Too little too late?? Any and all advice appreciated
I'm sure people post these mini bios all the time and it must get tiring but here goes,
Basically, I screwed off all throughout high school dabbling in drugs and gambling, etc. That sort of trickled into my first two years of college, culminating with me dropping out after a year in "good academic standing" (2.3) and returning 2 quarters later. I finally stepped it up, barely, by getting a 3.0 my first quarter back. Then I figured out how to work hard and got a 3.8 last quarter. Now I am essentially between my sophomore and junior years of college. I am majoring in Managerial Economics. Currently my GPA is 2.8. My father is a fairly successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and last Summer I interned at his company, but pretty much did irrelevant data entry work. This summer I am interning at a F500 company (through a connection obviously, not academic merits) . But, I am in the legal department. The thing is I don't actually do any legal work nor do I have legal aspirations, I work on the operational side working with data and doing performance metrics / analytics for on systems they have are implementing and other things. So, I think this experience can be spun decently well (at least I hope so)
Now, if I go back to school next quarter and get a 4.0, I'll be at a 3.0 flat GPA. I figure this is the best I can do before the crucial internship application process for next summer, which will be a definite stepping stone towards my aspirations.
This much is obvious, my school is weak, and my stats, for lack of a better word, suck. I got into Davis by luck of the draw (2.9 gpa in HS and 2000 SAT), and I had no idea what I wanted to back then. Now my goals are starting to become clearer and things seem more lucid, but I fear that its too little too late. I want to (like everyone else here) get into BB or MBB, but of course would be thrilled with an opportunity at a boutique firm as well.
I know I have to network, and I have a few potentials. My cousin works at Booz Allen and is about 3 years in there, I plan on talking to him. My other cousin went to Wharton and has been working in HealthCare management Consulting for around 8 years. My father's business partner who he co founded the company with is a Bain alum and from HWS (well networked guy I'm pretty sure) . I also am family friends with a Finance VP here at this same F500 company where I work . Which if any of these would be a good path to pursue?
I know this is long but ANY, absolutely ANY advice would be appreciated, the more specific the better. Also anyone whose been down these roads (consulting/banking especially) have any good reads for beginning and on up towards intermediate learning, I'm trying to soak up as much as I can in my free time.
I know that the only way I even will get an interview is by having someone with a contact within a firm go to bat for me. Hopefully I'm not just deluding myself that there is a chance here,
Thanks in advance to anyone who replies,
coffee
it sucks man... lot of kids out there 'wake up' too late... i woke up right before i got to college so i guess i'm not totally screwed... don't know what advice to offer you but if you are smart (and more importantly, lucky) than i guess things will work out
Yeah I know... I was talking to my dad about this and he was saying the same thing, but is not as worried as I am about it. But even he is very much removed from how brutal it is out there trying to get into highly sought after positions like the ones we are all so infatuated with. I know other kids partied or whatever and held their grades up, at better schools.
The question is, first of all, is it possible to land a baller internship? with my stats what are the limits. what would be the best one in terms of setting up my job 2 years from now? And the follow-up is, would said internship, if landed, be enough to mitigate the overall very weak rest of my application? And yes I would like to think that I am smart, just untapped potential. Of course every loser also thinks that so.................. but at least the trend is going upward for me.
You should just tell your dad or someone you can easily approach (i.e. family friends, who likes you) to hook you up with banking connects. it doesn't get easier than that. Dude seriously you are sitting on a golden egg, stop thinking about doing extra work when you could easily get what you want.
You're probably better off focusing on getting an interesting F20 job, maybe in Silicon Valley if you have connections, gaining some great experiences, going to a top b-school, then getting into BB or MBB. Post-MBA recruiting will focus less on your undergrad experience and more on your work and b-school experience.
Listen man, Im not going to say that my grades are as bad as yours (but thier not great either) but I am an accounting major and I go to a school that the big four (the bulge brackets of the accounting world) barley do resume collections at, forget on campus recruiting. I killed myself to get an internship at a big 4 in nyc my entire junior year and I did it with a little help from a contact. If someone gets your foot in the door make sure you fucking bring it so they dont look bad. Also I undertstand that banking is certainly harder to get into than accounting but the moral of the story is with the contacts you have, someone with be able to to put you in touch with someone, just make sure you charm their ass of and if you do you have as good of a shot as anyone.
Nah, my dad isn't by any means Paulson He is by nature a product and strategy guy, not a finance guy at all. He is also not from HWS or a top business or undergrad program, nor does he have a consulting background.
I mean I guess what I'm asking is, is it really that easy if I were to charm someone who has some amount of connection or power in the hiring process, would I really be given the benefit of the doubt and bypass that first interview filter? Would my GPA be under less scrutiny just because I have a recommendation behind me?
Yes, what do you think this business is all about?? Getting the charmers on board... the big leagues of charmers, wizards, gurus. The almighty salesman conquers anything and sells anyone. In this case, you are selling YOU so go on and sell yourself like a champ, tell the story how you got bad grades because you were too busy saving sea otters in Alaska. jk save the bullshit it will get you nowhere.
recommendations from significant persons always triumph gpa's,
its harder to say no to someone important than a candidate's resume
you have your work cut out for you. you're surrounded by great connections and as long as you work hard and not let them down, you will be able to achieve what you want. You should count your blessings.
Thanks everyone for the replies and advice, I appreciate the honest input. How good would a consulting internship look if my end-goal was full-time at a bulge bracket bank. Yes I just extended all of those acronyms.
Let's say internships at MBB and BB are out of the question because those internships would be super hard to get. .. What about ZS associates or Booz? Or is the Consulting internship pretty much irrelevant. And what about that F500 finance internship I mentioned. All of these are completely hypothetical but at least there is some viable path I can take to maybe MAYBE get an interview if I can convince someone to go to bat for me. Now, more assumptions coming up, but if I maintained a 3.7-4.0 through my junior and senior years, AND landed one of those internships, my resume upon graduation would be as follows:
3.4 GPA, non-target
first internship -- sales, not really relevant
f500 legal internship -- lots of analytics and excel experience with business case evaluations
one of those internships I mentioned earlier -- whichever one I can get , if any, and whichever one will advance my career // facilitate my learning process further
Objectively, I know I am quick witted, good looking, personable guy, articulate, athlete ((okay alot of this stuff is next to useless but worth mentioning))
Again I sound like a megalomaniac here but everyone here seems to have their shit in line so well, absorbing any knowledge will further my cause. Coming to this site has been somewhat of an epiphany as to the realities of the post-college world and how much competition is out there.
Which path would be the best? What internship should I shoot for realistically?? And can anyone give me 3-5 books that aren't too advanced but will increase my knowledge base. I want to start improving my knowledge of how finance works as soon as possible (after work tonight)
Again, thanks for all the replies
Also I do want to get my MBA eventually, that was actually my plan for a while... Distance myself from my GPA with work experience and GMAT scores, apply then. But I figure why not do the best most challenging work right out of undergrad and then get the MBA, and come out as well prepared as possible. Of course that's what everyone is thinking, haha.
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