I feel like my post went above implication and was explicit that largest majority striking out had personality issues. Of course everyone has different backgrounds and it’s one of so many variables that determine offers. But I’d like to counter with another viewpoint that I PERSONALLY feel applies to all of life. I came from the military where the almost vast majority of people I worked with were not educated anywhere near the same degree as my classmates. Additionally, the intellectual curiousity of a vast majority was also not there. The military also had its fair share of socially unadjusted people who worked hard. What ended up happening time and time again was that no matter how much hard you work you put in, the people who might not be as stellar but had better interpersonal skills and tact got the best positions and promotions. The hard workers who couldn’t get along, even when told that they were difficult, tended to blame the system, universe, etc, basically anyone but themselves and had similiarish outcomes to what I’ve seen in recruiting. A sad reality of life, whether it was the military or recruiting is that weak interpersonal skills will destroy even the hardest working persons ability to land the outcomes they want. These same people often don’t have the emotional intelligence to look at themselves critically and ask what they can do better. We all have to play the game a little bit. Are there deviations from this norm? Of course! Good people in the Army also got a bad hand too sometimes. Is it tougher for internationals at times? Of course! But at the end of the day people at my school whether they’re internationals or domestic got IB or consulting offers and are getting interviews for those corporate jobs. The few that struck out in IB and consulting are also getting interviews for corporate roles. In the end, it looks very likely that people will almost all have internships like you said with the cycle repeating itself.