The CA firm experience is also a flag for IB roles — you need to bridge the narrative from audit/tax to corporate finance. Your cover letter/message should specifically address why you're making this move and what in your CA experience is directly relevant to IB (financial statement analysis, corporate law knowledge, M&A tax implications). Make the connection explicit — they won't make it for you.

This thread has genuinely changed my approach. I've been doing everything wrong — cold portals, no networking, no narrative bridge. Starting 30 LinkedIn outreaches this week. Thank you all.

Honestly, zero. I've been applying cold through portals only.

That's the problem, not your college. Portal applications for junior IB roles in India have a conversion rate of maybe 2-3%. Most roles are filled through referrals, warm introductions, or people the team already knows. Spend the next 60 days doing LinkedIn outreach to analysts and associates at your target firms (NOT MDs — they won't help you at this stage). Build relationships. Ask for calls. This community has a thread from Vikram above about exactly how to do it.

College tier matters for on-campus recruiting. It matters much less for off-campus applications if you have a compelling story and the right skills. But here's what I suspect is the actual problem: applying directly via job portals is extremely low conversion for IB. The channel matters as much as the application. How many people at those firms have you reached out to directly on LinkedIn before applying?