Advice Needed: m7 BB/EB Recruiting with Prior Boutique IB experience in Singapore (cap raising, not M&A)

Hi all, I'm a 1Y analyst at a boutique investment bank in Singapore that does mainly capital raises and little of M&A/restructuring due to the smaller deal sizes in Asia; average deal sizes around USD 50 - 200 mm, occasionally below and above that. 

My mid-term career goal is to recruit for IB Summer Associate positions at a BB/EB in NYC during business school, and work hard to convert that to a full-time post-MBA IB Associate return offer. For context, I'm a recent UCLA grad (3.9/4.0 CGPA) who got admitted to the 2+2 deferred MBA program at a non-HSW m7 (Booth/CBS) upon graduation. Due to visa issues, I was unable to remain in the US and had to return to Singapore (Singaporean citizen) to work. 

I'm currently five months in at my current Boutique and intend to remain for ~2.5 more years before enrolling in b-school. By then I would have 4.5-5 years of total work experience as I also served two years full-time in the Singaporean military before attending college; I intend to leverage my military veteran status and pre-MBA IB experience during MBA IB recruiting.

My thinking is that my pre-MBA boutique IB experience coupled with the strong on-campus recruiting presence at Booth/CBS would make me one of the top few candidates for BB/EB Summer Assoc. placements. This is because few m7 MBA students, those recruiting for IB, traditionally have any prior pre-MBA IB experience. The most relevant experiences those MBA students would have, that I can think of, would be something similar to consulting, big 4 TAS, corporate finance, and valuation. I am aware there may be several boutique IB (like myself) or LMM PE candidates but those are the minority, and may perhaps be recruiting for other areas of finance. 

There are only two other major caveats I can think of. The first is that my current boutique does mainly capital raises as mentioned and very little M&A/restructuring due to the small deal sizes in Asia. PE here is more akin to growth investing in the US; financial modelling is significantly less complex. I'm thus unsure if the over-focus on capital raises and lack of exposure on traditional US M&A deals would be a significant issue. Should I aim to lateral to something else (my chances are slim) that does more traditional M&A or remain at my current boutique till b-school? Would my boutique IB experience, in this case, be a disadvantage to someone recruiting in b-school from an NYC big 4 TAS background or something with more real M&A exposure?

My other question is the specific IB product group I should be aiming to recruit for during my MBA - is capital raising experience even relevant or transferable anywhere at the NYC BB/EB level? Only group I can think of is FSG, but then again it's not really the same. I'm not the most experienced in this area and would appreciate any advice and insights. My thinking is to target product groups instead of industry groups, as industries in Asia and the US have many differences and the industry knowledge/expertise from one region may not be transferable to the other.

The second caveat or difficulty I mentioned is my citizenship status as an international student. Being an international traditionally makes recruiting a lot more challenging. I would have pre-MBA boutique IB experience but I'm unsure whether that is enough to compensate for my non-US citizenship status.

For context, my current boutique (~18 employees) used to be an affiliate of a relatively more prominent firm (Greenhill/WB/Jefferies) until they sold off the stake and became independent again. My firm's reputation is poor in the Singapore IB scene and known for being a sweatshop. Deals here rarely close and we spend a lot of our time on pitching. However, recruiters and bankers in the NYC BB/EB IB scene have most likely never heard of my firm and its poor reputation, so I think I have some leeway there and my firm's previous affiliation with the more prominent boutique helps. 

To clarify again, despite already working in IB, I need the Booth/CBS MBA to recruit for BB/EB because lateral recruiting in Singapore IB is really difficult and almost a crapshoot (at least 200+ applications for every IB slot that opens up). Job market here is much smaller than NYC and competition is fierce. The MBA would in this sense provide an opportunity for a more structured & less random recruiting process with an actual realistic chance to work at a BB/EB in NYC. Singapore IB firms would be hesitant to consider me too because a career move into my current boutique is normally known to be a career-damaging one among Singaporean bankers.

I know this is an incredibly long post and would really appreciate any advice anyone may give, even if it's just one's two cents. If my chances of NYC BB/EB recruiting really turn out to be much slimmer than I initially imagined (after reading your advice & comments), I may consider scrapping my idea of MBA IB recruiting totally and pursuing other areas of finance (too much $$ involved; would be taking out ~$200k private student loans). I did my best to identify any gaps in my thought process and any advice here would be invaluable in structuring my mid-term career goals and plans. My goal is to matriculate in business school in Fall 2026 if I proceed with my current plan.