To get into entry level quant roles with no experience

I'm a recent Master's in Financial Engineering with 6 months of work experience as a data scientist. However, while at school I dreamt of starting out as an entry level quant. Graduating in the middle of "hiring freeze" and "layoffs" took it's toll. Also, not to mention that I am on a student visa (that drives companies skeptical on hiring at times) I still can't come to terms with my current job role of a data scientist. Do you think I can be a quant with no experience? I'm even determined to take up a pro-bono project or internship just to gain some experience and build it from there. Please share your thoughts and experiences on this! #interview #finance #quant