Including Major Gpa and leaving off cumulative GPA off resume?
I have a 3.7+ major gpa in a business related major(non-finance), ~3.0 cumulative gpa, and 2 finance related internships. I am looking to recruit for full time 2025 positions for Wealth Management, Private Banking, Commercial banking relationship management, and possibly corporate banking. Is it ok or more beneficial to leave my cumulative GPA off my resume? Would that automatically disqualify me or raise concerns about my full-time applications? Thanks
You can leave it off if you label your Major GPA as Major GPA. It will be sort of obvious you left off the cumulative GPA and that might come up in an interview so be prepared for that.
Thank you for your comment! Generally what are some good or acceptable reasons to leave your major GPA?
I am a mentor and VP in AM. Have read a lot of resumes - thoughts below:
In your case it is probably more beneficial to leave it off. You can draw your attention away from cumulative GPA by mentioning coursework in the major you think is relevant to the job.
It is generally assumed that if you left it off then the cumulative GPA is lower than major GPA - so there's no way around it, but most people would expect it to be higher than 3.0. If someone wrote down a major GPA and no cumulative GPA then I would have assumed a 3.4 or maybe a 3.5 at best.
If asked about it - you then have the option to talk about your coursework instead and how you thought it would be relevant to highlight these.
A sizable portion of people who ask you this as a test to see how you react under pressure - so preparing a good, logical answer spoken confidently goes a long way.
Of course you are dead if they ask you to quote exactly what your GPA is - but they wouldn't be asking it if you had any chance at all walking into that interview room to begin with.
Thank you for your comment! I appreciate your insight really helps me prepare for the future. I am looking towards more sales oriented or client facing roles within finance, would you say to highlight the courses about presentation skills and organizational design would be good because those are my major courses/courses I have done well in? Also how much does my gpa matter at this point I have two relevant experiences I understand my gpa is on the lower side but wouldn’t the relevant experiences help offset that. Lastly could you clarify what you mean in your last point, I do understand if a recruiter or interviewer asks for my actual cumulative GPA it will work against my favor. However what do you mean by "they wouldn't be asking it(cumulative gpa) if you had any chance at all walking into that interview room to begin with"? Is that point assuming I bomb the non-technical/technical aspect of the interview, I am generally not a good fit for the role meaning I am unqualified to begin with, etc.?
In the interview room, if they try to grill you on your GPA then it's indicative that they already developed a not so good impression of you and is not prepared to give you a second chance. Most interviews are not setup that way.
Resume is about what you choose to highlight. Emphasize it enough and the reader's attention will go there. It's all about first impression.
You might find it helpful to have a resume review session with a friend or a mentor to work out the personal details/angles.
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