Excellent Bachelor & Experiences But Retarded GPA
Hello everyone,
As an excellent high school student, I managed to secure a top-tier 4-year finance bachelor degree from one of the top 3 universities in Europe.
During these 4 years, I gained experience through 4 internships of 6 months each. My first two internships were in back-office controlling and the last two were at private equity firms similar to Ardian.
Therefore, I am now an undergraduate with one year of private equity experience and two years of finance experience, as well as a top-tier bachelor degree.
Unfortunately, I received below-average grades during my bachelor years. Recently, I have been rejected from two of the top finance master's programs in the world.
What can I do next?
Assuming you got rejected due to GPA and your goal is to get a masters from a top university.. you need to take GMAT/GRE or potentially retake those classes and score much much higher. Do you think you did a good enough job in the college application trying to explain your low GPA? Your reason for poor GPA because your were doing top internship is a shit excuse for bschool applications.
My GPA is a disaster : due to my top scores in financial courses, but I have had dismal grades in more general courses from the core curriculum.
My excuse is simply that I have a great passion for finance, and I'm too lazy to do the "easy" everything else. I have always disregarded the courses that had nothing to do with finance, for instance, I have 19/20 in quantitative finance but I failed in marketing. I have been able to retake the failed subjects, but unless I repeat a year I cannot change a 10/20 in marketing to an 18. And there are many 10s. My GPA would be 3.9 without the non-finance subjects.
You have to know I have always performed excellently during my internships and I have an impressive collection of cover letters from past MDs. I am in fact a very skilled financial professional but academically, I am a bit deficient. I have not yet taken the GMAT, it will be in two weeks, and I am also taking the CFA in August.
I didn't write any excuses to explain my GPA, I think I will explain in my next applications that I focused only on finance during my years of study and that I couldn't work on topics I don't find intellectually stimulating.
My ultimate goal is to become a top performer at a Private Equity firm and maximize my comp, not to absolutely get a master degree, but the two seems interlinked.
Again, that excuse doesn't work in real life. As you will grow into your “hard core” “high finance” career, you will realize that someone who is 100% in technical abilities and 20% in rest will be passed on (rejected) for career promotions 10/10 times over someone who is 80% in soft skills, technical, leadership, team player, politics..
same applies here… if you wont have “interest” in being a team player or managing office politics.. you are looking for a pretty short finance carrier. Will peter out and have to exit industry as an Associate
I believe that the reason I had no issues excelling in the professional field was precisely because of my excellent interpersonal and financial skills. My main struggle was being studious and academic, focusing on all the seemingly insignificant subjects that ultimately make up the majority of one's GPA. Apart from being quite lazy and perhaps immature during my study years, I feel that I tick all the other boxes. My last two internships resulted in FT offers, but i want a master for max comp.
Id take the FT offer over the going for a masters. With two years or so of employment you are more risk averse hire than someone who has two degrees, 4 top undergrad internships and OK GPA. Your end goal is a job and you have one.. My perspective is mostly US based but I do understand that its somewhat normal in parts of Europe to have two to three degrees.
Marketing courses are like 25% of what you actually do as an analyst doing SWOT and market overview. We all love to shit on marketing girls not understanding anything in accounting but kinda hard to justify the fact that you only focused on finance courses as it probably makes you look like a close-minded person.
With 4 internships I guess you have at least one return offer, might be worth it to discuss the subject with current or past managers and see if they would give importance about the school name you put on your CV
'Retarded GPA' 😂 C'mon man don't do yourself like that
bump
None of the Top 3 Universities in Europe offer 4 year finance degrees. You're overvaluing your profile. Anyway...
Were you applying for MIT? They mostly care about academics. Even a stellar GMAT wont cut it anymore.
Are you gunning for US or what is your goal?
I understand your point, but it seems there might be a misunderstanding regarding European universities offering four-year finance degrees. In fact, there are top universities in Europe that do offer such programs. For example, the LSE and Oxford both have highly regarded finance programs that span four years, including an undergraduate degree and the option to pursue a Master's as well.
As for my own background, I am currently a finance undergraduate at a top target finance school in Europe, and I have been studying for a four-year program. My goal is not to apply to MIT or other US-based institutions, but rather to pursue an MSc in Finance in Europe.
I hope this clarifies my position, and I appreciate your input. If you have any advice or suggestions for European MSc programs in Finance and how to pass the screening, I would be grateful to hear them.
Most programmes focus on the GMAT as long as you have a 2.1 UK equivalent, which is hard to miss. I'm not sure what your grades are, but they generally should still be above 2.1 equivalent.
I think Oxford MFE is out of the question, given there will be strong applicants with a high GPA AND GMAT.
However, for LSE, LBS, HEC, Bocconi and other programmes you can compensate with a GMAT above 700, ideally 730 if your GPA is really bad to ensure admission. Particularly HEC and LBS care about work experience, so these will be your strongest shots with a good GMAT.
I don't think you will have a problem at all gaining admission, IF you have the 2.1 equivalent.
apply for jobs, see what you can get. banks will probably auto reject you due to GPA. but once you have a couple of years of relevant experience, you can try to move to banks again.
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