What’s the best way students can get Investment Banking experience without a top tier internship?

Not everyone gets a big Investment Banking internship and that is completely normal. I’m trying to understand what actually works in real life when you don’t have that kind of opportunity. There are so many people who still want to break into IB but don’t have a brand name internship on their resume. So what did you actually do in that situation?

Did you start learning financial modeling on your own and build your own projects? Did case competitions or college finance clubs actually help you get practical exposure? Or did reaching out to small boutique firms and working on live deals make a difference? Some people say cold emailing and shadowing professionals helped them more than formal internships.

I also want to know how much difference self learning really makes when it comes to interviews. Does building valuation models or doing mock case studies actually translate into better chances later? Or is it more about networking and getting the right conversations?

Would love to hear real experiences and practical paths that actually helped people break into IB without top tier internships.