outside of my school. I had a system for each call where I would make a document and prepare a few questions beforehand, but I would also try to come up with questions naturally as the conversation flowed. I also made an effort to maintain relationships with the people I spoke to by checking in with them every so often.

I was very focused on sending emails to people I had some sort of connection with, and if there wasn't one, I would try to find something we had in common. I reached out to people who were from my state, involved in similar clubs at other schools, or who played the same sports.

I think it's super important to stay on top of these emails and scheduling calls because a lot of bankers only have a few minutes available. Be proactive when responding to emails so you don't miss those opportunities.

The biggest benefit I got from using FF was the courses it provided. It was great to go back through them before interviews to refresh my memory and make sure I was fully prepared. FF was also super helpful whenever I had questions that weren't covered in the courses. I would get replies very quickly, and it was a great resource to have throughout the recruiting process.

My advice for students trying to recruit for investment banking would be to become confident in your ability to have a conversation and present yourself in a way that bankers appreciate rather than sounding like a robot. Bankers are there to have a genuine conversation with you and aren't going to ask you anything too crazy on networking calls. I'd say be yourself, be energetic, and try to give them a little boost in their day as well.

I think if you're confident in your technicals, it makes the entire process much easier because then it simply becomes a matter of presenting yourself well and telling your story, which should be the easiest part but is also one of the most overlooked. You want to make sure you have a strong narrative for why you want the role and why you're a good fit for it.

I would also say to start as early as you can and don't be afraid to ask for help at any point throughout the process. It will be tough at times, but as long as you keep pushing, you'll be happy with the end result and proud of yourself for knowing you put your best foot forward.

I was a finance major with a liberal arts minor. I attended a non-target state school and had completed two internships prior to my interviews. I had an incoming summer IB internship as well. I was involved in 4 major things on campus, 3 being finance or finance-adjacent clubs and 1 being a sport. I had a leadership position in all three of the organizations.

I had started "recruiting" very early on. I was doing networking calls during my freshman fall and I think starting that early really helped me. I maintained and had check in calls every so often with all my contacts and was able to really build a relationship to by the time applications opened.

I had a system in place that I think really helped me. For every call, I would have a word doc with the name, date and title of the person I am speaking with. Throughout the call, I would take notes on the conversation. This was helpful in two ways: I was able to reference back to things that were said in future catch up calls and had a place to see when the last time I spoke with everyone was. I also had a Excel sheet that tracked my outreach and put reminders on Calendar on days to follow up on previous emails.

My biggest advantage was sending out a LOT of emails and maintaining relationships. I felt extremely comfortable on the phone and was able to turn a lot of convos into referrals / getting people to vouch for me.

I think being good on the phone is the most useful skillset and important to develop. It helped me a lot and a big reason why I was able to land a role was my ability to speak, not necessarily my technical acumen.

I was pretty far along before being introduced to FF. The parts that I found helpful were the chat rooms and the ability to have a sounding board against ideas. I was in a spot where I was fortunate to have offers to evaluate and FF helped in that regard. The sections that were most pertinent to me were the technicals as I used FF to review and "lazily" scroll through concepts to make sure that I understood them before an interview.

The most important thing in my opinion is your ability to have a good conversation. The recruiting process is driven so much by people vouching for you, passing you along to colleagues and saying, "hey I had a great conversation with this kid".

The technicals are a non-negotiable but the easiest part to learn. Even in an EB process, I did not get any crazy technicals that I did not already know a week into studying.

Also, I have heard different opinions on this, but I would start networking as early as you feel comfortable. There is so much to be gained with maintaining relationships. It's much harder to ask a person who you spoke with once to refer you than someone who you have spoken with multiples times who did it on their own. On these calls, the thing that helped me the most was not going in with pre-loaded questions. I would look at their LinkedIn and just ask questions that came naturally throughout the conversation. I found that to be helpful.

I was a finance major with an economics minor. I attended a non-target school and had no internship experience. I had just recently joined a search fund and did that remotely, and I had an incoming corporate finance internship for the summer. On campus I wasn't involved in much my freshman year and 1st semester sophomore year, but I got into 2 major organizations on campus my 2nd semester sophomore year and had done some competitions.

I didn't know I wanted to do IB till the end of my 2nd semester sophomore year. Once I did, I started putting all my effort into it. I sent 10-12 emails a day and studied technical questions every day. My response rate was low, and I sent everyone follow-ups if I didn't get a response on the first email. I was bad at networking as I was confused many times on how to make the conversation more engaging, but I started getting better with more repetitions. With the calls I did get to have, I took notes and wrote down terms I didn't know and googled them after. I would send a thank you the next day and kept them updated on my progress. Asking for referrals was weird to me at first, but I realized it had to be done, it was awkward sometimes but making that ask at times did help. I also wrote down on an excel sheet down everyone I emailed and talked to, I made sure I covered all the banks I could, and people of all levels of roles, analysts -> MD. I knew I wasn't the most technical candidate, but I was curious and had an opinion on the market, I kept up with recent events and talked to many upperclassmen on campus to learn from them/did mock interviews. Through this I could engage in convo and find my gaps to work on them.

FF helped in filtering what to learn, there is so many technicals but not all are as important as others. FF provided the major ones and explained them in simple terms which helped. I only really used the technical section which provided me many topics to refine my knowledge.

The biggest thing is being personable and humble. Be ready to learn and ask good questions. Take time to research the company and person you are talking to. I stressed over technicals so much, but all 3 first round interviews (1 MM, 2 BB) didn't ask me stuff I didn't know from my first few weeks of studying for them. Know the basics and know them well, practice saying them in a mirror and feel confident. The best advice I got was don't go to deep when they ask you a technical, answer it fully and wait for them to ask if want to know more depth. I made the mistake of trying to explain every small detail and it was not perceived the best. Lastly, know your story and why you're in that interview.

I was an Economics and Accounting major with a minor in Entrepreneurship at a non-target state university. Prior to receiving my offer, I had completed one internship in consulting. On campus, I was actively involved in four major organizations, three finance-related and one non-finance organization.

I began focused recruiting in the fall of my sophomore year, after conducting a few initial networking calls over the summer. I built a strong community of mentors on campus, which greatly influenced how I approached networking.

After every call, I maintained a CRM-style Excel sheet tracking everyone I spoke with. Also, I stayed in touch with the individuals I connected with most and was able to build relationships with several before applications opened. I also kept a networking journal where I recorded key details from each conversation, allowing me to personalize follow-ups effectively.

I used Faceless Finance (FF) extensively for technical interview preparation, which helped me build confidence prior to interview season. The platform's concise study materials were also great for last-minute review before interviews.

In my opinion, the most important factors in recruiting are persistence and the ability to create engaging dialogue.

Persistence was crucial for me - despite not landing my initial goal in banking, I remained confident and consistent, which ultimately led to success elsewhere. Recruiting varies widely from person to person, so it's essential to bet on yourself and give it your all.

Strong conversations are what in my opinion differentiate candidates. Technical skills get you in the door, but fit and connection get you the offer. That's why developing your story and having meaningful networking calls are so valuable. Those relationships often become your greatest asset.

I am a double major in Finance and Data Analytics at a non-target school. I had an incoming hedge fund internship and had not completed any internships prior to recruiting for banking. The only somewhat relevant experience on my resume was my school's banking club and the business that I ran throughout high school. These two and the incoming hedge fund internship were practically the only things talked about from my resume in interviews. More specifically, the entrepreneurship came up the most, and this was something that really caught people's attention. I am involved in three organizations on campus, not in any leadership positions in any, but I am active and take advantage of everything they all offer.

My strategy coming into recruiting was a little funny, since I really didn't know I wanted to do banking until around the winter of my sophomore year. I caught on pretty quickly, and before even looking at technicals, I started firing off cold emails. Not knowing much about banking during the first five to ten calls definitely did not help, but the more bankers I spoke with and the more reps I got, the better the calls started going.

At that point, I started studying technicals daily. Whether it was going through guides, reading Faceless Finance, or something else, I made sure to study for at least two hours each day. I also made sure to maintain relationships with my networking contacts and keep them updated on my progress.

When interviews came up, I mock interviewed with friends and upperclassmen, and would even go on Zoom to speak my answers out loud.

The biggest role Faceless Finance played in my recruiting process was helping me realize that a huge part of the decision-making process is about who you are as a person, not just whether you can nail 100 percent of the technicals. Through the EQ and Behavioral Interviews courses, I learned how to structure my answers and express genuine interest in banking. More importantly, I learned how to come across as someone others could see themselves working with for 12 or more hours a day.

I would say the biggest thing that I know now is to get involved and gain experience from day one. I think that not having any prior internship experience really limited me and caused bankers to dive much deeper into the experience I did have. Looking back, getting an unpaid internship in anything finance related would have worked wonders for me during recruiting. That being said, extracurriculars at school also play a huge role, and being able to show that you're involved and well rounded goes a long way. The last thing I can say is that the basic technicals are non-negotiable, and especially in interviews, the biggest thing is not to act like you know everything, because you will pigeonhole yourself into getting questions you don't know how to answer.

I was a finance major with a concentration in capital markets, and minor in economics. I got my first internship as a research analyst at a small, remote firm the summer before my Junior year. My second internship was throughout my Junior year at a boutique, "no-name" investment bank focused on capital raising. I was a member of the Men's Varsity Golf team and was involved in the Investment Banking Club.

I was definitely late to the recruiting game, not getting started until May of my Sophomore year. The first few months was heavily focused on networking, primarily targeting middle-market and boutique firms as I knew I would have better success here based on my non-target education and lack of experience. There was a lot of learning throughout the first few months, and I didn't have much success turning networking calls into interviews. As I progressed, I learned how to best position myself as someone who was eager to learn, and use my background in sports to demonstrate discipline, leadership and self-starting.

My headspace was not in a great spot by the end of my recruiting. At the beginning, I focused on learning as much as I could to constantly improve, however, as time passed and I continued to see little to no progress, I became obsessive and slowly filtered out other things in my life to make recruiting a priority.

Although I helped write Faceless, I was greatly helped by one of the other admins while recruiting. I was having some success getting into the interview room but wasn't able to execute. The admin and close friend helped me write better networking notes and execute further on those calls by helping me get comfortable being myself and relaxed on calls. A similar tune rang true when it came to interviews.

While most people, including me, prioritized technical skills, the admin urged me to focus on displaying soft skills in interviews. While technicals are important, at the end of the day interviewers want to know whether this kid can get the job done while getting along with everyone on the team. After countless mock interviews where we worked on speaking, soft skills and technicals, I began progressing deeper in interview processes, before eventually landing my first summer analyst offer.

"The darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn." - Paul Coelho (The Alchemist)

Just keep going. For most, IB recruiting will likely be some of the most frustrating times of your lives. You will often get discouraged by your own rejection, heightened further as you see the success from some of your peers. There will be times when you want to give up, but what good does that do? Both outcomes of failure and giving up will hurt, but which will hurt more? Obviously don't put all your eggs in one basket. There comes a point where you should have a backup plan as an adjacent internship is better than no internship, but just because you start looking for opportunities outside of IB, doesn't mean you can't continue your search. This is a continuous learning experience, and as long as you keep at it, something will eventually stick.