How to address low GPA in an investment banking interview
Hi guys, over the next several months, we'll be profiling common investment banking interview questions our students get often, as well as our recommendation for how to answer them. For each question, we'll follow a simple template: 1) a brief description of how to think about these questions, 2) what represents a poor answer, 3) what represents a good answer, and lastly, 4) an actual example of a great answer.
I see that you have a 2.8 GPA. Typically, we hire 3.5 and above. What’s going on?
The GPA question – a great lead question for students on the summa cum laude track and a nightmare-inducing question for students who party/partied a little too hard. The unfortunate reality of the financial world is that academics play a key role in resume selection. The nice thing about getting this question in an interview for both good/bad GPA candidates is that the recruiter felt you were good enough to move you past the initial resume screen. For poor GPA candidates, you clearly got the interview because of other things on your resume. This is a good thing to know because you can better strategize your answer. When answering this question, you want to be cautious about what you say. You don’t want to spill your guts out and say that you were at the bar Saturday through Thursday and class just on Friday, but you also don’t want to give the impression that you are academically struggling and can’t handle the coursework at your university.
Poor answer
Poor answers to this question include ones that paint you as one of the main characters from Animal House. It is ok to tell interviewers that you like socializing and having fun with your friends on weekends, but I wouldn’t focus/bring drinking into the question. Tame your answer down and take the more “conservative” approach. To say that you go out with friends for dinner and drinks (only if you are 21 and over…be very careful about this as your interviewer may be testing you) is much better than saying you play beer pong from 1pm – 8pm and then hit the bars until close. Interviewers were once college students and know what actually goes on, but this question is also testing if you know how to sensor your answers in case they decide to put you in front of a client. On the flip side, if you were one of those that lived in the library and simply are not good test takers and thus don’t get good grades, do not also spill all your beans. At the end of the day, investment banking/finance is a knowledge industry. Many of the best and brightest from the most prestigious universities in the world enter the field. Your interviewer wants to know if you can handle the analytical component and you don’t want to give them the impression that you can’t.
Great answer
Great answers to this question include ones that provide justifiable reasons why you are not performing. For example, if you have above a 3.5 every semester, but a 1.0 in 1 semester because of family issues (i.e., death of a family member, etc.) mention this. Everyone goes through hardship at some point in their life and unfortunately for you it happened in college. If this is the case, illustrate this on your resume. Show your GPA with all semesters but the bad one and then your cumulative GPA. If you are active on campus (i.e., student government, active in many clubs, varsity athlete, community service coordinator, etc.) or are working as a full-time student and you were either a partier or bad test taker, craft an answer that pretty much says you were very busy with extracurricular activities and given your difficult coursework and commitment to extracurricular activities, it is difficult to balance both. In such a response, while you are taking ownership of your GPA, you are also helping your candidacy by showing how active you are outside of class. This last response is typically the best approach.
“Frankly, I made some bad decisions as a freshman which I have been able to partially reverse through a lot of hard work over the last few years. My very 1st semester at Notre Dame I did not manage my time well between extracurricular activities and academics and received a 1.8. After reflecting on my poor performance that semester, I realized that I needed to get my priorities in order and started to focus more of my energy on my academics. Excluding that first semester, my GPA would have been 3.5. In fact, I have continued to improve every year and over the last year I have maintained a 3.8 GPA.”
GREAT POST, THANK YOU
I find the best answer to be one that hardly touches on grades at all.
Interviewers aren't dumb.. they can surmize as to why you probably didn't do too well in school. If you are a very sociable person then they have probably already assumed that you didn't do well because you were more interested in social life than making great grades. If you were involved in sports, they can assume much the same.
I typically ignore the fact that I have a below average gpa (3.0) and choose to harp on the things that set me apart from others. For instance, I have qualities and experience that most average candidates do not have. I have been part of x and y clubs, I have put together trips, events, etc. I recruited x amount of members to my fraternity, I have a great personality, etc.
I find that a lot of students who have lower than average grades also have a deep story to tell about themselves. The story has to be convincing and it must end with you being completely dedicated and serious about your future. You have gone to extra lengths to set yourself apart because you realize that your grades will not.
As for getting 'past' HR's requirements for grades.. the phone can do wonders. Typically I will not only submit my resume to HR, but I will also call up the person in HR handling the position and chat them up. I ask plenty of quesitons about the opportunity, and then I'll make a clean case for why I am more than prepared for the position without even mentioning my sub-par grades. Then you must ASK for the person's name who will be in charge of interviewing for the position. Get their number, and give them a call. Let all parties know that you want the position badly and that you are fully qualified. You'll find that being persistent and getting straight to the point will gain you respect from those higher up.
"Great answers to this question include ones that provide JUSTIFIABLE REASONS why you are not performing. " exactly.
I think this post is spot on! Having been through a few different SuperDays, I think this information would have come in handy. Nice post, matanf.
Bravo
Phone calls, personality, and persistence. Play the numbers game, it worked for me.
Rothy, as someone else with a 3.0, do you put your GPA on your resume?
Yes, I have thus far (I have been out of school for 2 years). However I will probably remove it after my next job. GPA becomes less and less important as you gain more experience.
I would say that 3.0 is the cutoff for when you want to start considering leaving it off the resume. The problem is that many firms will simply ignore a resume with no GPA for fresh-out-of-school positions, but you will almost certainly not get a callback with anything less than a 3.0, either. At 3.0, you are still better off including. Also, if your major GPA is significantly higher, I would consider including that in addition to the cumulative GPA.
^ yup. I never put mine on and relied very heavily on networking. If you can play yourself off like you already have experience and would be good at the job it will offset the importance of GPA.
Agreed with all the above. Although I never tried to get into IB, so GPA wasn't as stringent for me.
Honestly, I don't think anyone can justify a Sub 3.0 GPA.
"You fooled around in college, and now want to break into Wall st.?"
Fuck you
That gave me a small sliver of naive hope, I have a cumulative 2.14 gpa, I'm 25 years old and have been in community college for 6 years. I'm the Van Wilder story in reality, where it's the high IQ retard that never applied himself until past year. I'm just hoping for a 3.0 so I can transfer to a semi-known respected private university in Orange County. I've been tutoring ESL students, I'm self-taught in Japanese (4 or 5 years) and speak enough to teach Japanese exchange students English for $30 an hour but I worry it looks vague because it's 'self-employed'...
You kidding me? You're in S&T and you don't work with anyone who 'fooled around' in school?
Does anyone who actually works in industry think that only the "smartest" can hack it?
How do people address low GPA in an interview (when there is no legitimate excuse)? (Originally Posted: 01/20/2016)
What do you guys think of these as responses if someone questioned my low overall GPA (2.8)/subpar quantitative grades? Keep in mind that I have no legitimate excuse. I smoked 6 times a day and cut class all the time (but have since completely quit smoking for over 8 months and gotten my head completely straight).
Response #1: I've always been good with numbers. I got a 770 on SAT math and a 35 on ACT math. I didn't apply myself as much as I should have in college and I've been paying for it ever since graduation. I've learned from mistakes and will make sure to work as hard as humanly possible to ensure that I never have to be in a situation like this again
Response #2: The most important thing college taught me was how not to live my life if I want to be successful someday. I'm capable but I didn't apply myself as much as I should have and here I am, months after graduation still looking for a job while all of my friends are starting successful careers because they worked hard in college. I never want to experience this type of gap again and I know that going forward, I will work as hard as humanly possible to ensure that I am extremely successful someday."
What do you guys think of those responses? Which one do you think sounds better? Also, does anyone have any other suggestions for good responses considering I have no legitimate excuse?
Also, do you think these answers are too long and would make the interviewer dwell on my low GPA? I'm looking a job preferably on the acquisitions side of Real Estate.
I think that you have focused way too much on your GPA. Is there some sort of path of growth that you can show - I had a 2.2 for my first 2 years, realized i was wasting an opportunity, turned it around and had a 3.4 the remainder of my time at such and such ivy league school. If someone has invited you in for an interview, that means they are already willing to look past your GPA. I would not dwell on it, keep it short, have a direct answer and move on. You have an ability to control the flow of the conversation. I think you are hurting yourself by focusing so much on your gpa.
Side note- you have posted multiple times about wanting to get into acquisitions. This is going to be difficult (i am not saying you can't do it, but it might not be the direct path that you want). The majority of acquisitions shops have the ability to be picky about who they hire and at this point (I believe in previous posts you have stated you graduated in 2015) you have been out of school for awhile. For every position you are applying to, there are people with more experience, especially with actual underwriting of deals. This is probably not what you want to hear, but it might be best to go to an investment sales team, grow your network, showcase your ability to work a full time job and excel at it. The shop that I am at rarely hires straight from undergrad. The majority of people that come in as analysts in the acquisitions group at my firm usually come from investment sales teams or Asset Management positions.
What kind of job are you going for? I had a 2.6 and have worked for a big name brokerage firm, a REPE shop, and am now in grad school. My excuse was no better than yours (albeit I was not a pothead). Most places aren't going to ask.
When you say big name brokerage, do you mean CBRE, JLL, Cushman or HFF? Because if so, don't all of them have minimum 3.0 GPA requirements? And if so, how did you get around that?
Pull a switch. "Look, I had a rough start in college, but if you notice I was extremely active with XYZ organization and I also was doing ABC. I think those are what really position me well for a job with your firm. I had the opportunity to improve my blah blah skills..."
Otherwise come up with a good lie that they can't catch you on.
I would go with something closer to #1. In interviews, especially when faced with a tough question, you want to spend 80%+ talking about positive things vs 20% or less negative. Quickly acknowledge that you fucked up and take responsibility for it, then spend the rest of the time talking about upward trends, what organizations you were involved in, what skills you have been developing since, etc.
When you are an interviewer, candidates blend together. When you focus on talking about how you were lazy, didn't apply yourself, and weren't motivated thats probably all the interviewer will remember about you no matter what you say after that.
I had a 2.8 in college at a non-target. Just leave it off of your resume. It usually does not come up in interviews. I took a job working for a chop shop brokerage house in a 5th tier market. Leveraged "real world experience" where I was working for free 50-60 hours a week for free for a few months before I landed my first analyst gig at a boutique brokerage firm.
Few years later and after multiple mergers and lots of networking I landed a job at REPE operator on an acquisition team.
Its more about your attitude and fit and desire to learn more than anything else. If you can convince someone you are passionate, skies the limit.
Honestly, my personal thing was "yea i got a 3.0 in Engineering which is basically a 4.0 for any other major". Sorry but all my business major buddies partied like there was no tomorrow. It was only the engineering guys and pre med/science guys were studying their asses off. Or better yet than those other buddies that did "easier" majors for the sake of getting a high gpa for grad school. I also hedged on work experience/internship more and I bluntly told them something to the tune of "if you are looking for the 4.0 academic guy then I do not want to work here and I am not your man". Cuts through the BS. Some guys like it, some don't. I was just straight up with them and this went more to my benefit than going against me overall.
Thank you for all of your responses and in response to StanCRE, I would prefer an acquisitions role but I'm very open to any kind of analyst or development role (be it investment sales, AM, etc.). I'm trying to get some kind of unpaid internship at a really small acquisitions shop to bolster my experience in the meantime but I'm realistic that getting a job in acquisitions straight out of college is a big reach. I'm just worried about GPA coming up because I'm getting interviews through non-traditional means such as alumni networking and i'm worried that if i get interviewed by someone who didn't go to my school, he/she could look at my resume and be like "where's your GPA?"
GPA Drop Since Applying - How to Address? (Originally Posted: 12/23/2013)
I'm a junior from a semi-target who applied to a fair amount of IB SA positions with a decently high GPA. However, I recently received my final grades for the most recent semester, and my cumulative GPA is now sitting about .13 points lower. It's still above the typical 3.5 cutoff that many firms use, but it's definitely a material change.
I took a few notoriously difficult classes while also doing an off-campus internship and trying to network this past semester, so I think I can adequately explain the decline/discuss what I learned from it if necessary, but I'm wondering how I should proceed now. It doesn't seem feasible for me to try to re-apply with an updated resume, but if it comes up in interviews, I don't want any recruiters to think I was being disingenuous.
My networking base/previous internships/extracurriculars are pretty strong. Does anyone have any thoughts as to how I should treat this? Am I worrying too much about it?
bump
Am in the same position as you. Had an off-campus finance internship and an on-campus job, as well as some really difficult classes, networking, etc so my GPA dropped by about .05. I almost think I know you because I know someone else in a similar position and because I also attend a semi-target, which there are probably only 3 or 4 of.
I really don't think it'll be a big deal. It's definitely something they can ask about, but I think they're more likely to be impressed with the effort than curious about the lapse in performance. If the latter, I would say something about how you struggled at the beginning of the semester when you were still figuring out how to balance everything, but then made a few adaptations and picked things up along the way. If you really didn't do well and it'd be a stretch to say that, I'd draw a parallel to banking hours, and talk about how you know every ibanker has a tough time adapting to the hours at first, and that you'd actually be more prepared for the job than everyone else because you've been pulling long hours all semester. Just make sure that you don't make too many excuses; everyone knows that analysts don't always do the best work anyway since associates proof-read the stuff before it's used
Addressing a bad GPA? (Originally Posted: 12/10/2014)
Hey guys,
I have a 3.1 at a target school. They're obviously going to see it on my resume. I was told I should address it in interviews and try to give some sort of explanation. Is this the right way to approach this? They will obviously notice it and I think controlling or addressing the issue in an interview is my only shot.
To those of you who have been in a similar situation, what did you say regarding your less than ideal GPA? What does this limit me to in terms of areas of finance I can still get a job in?
Thanks
If you can get the interview your GPA will not really matter. It's more of a hurdle to get selected for an interview. With that said you should definitely have an answer for why you have a low GPA. There's no need to address it upfront but you should be ready because chances are you'll be asked about why it's so low relative to the other candidates.
And do you think complete honesty is the right approach when answering such a question?
Addressing GPA Issues in Applications (Originally Posted: 08/25/2014)
I graduated with a 3.02 GPA, majoring in Civil Engineering and Economics. I also failed a class. Here are my term GPA's in order so you can see somewhat of a trend:
3.584 2.960 2.392 2.764 2.000 (Received F this semester) 3.266 4.000 3.134 3.334 3.200 3.200
There are a few reasons for this that I can offer:
The F I received in a course was in a certain emphasis in engineering. The following semester I retook the class and received an A. I even went so far as to have my engineering major be emphasized in this course's emphasis.
I was planning on addressing this in the optional essay by just writing the following:
"While studying for my engineering and economics undergraduate degree, I worked nearly full time and was highly engaged in extracurricular activities. This caused my GPA to suffer, culminating in failing one of my courses. Ultimately, I retook the course, received an A, and ended up emphasizing in the subject of that course. To offset my undergraduate GPA, I took a high level graduate business course and received an A, passed CFA L1 and placed as a finalist in [investment banking case competition]."
Is this sufficient to address it? I feel like this is my greatest weakness, and I don't discuss it anywhere else. How should I go about addressing this?
I think that's a pretty good way of addressing it. The fact that you re-took it and received an A is key...
Nowhere in any essays have I ever used such negative language "suffer, failing, offset..." After the first sentence your essay should read more like: I believe that my GPA reflects upon the diversity of engagements I've pursued throughout the years, the difficulty of my program, and my excellent work ethic. In fact, upon receiving an unsatisfactory mark in SUBJECT, I redoubled my efforts and ultimately found myself with an emphasis in that very subject. (I know it isn't perfect but you get the idea- only positivity)
I also don't think that those three activities you took part in "offset" your gpa. Present them instead as a testament to your (work ethic/subject matter interest/passion/etc).
Source: I graduated BS MechE with a 3.3 gpa from a regional school, worked my way into a Fortune 10 rotational leadership program, then used both of those to get into a top (probably 15) MBA program
Great points, thanks. What do you mean when you say it didn't "offset" my GPA? I figured those things would count as a pretty good alternative transcript. Are you just saying not to use that wording?
@WilliamBrasky Which company did you do your rotational leadership program in? How many years did you work at that company? I'm a BS Electrical Eng major and am looking for possible pathways that can get me to b-school.
Congrats on passing level 1. Can anyone comment on the weight this carries for validating intellectual horsepower vs a poor gpa
I'd like to know too, really interested on how GPA measures against actual skill or intellect. I have a feeling that it's "Better for image" but intellect is the important part.
Level 1 - no weight whatsoever (a coworker of mine passed L1 with two weeks of study - really, it's that easy)
Level 2 - ok, this candidate actually had to study
Passing L2 and above tells me you have at least a certain level of baseline intelligence and work ethic
For what it's worth, I have similar stats (GMAT 760 / GPA 3.1) and admissions reps from top five schools have told me that my GMAT offsets my low GPA. Hoping that's honest feedback and not an attempt to boost applications.
I think the most important mitigating factor here is that you retook and received an A.
I'm not sure how much attention you want to give this.
Does your school calculate GPA as a simple weighted average or does it take the average grade for a required class or best grades to meet requirements (EG no F in final GPA)? These distinctions matter.
I might add an optional essay just noting that your GPA is 3.0, but it would be 3.2 if your school counted the best grade for each course as would be the case for many other applicants. You failed a course, you retook it the following semester and got an A. Don't offer explanations apologies or excuses (although your main essay talking about working 40 hrs/week in college may help provide context). Just write a 3-4 sentence statement and of course be sure to note that you retook the class next semester and got an A.
I think the further out from undergrad you are and the higher your GMAT, the less ugrad GPA matters.
I think this boils down to what OP is doing right now. If he is working in Naval Reactors or for the TVA or at Google or the like, he is probably in good shape. If he has a less glamorous job and is applying to an M7, he needs a huge boost somewhere else besides school or work.
The good news is that this won't hurt you; the bad news is that this won't help you. The GMAT helps some but I still think it only gets you 20% there. Hopefully your career or extracurriculars get you the other 80% of the way there.
I figure I have to address it somewhere. It's not like they'll miss it if I don't bring it up, and by bringing it up it's at least bringing attention to the fact that I retook the course and got an A, went on to emphasize in that field, and so on. I'm not going to split hairs about what my GPA "could" be because of word constraints on the additional essay and it just sounds defensive IMO. I could have done better and I didn't.
I'm working in private equity and applying to top 5 schools. EC's are decent; just got my LOR from the board president of a non-profit I work with and it's stellar, and have a bunch of other leadership stuff. Just looking to determine how to frame stuff specifically as I get closer to the deadlines.
Quam non ea explicabo sed adipisci voluptatibus. Quis ipsam sunt et odit. Assumenda sed repudiandae neque minus voluptas. Inventore quia blanditiis totam eos. Rerum fuga dolor tempore consectetur cupiditate occaecati laborum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Iste in atque mollitia et doloremque. Error modi qui et ullam et. Ullam sit dicta animi non. Possimus quos possimus qui reprehenderit nobis nam voluptate. Et quae qui fuga aspernatur adipisci ipsum.
Ut accusamus cumque quas minima. Ex tempora rem voluptatem odio aliquid. Est doloremque officia qui accusantium aspernatur. Dolore aut doloribus earum dolor. Laudantium qui odio saepe quos praesentium et hic.
Voluptas impedit fugit reprehenderit dicta fugiat veniam quae. Rerum et officiis qui. Corrupti rerum omnis nemo eos.
Quae veniam praesentium doloremque dolores sit reprehenderit maxime. Sed voluptas ex nisi quia temporibus dolor ut. Ut et occaecati dolore voluptatum in non.
Doloremque minus reiciendis assumenda veritatis itaque aut. Ratione at qui aut commodi veniam ut. Deserunt vero officia earum veritatis.
Et dolores quisquam perspiciatis dolorum a consequuntur. Velit qui minima voluptatem dolore tempora velit. Suscipit maiores nam ab et recusandae. Odit eum sed eos eum.