Career advice for asophomore

Main questions

Im a canadian student studying accounting at a semi-target university

(Im 22rn cus i used to study medical sciences but i switched programs)

After my summer exchange in kobe university i decided to start my career in japan after i graduate, especially in finance related fields

I do have an n1 and speak decent japanese (im korean canadian and consumed japanese media since i was 7)

My plan right now is to go to the boston career forum this year (when im a junior) and get long-term summer internships or 内定s

The problem is that i can do フェルミ推定 but not proper case interviews in japanese yet.

I only have 8 months till the boston career forum, and i dont think i can get my case interviews skills to a good level,

while preparing for web tests, interviews, and my gpa

Question 1. What companies or 職種should i apply for? (except for consulting)

Right now my options are IB/consulting/総合商社, but I know there are way more than this.

Also, during my 4th year, I am planning to go on exchange to waseda.

However, if i go on exchange for a year, i’ll have to do another semester, and ill be 25 by the time of 入社.

Question 2. How bad will this penalize me?

I was thinking of searching for a job when im in my exchange, but I really dont wanna take the 適性検査 in test centres

And i heard the competition is way worse than it is in the boston career forum.

Lastly, I heard that for 新卒, companies dont really expect alot of skills or certifications.

Is this true for high finance roles as well? Do they value internship experience in related fields alot?

I made a game dev startup with my friends in computer sci, managed to get 500k gov funding + investments but idk if they’ll value it or not.

My colleagues got into citi and bloomberg through the boston career forum, and I just hope i can get into IB as well 🙁

by Tonelicoooo