TTest

that way around your GPA is simple and easy! networking. its not what you know, its who you know

Columbia has a huge alumni base, and it helps that you're right in NYC. Set up some calls and meet some people in the industry/firm you desire, pick their brains/try to show that you're interested and let the rest fall into place. Good luck.

talk to your career services office. I think about a quarter or so of Columbia students end up in finance (low estimate, it's probably a lot higher) and so there is probably lots of spots out there, probably more spots than there are students willing to fill them. Since you don't attend a business school, the interviews will be more "fit" based as opposed to technical, and there's probably some mock interview practice facility at your school. Your background seems fairly interesting, and as a non traditional candidate if you craft your resume right, you might get a lot of looks as opposed to your typical economics drone. Your GPA isn't a problem, just keep it above a 3.0, since it looks pretty bad to have something less than that. Even then though, there are still lots of firms out there that would take you on, because they recognize that columbia's rigor is probably a lot greater than say Rutgers, as your experience indicates.

I really don't know much about Columbia, but I know a former classmate who attends Harvard college, and basically the only people who can't get finance jobs are the ones that either don't try at all (not you) or are those who only want to work at a brand name firm (read a bulge bracket like JPM, BAC, etc or an elite boutique like Moelis, PWP, Lazard) because those positions are insanely competitive at every school. As the former poster mentioned, Columbia has a huge alum base, but you still need to play the numbers game when reaching out because a lot of alum of these city based schools might be less apt to help than say a Williams or Dartmouth alum.

Overall, just utilize your school's resources. My school is "targeted" for certain jobs and the interviews are laughably easy, companies just want hard workers and good team players for entry level. This is different for undergrad b schools and non targets, but this is more due to weeding out the mass piles of resumes interested in finance (and to also ensure that candidates from lesser programs are more vetted) as opposed to there being a need for students to come in knowing a lot. It doesn't seem like you're interested in PE/HF/buyside, and I would encourage you to go for IB instead anyways since it will be much easier to obtain and much better for you coming out of college with an econ degree as opposed to a finance degree. Banking requires lots of commitment and hard work, and personal traits matter a lot. Just make it clear on your resume that finance is really what you want to do, by joining organizations, learning excel really well, perhaps writing a finance focused senior thesis, and by taking some part time internship or something at the local wealth management shop during the school year. Just take advantage of every opportunity that you get and don't reject an offer just because "it isn't prestigious enough" or because it may be in a slightly different field, say asset management or S&T as opposed to having an IB only mindset. Hope this helps