Honestly, I just don’t know enough about the finance industry or recruiting environment to say anything useful here (i.e., whether it’s a good idea to continue with this 6-month internship and keep applying).

However, experience in an emerging market like Nigeria tends to be discounted in places like the US and UK, so I would recommend doing the MSF so you can aim for Analyst-level roles. If you go the MBA route, it’s tougher to get in, there are fewer spots, and you might not be competitive if your only experience is in Nigeria. 316 should be enough but, again, we don’t specialize in Master’s program admissions consulting.

What do you think is a better option for me considering IB/PE preference, and also the finance industry in general?
Ps. I took the GREs right after school and got a 316 and wondering if that is good for applying to MSFin programs in the USA

It’s hard to answer this one because I don’t know what your options are, but if your ultimate goal is investment banking or something deal-related, try any of the common “Plan B” recommendations on this site: corporate finance at a normal company, valuation at an independent firm, corporate banking, or something at the Big 4 firms. I think you probably could get into IB after the MSF *if* you have enough relevant internship experience, such as working at a boutique IB, PE, or VC firm. Many people do off-cycle internships, finish the degree, and then move into IB as lateral hires.

To be honest, I’m not super-familiar with either program. USC obviously ranks higher, but if the program at Tulane is much cheaper and would let you complete an internship at the same time, I would probably lean toward Tulane from a risk and cost perspective. I think you will probably have to do quite a bit more networking coming from Tulane, though.

Focus on London because NY will be very difficult unless you’re studying in the U.S. or have permission to work there. If you focus on London, you have more options available as well because off-cycle internships are more common, so you can do something like an internship during the degree, maybe try to get something else for this summer, and then use that experience to apply to banks. The timeline is also a bit slower for London, so if you can apply by August of this year, you might be able to get something for summer next year.

The standard route to getting into IB in London in a case like this is to do off-cycle internships at smaller firms and then network your way into roles at the large firms. If that doesn’t work, you could consider Plan B options like Big 4 firms, valuation, or corporate banking.

The main issues here are:

1) You’re doing a 1-year Master’s program, so the timing for summer internships is tricky, as banks normally want you to be enrolled in school to intern at the bank. Also, 2024 summer internship recruiting is already done or mostly underway at the large banks because it starts ~1.5 years before the internship.

2) You presumably do not have permission to work in the U.S., which means you need to find a firm willing to sponsor you or take an unpaid role or something like that.

To address #1, a 2-year program or something with a different start date that would allow you to intern while in the degree would be better. Otherwise, you’ll have to go for school-year / off-cycle internships and eventually use them to win a full-time role.

For #2, work visas for international students are a huge topic that I can’t fully address here, but there are some tips here:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/international-student-investment-banking/

You can usually find lists of banks that are more willing to sponsor international students each year if you search online. The timing is actually more of a problem because you can’t do much if you’re too late to the recruiting process.

Thanks!