The issue with delaying graduation these days is that it’s less useful because recruiting has moved up to over a year in advance of summer internships. I realize it’s slower in Canada than in the U.S., but it still takes place earlier than it used to.

If you already have 1 M&A internship and 1 PE internship, I don’t think it will be very useful to do another PE internship in the spring and delay your graduation. It’s better just to work at the large fund and graduate in December – but you have to consider the timing of the FT recruiting process as well, which I’m not 100% sure of in Canada (we mostly track the U.S. and European processes on this site).

Another PE internship adds little unless it’s a) At a large and well-known fund or b) Comes with the possibility of a full-time return offer. But it sounds like working at the big fund would at least satisfy a) in this case.

Thanks a lot for the advice and really appreciate you taking the time to reply even after the article has been out so long.

If you were that close, sure, it might be a good idea. To answer why you delayed graduation, you can just be honest and say that you got a late start in recruiting because it started so early, so you wanted to recruit again, and then maybe say that you also wanted to add some other academic program, course, or activity before graduating.

Thank you so much for this insightful post. Surprising how relevant this is almost half a decade later.

I am situated in Canada. Semi-target, 3.7 GPA, currently doing 12 month ER internship at a big bank after my 3rd year. I was supposed to graduate May 2024 (5 yr program) Tried to recruit for junior year internships, but due to very very accelerated recruiting catching me off guard+ some mistakes on my end, was not able to land a summer IB internship. I was very close, superdayed at 2 of the big 6 and first round at another one. Currently looking to land a summer at a pension/independent.

I am thinking of extending my graduation by 8 months to have a shot at Summer 2024 IB (thereby graduating December 2024). Given I was so close this time out, I think its a good idea. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this + what would be the best way to answer ‘why did you delay graduation’ question in the interviews if I recruit for 2024 summer.

Thanks a lot !!

I have almost no data or examples of that, so I can’t really say. The main issue is that it will be very difficult to explain yourself, your graduation date, and whether you qualify for internships. So if you’ve already graduated, it’s almost always better to aim for lateral roles, followed by a Master’s degree, followed by an MBA if none of that works.

Thank you for the insight, Brian. What have you seen regarding going back into undergrad as a post-bacc? Is this a good idea to get some internship experience and compete for FT roles? Or is it too odd to go back into undergrad after graduation? Would it be better to lateral into IB/PE from a FT job instead of going back into undergrad? Thank you

Yes, delaying to Dec 2024 sounds like a good plan. I don’t think 6 years in undergrad is a big deal as long as you can explain it. If you can afford to stay in school, that is almost always a better option for getting into IB/PE because it only gets harder after you graduate, even in a related FT job.

I would probably aim for something like corporate banking or valuation or a Big 4 role that’s less competitive and then use that to recruit for IB. I think your somewhat lower GPA (yes, they understand it’s engineering at a top school, but still) and relative lack of finance internships will make it tough to compete for full-time roles at the biggest banks. And even if you delay graduation now, it won’t help because summer 2022 internship recruiting finished up in 2021. So… delaying graduation makes sense only if it allows you to get one of the back-up/steppingstone roles that might eventually lead to IB.