Unsatisfying Internship Offer
Before I get into the crux of the issue, let me just give everyone some quick background about me. I go to a world renowned university and I have a strong resume with great extracurriculars, but my GPA is just average (3.05).
I know how important work experience is, so since my Freshman year, I took unpaid internships in order to make myself a more competitive candidate and "put in my dues".
I've worked at a law firm in Manhattan, a tech start-up in Montreal and a $3B fund specializing in mezzanine debt in Manhattan.
My current goal is probably to get into management consulting, and I applied to every firm I could think of this year in many fields (consulting, Asset Management, BB IBanking, etc.). I recently received an offer to work with a large, well-known financial advisory firm this summer in Manhattan. However, the nature of the work isn't super appealing and it will be an unpaid internship (which is a bummer after playing the unpaid game for so long).
Should I just suck it up because it will make me a more competitive candidate come full-time recruitment or should I just enjoy my summer and travel?
Any advice is appreciated. Essentially though, I guess my question is whether doing this again will help me achieve my long-term goals (i.e. consulting, grad school, etc.)
I say take the offer, unless you are certain that it will only be marginally beneficial when it comes time for FT recruiting! Your experiences seem great and perhaps this next internship won't matter too much. But then again, every bit of experience helps, and you can always travel later on.
3.0 gpa is FAR below average if you want to work on Wall Street.
Agree with some of the comments above. A hole on your resume during your junior year summer is going to raise a lot of red flags.
unfortunately, your GPA is killing you. You said you applied for a ton of stuff....but did you network? I have a 3.2 gpa, but networking a lot has helped me land nicely paid internships and other good interviews. At one point in the fall, I was literally calling about 5 firms a day (some were followup calls). Given my GPA, I was realistic and didn't bother with BBs and elite boutiques.
Whatever you do, DONT travel. Based on what you want to get into....this will kill you. You should work and NETWORK. But if you are fine with f500, you should be fine IMO.
3.0 is horrible and you should feel lucky you got anything.
Not everyone is smart enough to get a top job.
To everyone knocking my GPA. Listen, I'm very aware it is far from a top GPA; but I'm more than just a number unlike most 3.8 and 3.9s who get the BB interviews and then can't string three words together about meaningful experiences they have. School is not everything and I'm not one of these boring, bland "memorizers". So before you insult my intelligence, take into account that you know nothing about me. Yes, I'm speaking to you Jon258.
Goldman Stanley, NorthSider and Jasper90. All good points. Thank you for the candid advice. I truly appreciate it.
Jasper90, I think another issue is that I faced is that I "squandered my resources" instead of focusing them. Instead of focusing on one industry and networking, I threw a lot of shit against the wall and hoped something would stick. I think for full-time, I will just concentrate and try and develop strong relationships.
Any management consultants out there who would like to weigh in?
It would help if you let us know whether this is your sophomore or junior summer. If it's your sophomore summer, I'm not surprised you didn't get a good, paid gig with a 3.0 GPA, no matter how good your school is. My advice would be to take the gig and work your ass of this semester to boost your GPA for recruiting next year. Most of the top companies/firms have a GPA cutoff, and unfortunately they're well above a 3.0.
Unsatisfying and disappointing situations happen, and quite often. Your idea to just say "fuck it" and go do something else is understandable, but you have to look at this from a higher level. Doing nothing this summer is something you will definitely regret, whereas taking this internship is something that, at worst, you'll consider underwhelming.
Zzari, I am currently a junior. I will be going into my senior year and FT recruiting.
FSC, that's been my logic so far. I don't want to be kicking myself in about a month.
For the record (in case this makes any difference) I was dealing with a lot as a Freshman in college and when I first entered uni my GPA was a 2.17. In two years it has risen quite a bit and I still have 3 semesters to go. Perhaps this is slightly redeeming?
I've thought so as well (had a 2.6 my first semester and now have a 3.5), but it's still tough. If you're just applying OCR or online, it will be tough to get past the GPA hurdle because they can't see your improvement year after year.
That is redeeming, but like the above poster mentioned, there are hard GPA cut-offs that are hard to bypass. If I was in your situation, I would definitely take the internship because with a low GPA you need to be stellar in every other aspect. Also, when applying for FT this upcoming cycle, emphasize the upward GPA trend and the fact that you did several unpaid internships in your cover letter. Yes, I know a lot of cover letters don't get read, but make sure yours stands out in case it does get read. Also, network hard. Really hard. If you can get someone on the inside to pass on your resume, you're much more likely to get an interview. If you can impress someone at a networking event, try and build a connection and go through them before submitting through the online application portal.
I think with low GPA + nothing on your resume for the last Summer before graduation, you are really lucky if you get any job. So definitive take the internship.
In regard to GPAs, trust me, I hate looking at numbers as much as you do, but the reality is as others have mentioned most if not all of the top firms have a GPA cut-off. Those companies get tens of thousands of application a day and there is no way they can review all of them without some type of automatic cut-offs.
OP, I already posted, but I'll add another point. I was in similar situation. Have had three so-so internship experiences and will be graduating this spring with approx 3.5. Applied to every finance institution from here to next week. Didn't receive so much as an interview except from one F100 who does OCR and was turned down for second round.
Was freaking out for awhile, but am starting to network hard. Have already gotten a PF interview thru a contact (turned down), but am hopeful to land another for an ER position this or next week. Also have used my contacts at one BB and one good MM bank to have them tell me to contact closer to graduation in order to get interviews (as most off cycle posted positions are immediate hire). Also have an interview with a HF next week.
Point being, network the hell out of everyone at your internship this summer; that is how I've met most of the people I'll be interviewing for. Also alumni have gotten me a lot of help and interview prospects.
*sorry for relatively incoherent post, running out the door.
Good luck
I have never met anyone who had under a 3.5 and got hired out of undergrad at my MBB office. Our interns this year average about a 3.9 GPA and 2300+ SAT from top Ivy League schools. I've been pretty involved in recruiting in my office for 3 years.
Numbers don't lie, son.
with that GPA, MBB will be really tough.
you'll need to network like crazy, and even then, it probably won't happen. best of luck though.
Like the rest above getting into an MBB without being in an IVY league with like XXXX thousand SATs and a 3.99999 GPA is tremendously tough. Networking is your best bet, but even then it's going to be tough.
I remember networking with a bunch of top MBB's and the blunt truthful ones tell you that 'pedigree' and 'High Stats' is their main point of hiring people. It's March and it's probably too late for OCR for both finance and MBB, but try and networking and see what else comes up. If not, then nothing else comes up, then you gotta take this internship.
Good luck.
I hope this thread was a lesson in humility, especially considering your 3.0 GPA. Take nothing for granted, because the market is tough for everyone right now. You have to work hard and go the extra mile to get what you want.
I definitely agree. Well said.
I truly appreciate everyone's input.
If I were you, I will work for two years first then did extremely well on GMAT and came back for a top 10 MBA then for consulting; I don't see how a 3.0 GPA will bring you anywhere with a PAID FT job in management consulting.
Honestly though, how could I get a top 10 MBA with my GPA? It seems unrealistic.
Due to the way the financial/consulting sector recruits, you're simply not going to have a snow ball's chance in hell.
You need to be looking at other sectors. The only possible way I can see for you to get onto a consulting firm (and it might be IT consulting ie. Accenture Federal, Booz Allen Hamilton) is if you had a security clearance. Some analyst positions may not even require a degree from those firms. At least they didn't when I applied and they offered 80k/year + 10k relocation in the DC Metro area because I had a Secret clearance at the time.
FYI, I ended up going with a defense contractor because they offered a much better package in a much lower cost of living area. They did not ask me for my GPA from my BS Computer Science either. Just having a BS Computer Science and a Secret clearance was good enough.
@OP
Not everyone with a 3.8+ GPA is a "bland" "memorizer" who "can't string three words together about meaningful experiences they have". There are some people who may fit that description, but they don't have a shot in hell at a top consulting job either. A high GPA isn't everything, but in general, people with higher GPAs have stronger work ethics and better analytical skills than people with lower GPAs. The stronger a person's academic achievements are, the safer a hire he is. There are always exceptions to the rule, but the top firms in any field get so many strong candidates that it's just not worth it for them to go out of the way to find the diamonds in the rough.
Not to jump on the GPA bandwagon because you are right that it isn't everything. However a lot of firms (most firms I'd say) have a cutoff at the very minimum being a 3.3. Also just because your resume is pretty good aside from the GPA doesn't mean that everybody else doesn't have just as good experiences plus the stellar GPA and even though you think most of those people with great GPAs can't be social and kill it at interviews, that is just not true whatsoever.
With all that said you can still land a good internship/job in the future by networking, you just have to dig yourself out of the hole because of your GPA and the cutoff requirements at many of these firms. You just have to keep busting your ass and something will hopefully come up that you would enjoy but it is not a given even if you do bust your ass. Also if you can't land anything else I would take that offer because not having something between your junior and senior year is deadly for future prospects. Good luck!
Don't know how well this applies to you, but have you considered getting a Master's? Assuming you had some personal issues preventing you from doing well your first few years, a Master's might be a good rebrand and a chance to boost your GPA.
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