Major GPA vs. Overall GPA in Investment Banking Recruitment
I am starting to think my chances at a BB are diminishing. As a rising junior, I currently have a 3.4 cumulative GPA and a 3.9 major GPA(economics) at a top public university. This being the case, an internship next summer will rely heavily on the weight employers assign to major GPA. Is there anything wrong with just listing major GPA on a resume? I am not enrolled in a business school, so do you think that undertaking an honors concentration would significantly improve my chances? Any input is greatly appreciated.
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Should I Use A Major GPA?
While it is frowned upon to just put a major GPA on your resume, it is perfectly fine to put a major and a cumulative GPA. If you have a low GPA (less than ~3.50) and you have a higher major GPA in a major that is relevant to the industry (ie. finance, economics, math) you can prove that you are strong in the subjects that matter by including a major GPA. Our users explained below.
econ, business)--it shows that your cumulative GPA is not padded by a bunch of fluff electives (major GPA significantly lower than non-major GPA) for instance 3.7 cumulative = good, right? But if it's 4.0 non-major and 3.0 business/econ major to get to 3.7... = bad.I think it's good to list both even if they are close together (assuming the major is ibanking-related -
User @HerSerendipity", a private equity associate, cautioned against including just a major GPA:
Putting only a major GPA will raise flags. Put both cum and your major since your major one is considerably higher. When you say you are at a "top public university" do you mean like a UVA (which is normally a target? A 3.4 isn't terrible especially since you have a strong major gpa. If your major was something like creative writing, then I think it'd be different.
You can see an example of how to format this below.
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Putting only a major GPA will raise flags. Put both cum and your major since your major one is considerably higher. When you say you are at a "top public university" do you mean like a UVA (which is normally a target? A 3.4 isn't terrible especially since you have a strong major gpa. If your major was something like creative writing, then I think it'd be different.
A standard resume includes your cumulative GPA. If you only list your major GPA, employers will either think a) that you don't know how to prepare a resume or b) you have something to hide. Obviously you don't want them thinking either one of these things. I'd go ahead and list it.
Is it dumb to list your major GPA if it's only marginally higher than the cumulative one? e.g. Cumulative GPA = 3.8, Major GPA = 3.9
fibows-
i do believe that to be the case. i listed both cum and major gpa on my resume but that was because they were several points apart.
anyone here knows what the ideal gpa is to employers? cutoffs?
4.0 is ideal
0.0 is the cutoff if your dad is CEO of a big client or the employer itself (this is an exaggeration of course)
I think it's good to list both even if they are close together (assuming the major is ibanking-related - econ, business)--it shows that your cumulative GPA is not padded by a bunch of fluff electives (major GPA significantly lower than non-major GPA) for instance 3.7 cumulative = good, right? But if it's 4.0 non-major and 3.0 business/econ major to get to 3.7... = bad.
Only don't break it out if major is materially below cumulative.
Wow you guys are seriously overanalyzing this.
How bad is a 3.4 GPA/3.9 Major GPA from a non-target?
This shit reminds me of the Matrix. You guys need to realize there isn't a specific rule when it comes to GPA. Analysts and Associates are screening resumes. This is shit duty at its finest and most people would rather get it done with and go home. Just email some people and be nice and hopefully you can get your resume pushed. Simple as that.
You just know that some people who freak out about their GPA so much will still have it listed 10 years after they start working. So funny.
Major GPA: 4.00 / 4.00 Cumulative GPA: 3.88 / 4.00
That is how I have mine listed. Few interviews said "wow, a 4.0.." then realized that cumulative was only a 3.88 and made a sarcastic comment about it being low.. lol
Then we joked about it for a second and started talking about other things.
Good thing ill be graduating summa
I have a similar split with my cumulative and major GPA, and I've heard mixed opinions from academic advisors. Mine said to list both, and another said to take it off. I had several interviews this year and was only questioned about it once by the interviewers.
If you're going to leave it on, just make sure you're prepared to answer why you're cumulative GPA is that much lower.
@M-002: Too bad you'll be graduating Summa from a state school. Ouch!!
Here's a good rule of thumb: "If it is not Ivy, do not hire it."
Major GPA (Originally Posted: 12/26/2006)
my GPA overall is a 3.70.
my GPA in major (Economics) in a 3.83.
should i include my GPA in major on my resume, or is it unnecessary?
thanks for the insight.
this is obviously my personal opinion. I've always included both, since both are decent and the major is a little better.
if you only include cumulative, this is acceptable, but then including your major GPA shows you are really good at your area of focus and pretty good over all.
what creates a suspicion and evokes a question is if you only put your major GPA (usually an indication that you messed up the cumulative one)
So since you have a decent total GPA, and very good major GPA, I see no harm in putting both.
definitely put both in your case. The way i was told: always put your cumulative (can't avoid this unless you're really sub 3) and put your major GPA only if its higher than cumulative gpa
put both, anything that can put you in a slightly better light is a plus
Disclaimer: The post above has been made by someone who is not currently employed in IBD, and has not had an interview yet...
Major GPA vs Cumulative GPA (Originally Posted: 05/08/2007)
Is it acceptable to just put the Major GPA on the resume or does the cumulative one have to be included?
This has been discussed ad nauseam.
Do a search.
Yes, ANOTHER Resume Question - In Major GPA (Originally Posted: 06/17/2007)
Sorry for yet another resume question, but I searched and didn't find this discussed yet.
What are your opinions on including a "major" GPA, in addition to a cumulative GPA on a resume. I've generally heard mixed feelings on this.
For example, would it help someone from a nontarget school with a cumulative GPA of 3.7, to include a major GPA as well, say of 3.9? Or will it just make it look like they are not proficient enough in classes not relating to major?
If your major is Art History, it probably won't help (or it may even hurt). But if you're a math/physics/finance/econ/accounting major, than it's probably a good thing to list your GPA.
I've been told that everything over 3.8 is pretty much the same thing. GPA just gets you an interview.
Since you asked about major GPA, that's what I was addressing...
In BBs when we look at resumes generally we take "major" or "core" GPAs with a large grain of salt. It is quite easy to make-up a major GPA just including what you want to. However, that being said if the major GPA is higher include it.
How is that?
I would say include it, especially if your major GPA is higher than your overall GPA.
i listed both my major gpa and overall gpa on my resume. I am a finance and econ double major. My major gpa is about .2 higher than my overall
Major GPA (Originally Posted: 03/06/2008)
Hey guys, I'm building a resume right now and had a quick question. I've a 3.8 overall gpa, but only a 3.6 in my major (Mathematics) - is it expected to put on my major specific gpa or should I just put on the overall? Will recruiting understand/acknowledge that maybe Maths a little rougher on the gpa than most?
Thanks guys,
I think you may just put in overall. That should suffice.
Overall GPA is all that is necessary on your resume. People, as I did back in the day, only put their major GPA on if it's better than overall.
overall only in this case. major not necessaary.
Major GPA or Culm GPA? Which looks better? (Originally Posted: 01/06/2010)
Hey I'm looking for some advice one whether I should put my major GPA or my cumulative GPA. I'm a junior Finance major at a second tier business school. I'm very interested in working in Investment Banking or Asset Management on Wall St. I've had good work experience, but haven't had finance experience. My cumulative GPA is a 3.35/4 and my major GPA is a 3.78/4. I've only had 3 Finance classes. I will get overlooked by the major banks with a 3.35 cumulative, but does listing only my major GPA put me at a disadvantage? Could I list both? Thanks for any advice.
-Alex
Put down both. If you only put finance, they'll ding you for not having cumulative.
Put the 3.4 banks think that your cum would be sub 3.0 without it stated on resume
Use both cumulative and major GPA. It's common for applicants to have a lower cumulative but higher major GPA, so don't worry.
If you took really difficult courses outside your major GPA, it may be worth writing a few of the harder ones that you did well on on your resume. that should mitigate any concerns on why your cumulative was lower.
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Thanks for the comments. I've been told by career services or from visiting professionals that listing both is not an option; you are suppose to pick one. However, I've come to not trust career services very much. I agree that my best shot may be using both GPAs.
Never trust career services. If they were any good they'd have a decent job.
You just blew my mind. Holy shit...
Only putting Major GPA? (Originally Posted: 02/25/2010)
Is this usually acceptable to leave out in either campus recruiting or when sending out a general cold e-mail?
I understand it may be less acceptable for campus recruiting but the usual cutoff for my school's higher positions are a 3.5 and i am a bit shy at a 3.42
Thank You
I would just put both to be on the safe side. Put your major one first and then your cumulative under it, since it is close to the cutoff anyway. For a general cold email just use your major Gpa.
Put both, if you only put major people will assume your cumulative is horrible.
Agree 100%, when I see a resume with just the major GPA, I almost always automatically reject it (unless the person has amazing achievements)
Yeah, when I review a resume with only a major GPA I automatically assume it's below a 3.0. Those are the folks that usually only put GPA Major. You have cumulative GPA of 3.42, which looks much better than not having anything but a major GPA. So, put both or the review will just assume you have >3.0 overall GPA.
Major GPA? (Originally Posted: 03/21/2010)
How many courses are usually included in calculating one's "major GPA"?
all the classes required to fulfill the major??
the classes that you can logically justify being part of or not being part of your major gpa calculation that result in the highest gpa.
Go to your academic department website, and see what classes specific to your field you are required to take to graduate with your major....
Your University should calculate this for you, if you run a degree audit the number should be there for you, go to your councilor if you would like that number.
I'd suggest getting the one that will be on your transcript to avoid any potential misnomers that could lead to an employers or grad school questioning your integrity.
LIke was said above, it is the GPA of all credit hours taken for the fulfillment of your Major
Putting Major GPA If Slightly Higher? (Originally Posted: 01/12/2011)
Hi, I just have a simple question. If my cumulative gpa is a 3.80, but my major gpa (Applied Economics and management) is a 3.95, should I put both or not? Thanks.
both
Absolutely put both. Just be sure to express both metrics to the same number of significant figures.
Agreed with the above. Include both, but make sure your cumulative is first, listing both on the same line, i.e.:
GPA (cumulative): 3.80 GPA (major): 3.95
Shameless bump. Now my cumulative gpa has increased to a 3.85, but my major gpa has decreased to a 3.91...is it still worth it to include it, or is it really overdoing it?...thanks.
round to 3.9 and dont include major gpa
GPA or Major GPA (Originally Posted: 12/15/2011)
I have a 3.46 GPA. Is it okay to round that to a 3.5 GPA on my resume? Also, I have a 3.6 (rounded) GPA for my major (Finance), should I put that in replace of my cumulative, put it along with my cumulative or not include it at all?
No one has ever asked that before!
Use the damn search function
I would round the cumulative to 3.5 and would leave out the major GPA of 3.6. Why?
IMHO putting only the major GPA would trigger questions why the total GPA hasn't been included and the difference of 0.1 is not worth the doubt it creates. Putting both GPAs has only marginal value since then you have 3.5 and 3.6 standing next to each other..consider the 30 seconds people are supposed to look at your CV.
GPA doesn't matter if you network correctly
Uh... what? You sure about that one?
there's nothing wrong with rounding your 3.46 to a 3.5, and if anyone tells you otherwise they are wrong. that's like me saying i got an 85 on my test when in reality i got an 84....ITS THE SAME THING! but people on this board for some reason go ape shit when it comes to rounding up your gpa......
i think major of 3.6 and having a 3.5 should be fine, not like youre gonna have other data on that line either way
i list both major and cummulative gpa.
Dont round it. You do not have a 3.5
Only Major GPA - Omit Overall? (Originally Posted: 01/13/2012)
Hey WSO,
This shit has been discussed ad nauseam on this board, I know, but unfortunately in searching through the dozens of threads I haven't found something that very closely relates to my exact situation, so I would be really really grateful if anyone could give advice.
So my total GPA is 3.0, I am a finance/econ double major and my major GPA in those is 3.3, my GPA within our business school is 3.5. I am wondering how this should be listed on my resume. I have been debating whether to go with 3.3 (and denote it being major gpa) vs putting the 3.5 and 3.0 both on. Which do you think looks better? Thanks for everyone's help who replies, I'll give out all my silver bananas to responders.
highest to lowest.
also, since your business school gpa is higher, it makes sense anyway.
Okay, so you think that: Business GPA: 3.5 Overall GPA: 3.0 looks better than Major GPA: 3.3
Those are the two different ways it can look on my resume.
do biz and overall yeah
and why is there a half naked girl lol
Put the half girl so people would actually read it haha. Just as a final note -- do you think the 3.5/3.0 split is really better? I had been leaning towards the other way because I feel that some people just skim resumes and might see the 3.3 and think that's overall without looking at the fact that it's major (even though it's denoted as such). I mean do I really have a chance with the 3.5/3.0 split (I do have very strong ECs/exp), as opposed to taking the risk and putting the 3.3 hoping people will read it as overall. Even if they don't, they'll probably assume my overall is ~3.0, which it is.
Your resume is a marketing tool. Just put the highest and state that that is your business school GPA. That should suffice. If they want to know more, then they will ask for transcripts and they can see what all your GPA's are. I doubt they will tho, since they mostly care about the business classes that relate most directly to what you will be doing on a day-to-day basis.
You're not 'making up' your 3.5 out of thin air - youre simply shedding particular light on your GPA. Again, resume = marketing tool for yourself. Believe me, investment banks do this all the time when they pitch to clients. Don't be afraid to resort to similar tactics yourself.
Best of luck.
Crafting Major GPA (Originally Posted: 02/22/2012)
Early in my college career I was not the best student and this translated into poor grades in my first 2 econ class - intro to micro and intro to macro (both freshman year). Since then I have really turned things around and without taking those first classes into consideration I would have a major GPA of 3.85 (with A's in both intermediate macro and micro).
Is there I way I can craft this on my resume? Or someway to show bad grades in the introductory classes translating into A's in the more advanced classes?
Thanks
Just put your major GPA on it...
That is what I am trying to get at - those two grades are part of my major GPA and without counting them I would have a 3.85 in my major. They were before I knew I wanted to be an Econ major and before I declared.
What's your GPA including the two?
Not that it really matters because it's either your major gpa or it's not.
Everyone has a class or two that they did poorly in early on in college. You can't make excuses or get around it. Just put your GPA and major GPA on there and explain it in an interview if it comes up. If you majored in econ then you should have enough good grades in other classes so that your GPA is still in a decent range.
Double check to see if it technically counts as your major GPA. My school only counts junior level finance/eco classes as major GPA
I had shitty grades freshman year (around 3.2), and then got straight A's after that. After my first semester of good grades, I put my most recent semester GPA on a separate line. After another semester, I changed it to "GPA excluding freshman year". Obviously you shouldn't do this unless your most recent grades are significantly better than your overall GPA, which is how it was for me.
Also I didn't list my major GPA b/c of this. It would look weird to have 3 separate GPAs on your resume.
Major GPAs (Originally Posted: 07/30/2012)
Hey guys, I just had a quick question about GPAs on my resume.
I'm double majoring in engineering & finance and my GPA for classes that apply towards my finance degree is a little bit higher than those that apply towards my engineering degree. I was wondering whether it would be overkill/excessive to put 3 GPAs on my resume: a major GPA for each major and a cumulative GPA. Here's what it would look like under my education section:
Major Track Major GPA: XXX
Major Track Major GPA: XXX Cumulative GPA: XXX
My engineering GPA and overall GPA is closer to 3.9 while my finance major GPA is close to 4.0. Thanks in advance and any prior experience with this would be much appreciated!
Not much difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0 IMO: I wouldn't list more than 2, ex:
Cumul GPA: Major GPA ( If Finance is higher AND its a Fin job)
This is how I put mine: Bachelor of Arts/Science in Engineering and Finance GPA: 4.0 (major), 3.9 (cumulative) No need to specify the major; let them think what they want. No one will bother to check/calculate. I would only split out major if it's somehow more impressive than your cumulative (mine was a spread of 0.4). You could just get away with putting 3.9 and be done.
If I saw someone that had a 3.9 overall and broke down their GPA into major/track/gpa, i would instantly throw the resume in the trash. Why would you ever waste lines of your resume over something so stupid? Put down 3.9 and move onto skills/experience...
Three is complete overkill, especially when your cumulative is near 4.0
I know this subject has been beaten to death but I have a ? about Major GPA (Originally Posted: 08/31/2012)
I'm working on revising my resume and wanted to get an opinion about my major GPA. Here are my stats:
Cumulative GPA: 3.5 Finance major GPA: 3.7 Accounting major GPA: 3.1 Finance/Accounting GPA combined: 3.4
I'm currently working in corporate finance and looking to move into consulting or into another corporate finance position. I know my 3.5 (cumulative) is pretty lackluster so I want to put the 3.7 (finance) on there somehow without having to put the 3.1 (accounting). I was considering putting "Cumulative GPA: 3.5 | Finance GPA: 3.7" but I'm worried that will draw attention to the omission of my accounting GPA.
Should I just suck it up and stick with just the cumulative GPA or is there a tactful way to make this work that I haven't though of?
Just use Major GPA and say 3.7.....
Major GPAs/overall GPA (Originally Posted: 10/09/2012)
I'm a junior as a highly reputable semi target (US top 20). I'm double majoring in finance and accounting. My overall GPA is 3.6 and my major GPAs are 3.9 accounting and 4.0 finance. I'm wondering if this makes me competitive for SA roles at BBs and other investment banks and how much importance is placed on major GPA since my overall is slightly less competitive. Thanks.
Also i've been told to list GPA(s) on my resume like this,
Finance GPA: 4.0 Accounting GPA: 3.9 Overall GPA: 3.6
Is this correct?
Wow a 3.6 overall,3.9 and 4.0 major GPAs? Do you even study? No chance whatsoever. Try the PR industry.
Ask dumb questions, get dumb answers. Also, use the search function.
Well I hear how competitive it is all the time and how 3.8 or better is pretty much a requirement. Just looking for some basic answers. :(
no need to be a jerk
You are fine. Other things are more important than your GPA once you are at a certain point (3.5+). Any other experience, ECs, Networking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! etc.
When you are an MBA grad, does your undergrad GPA no longer become relevant/get asked for?
Yes and no, depends on the amount of work experience before the MBA. If you have tons of work experience and a great MBA gpa, then it would be pretty insignificant. If he had no prior experience before the MBA and you went directly into it from ugrad then it poses more important. Only my opinion though.
Major GPA Question (Originally Posted: 12/23/2012)
I'm sure other people have encountered this before, but what are you opinions on putting major GPAs on your resume when you have only taken 1-2 classes in that major?
I'm at a school where there are a lot of core requirements, so I have taken a lot of courses that are relevant to my field of study, but only a couple of those classes are specific "major" classes.
Would it be frowned upon or questioned in an interview if 4.0 (just an example, not trying to brag) was listed, but that comes from getting an "A" in 1-2 classes?
Also, would just like to note that I'm a junior applying to IB SA positions.
i'd probably just say "GPA: xx/4.0" for your overall GPA and not write a major GPA until you've gotten more classes under your belt.
1. if they ask for your transcript, and on the off chance the interviewer actually reads it, they could ask you about it. 2. they also might ask you what your favorite class is from your major, and if you're an econ major and you've only taken micro and macro 101, you'll look stupid. same things goes for finance and whatever else.
Put both if it's just 1-2 classes. Under relevant coursework, put the major classes you have taken AND the ones you will be taking next semester.
Definitely put a major gpa on your resume if it's significantly better than your overall gpa, no matter what was taken into account calculating it.
Putting second major GPA on Resume for iBanking (Originally Posted: 12/25/2012)
I have often heard that if you have a substantially higher major GPA that you can list it along with your cumulative GPA on your resume. However, I am an undergraduate business student with a second major in Math. I really want my Math GPA to stand out because it is a 3.85 (which I feel is a whole lot more impressive than anything I have achieved in my business program) and is actually higher than my cumulative and business GPA. However, since my degree is really a BBA (bachelor of business admin), I wasn't sure if it would be proper to list the Math GPA along with the cumulative.
Thoughts?
sounds interesting
if you declared a math major, it's fine if you write that.
Question regarding Major GPA on resume (Originally Posted: 01/09/2013)
My concentration (rough equivalent to major) GPA is much higher than my cumulative GPA, and I'm considering including it on my resume.
However, if I've only completed 3 courses in the concentration so far, is it A: alright to even include it and B: if I do include it, should I specify it's only been 3 courses?
I would say but down both but putting your major gpa alone could be misleading.
I just asked a similar question recently. Consensus seemed to include major GPA regardless of classes taken. I would definitely include your overall cumulative GPA as well, though.
Include both, only cumulative, or neither. Indicating just your major GPA is misleading because they do not know what classes go into your major when looking at a transcript.
Thanks for the help. Somewhat related question, but is it OK to include cumulative GPA, concentration GPA, and SAT score on the same line, or is that too stuffy and should they be separated (e.g. both GPA's on one line, and one line below for just SAT)?
I know I'm being anal about formatting, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
I dont think theres any problem with all of the GPA's on same line, that's what I do as well. I would think that a new line for SAT would be best.
Resume - Major GPAs? (Originally Posted: 03/26/2013)
I have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and major GPA of 3.3. I know that the latter isn't significantly better than my cumulative, but currently on my resume, I only list my major GPA since it is still marginally higher. Any insights on if I should list both? I heard people say that only listing major gpa gives the assumption that the cumulative is below 3.0 which it isn't.
I think you have to list both tbh. Not that you have too, but they are smart enough to figure out that you are trying to hide something if you only list the major GPA, since if it was as good or better than cumulative you would naturally list it.
Since it's above a 3.0, I would just list it. You can't change what has already happened.
Yep. If your major GPA is 3.3 and you don't even list your cumulative I'm going to automatically assume the worst.
Major GPA for resume purposes (Originally Posted: 05/09/2013)
My question is regarding the calculation of the "Major GPA" that I will put on my resume, for a Econ major. I'm wondering which classes to count GPAs for when calculating the Major GPA.
Which one of these is accurate?
1) All classes that I've taken that are pre-requirements / requirements for my major, even if they are lower division courses. In other words, some literature, calculus, and statistics courses are required for all Econ majors, so should the grades for those classes be included in the Major GPA?
2) All econ classes, lower div and upper div
3) Only upper div econ classes
4) Other (please elaborate)
Thanks!
Honestly I would just put down whatever is higher because you can just say that is how you calculated your major gpa
you need to ask an advisor. That way, if anyone questions it, you can always point to them. At my college, we needed like 8-10 classes in total for our major. By the time I graduated, I had taken like 15 classes that qualified as being part of my major...out of the 15, I took the 8-10 classes that gave me the highest major gpa and listed it. I went to an advisor, had her fill out some form with those 8-10 classes and had her sign it in case anyone asks.
That makes no sense at all
It makes sense to me, but isn't that cheating? Because don't you need to include all 15? Otherwise you can just choose the ones you got A's in and have a major gpa of 4.00 right?
It does make sense that the Econ/Fin/Acc prefix classes count for the Major GPA but I would like to add Math and Lit classes because they are required for my major and they would increase my Major GPA by a lot.
It doesn't make any sense because it's cheating. His adviser is an idiot.
You should only include classes that are in your major's department for major GPA; if you're an econ major, why would accounting and lit classes count? Then again major GPA is bull shit to begin with, nobody really cares.
The easiest way to do this is to only include classes that have your major pre-fix on them. Typically, schools title their courses as ECON101, FIN203, ACCY104. Just go with all of the ones with your major on them...if it's more complicated than that, then do as was mentioned above and ask your academic advisor.
School said I needed to take 10 finance classes for my major. I took more than 10 and counted the 10 in which I got the highest grades in to calculate my major gpa.
Dishonest maybe, cheating no as I followed the rules.
That's like saying I need to take 100 credits to graduate, I took 150 credits, I'm going to count 100 credits and say that's my undergraduate GPA. I'm not gonna argue with you, like I said nobody cares about major GPA anyway.
At my school, we could look at our unofficial transcript. Our Major GPA was printed there, so ask your advisor if you have this option. My school only calculated major GPA as the average of all upper division courses within my major.
a - Major GPA (Originally Posted: 09/16/2013)
a
a
Looks academic over private sector / IBD. I think you need more under professional experience-- or really build up that you worked your way up over the course of several yrs to the title of GM.
You have tons of language experience (keep Swahili), which is key. Try to build up the work experience tab (maybe club university stuff) and network .. = golden
Put your major GPA on there if it's higher than overall GPA.
Change French (professional working knowledge) to French (advanced)
Swahili, that's awesome.
Thanks for the responses so far guys. I've made the changes that I could.
Please keep them coming and focus on the work experience part.
btw i don't speak swahili, it was just as an example lol.
I do speak a few more languages though that are more widespread.
Will a "Major GPA: 3.5+, Cumulative: >3.5" fly for me in a 3.5 cut off? (Originally Posted: 11/06/2013)
So I have been networking pretty well with some BBs for an SA position however I know that several of them require 3.5+ GPAs.
I go to an undergrad non target school that has a strong liberal arts core which I did pretty poorly in my freshman year but have done strongly in the actual business school classes. My business school GPA right now is a 3.5 and will likely be a lot higher after the semester, however my cumulative GPA is a 3.1 or something (definitely not 3.5). Do you think this will rule me out of consideration? I have recruiters there/other contacts who told me to just send them my resume (as opposed to the online black hole system) could that possibly change things?
Network hard, and it can be overcome, depending on the firm.
Yeah I have been I just want to make sure if I send it to them they aren't going to be like, Oh wait your cumulative is under 3.5 sorry try next year. I guess I really just wanted to know if there are cases of it happening
State on your resume a Major GPA of 3.5. Omit the cumulative. Just make sure that your school actually computes a Major GPA and has it defined.
@illiniprogrammer This is really acceptable to drop the cumulative? I have been putting XXX School of Business GPA: 3.5/4.0 do you think I should use that or my actual major GPA, or both?
.... you know it's supposed to be
....
Major GPA on Resume? (Originally Posted: 11/28/2013)
Came across this site a couple weeks ago and it's been incredibly helpful. I thought I'd finally post so I have a couple of questions.
Current sophomore looking for some finance experience of any kind. I have my eye on something dealing with IB but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anything this early.
I'm an Economics and Rhetoric double major at a selective college but it's not a target (few strong connections with firms though). My GPA in Rhetoric (3.9 to be exact) is much higher than it is in Economics and cumulative (3.0+).
I was wondering if I'd be able to list only my Rhetoric major GPA or list it along with my cumulative and not list Economics? Or should I include them all? What do you think?
thanks in advance
I think you're better off creating a line item:
"Favorite class GPA: 4.0"
in which you put the classes that you did the best in. 4.0 looks better than 3.9 after all and it essentially accomplishes the same thing.
Hilarious.
Just to add, I'm well into my Rhetoric major; about half-way done. I added Economics as a major last semester so I'm not quite into it yet. My cumulative GPA is relatively low because I didn't do so well in my gen ed classes (intro chem and bio killed me :/).
Anyways, since some of the sophomore programs in investment banking i'm applying to allow all majors to apply could I just list my major gpa and cumulative right after; and somewhere in my resume and cover letter express that I have knowledge and course work in finance/econ?
If I see a resume focusing on the major GPA it seems like you are hiding your weakness at other subjects like math or languages. Work hard and get good grades. It's pretty simple
Major GPA and Background Checks (Originally Posted: 01/19/2014)
Hey all,
I recently received an offer for a SA investment banking position and I have a question regarding the background check. I listed my major GPA and left off the cumulative GPA on my resume. The cumulative is lower than the Major GPA which is why I left it off, and the firm I interviewed at didn't ask about it. Do you think HR is going to raise a flag?
I have a document showing my major GPA and calculation for it, should I send that to HR?
Thanks!
A bulge bracket?
Elite boutique, regional non-NY office
EBs & top MMs do not do background checks, I think.
Not concerned so much about the background check, but about them raising a concern about not using the GPA immediately listed on the transcript and instead using the applicable Finance and Economics major GPA.
The contract says they are going to do a background check. To clarify, I specifically listed the GPA on my resume as "major GPA" and not cumulative. No intentions of being misleading.
This won't be an issue
Major GPA calculation (Originally Posted: 11/23/2014)
I'm curious about if there is a "right" way to calculate my major GPA. Maybe someone here can help. I transferred university a couple of times, and I've held a few past jobs. That alone takes up more than a page, so I've decided to shave off the less relevant/older experiences, which included past universities. My institutional GPA is straightforward, it's the overall GPA at my current university. My major GPA can be taken in a few different ways. I've taken quite a few classes in my major at previous universities and would like to include them. If I include them, it brings my major GPA up by a small margin (0.07). Either way, my past universities are on my transcript and were accepted for credit at my university, so I have at least some basis in not making things up, but I get this paranoid idea that there's some kind of Wall Street star chamber that decrees a specific method of calculating major GPA. Call it paranoia, but if anyone thinks yay or nay on this method, please comment.
You can calculate major GPA any way you want to and it should be fine, honestly.
this. even in interviews where they roasted me on my transcript, my major gpa calculation was never put in question.
Just make sure you can defend it if you are asked about it.
Major GPA with two majors (Originally Posted: 12/25/2014)
Hello,
I am somewhat confused as to how I should calculate my major GPA. I am majoring in economics and computer science, and currently I'm calculating my major GPA by averaging the GPA over all the Econ and Compsci classes I have taken (excluding electives); so it's more of a combined major GPA. Is this the proper way of calculating major GPA, or do I need to break my major GPA up and list two major GPAs?
Thanks a lot
Bump.
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