3.3 GPA at UC Berkeley, f-ed up soph year due to very serious/personal reason

So, I am about to be a senior, preparing for IB FT recruit in the Fall.

Doing everything I can to network, alum, senior personel, cold-calling headhunters, HR

Will spread my net wide to boutiques, MM and BB.

Have no previous IB experience but well over 1.5 years of wealth management experience with Smithe Barney and BAML..

I triple major in Economics, Linguistics and International studies with a ~3.3 total GPA and 3.4 Econ GPA

due to my end of freshmen year incident (very personal/traumatic), I developed pretty serious post traumatic stress syndrome and received over a year of psychiatric service to overcome my personal issues. This disrupted my ability to focus and study, resulting in some B- and Cs in my sophomore year.......

My junior year grades were As and B+s, so there's an obvious dip in performance in my sophomore year.

If interviewers ask, should I talk about my personal issue, or is it best to leave it out? Should I mention it even if they don't ask, since It is a very reasonable dip in performance, considering what happened to me.

 

3.3/3.4 is fine. Whatever you do don't bring up PTSD. I know it is wrong, but I can't imagine someone hiring a person with psychological issues. I am sure you are fine, but I can just imagine it turning off a hiring person. You have a solid GPA from a good school. If someone questions you on it just talk about a family issue or something.

 
Best Response

Drop one of those majors and take some cake classes for the final year. Regretfully recruiters don't care about how many majors you took, mainly about GPA. Start networking hardcore and look outside of CA.

PWM is good for a name on your resume but you should try and score a boutique IB internship or something to highlight some banking skills. Go buy the WSO guide for IB interviews so you are prepared to nail it if and when you get the chance.

Side note, why doesn't every state have a public university system like NY.

 
AnthonyD1982:
Drop one of those majors and take some cake classes for the final year. Regretfully recruiters don't care about how many majors you took, mainly about GPA. Start networking hardcore and look outside of CA.

PWM is good for a name on your resume but you should try and score a boutique IB internship or something to highlight some banking skills. Go buy the WSO guide for IB interviews so you are prepared to nail it if and when you get the chance.

Side note, why doesn't every state have a public university system like NY.

Because SUNY is broke as fuck and there is no need for 64 junior colleges (slight exaggeration). The quality of students at the upper end (Binghamton, Geneseo, even Stony Brook) appears to be getting much more competitive. None of them will put you on the IB > PE > Ivy MBA > PE > Mail Order Bride track that so many on WSO desire without a little effort of your own, but the students are intelligent and I know of more than a few at all three schools I mentioned above who turned down target schools for cheaper tuition, uncertainty about career path, etc.

And OP, you will be fine with recruiting with a 3.3, and I would recommend taking basketweaving 101 and 201 if you feel you need to get back to a 3.5. Taking a break from triple major madness isn't such a bad thing.

 

I will agree with what every other person has said, PLEASE don't mention anything about your medical/psychiatric issues, although at first they will appear to be sympathetic to your past experiences, they may end up been slightly worried about the possibilities of a relapse, you will do yourself a lot of good if you come up with some other believable story that will help your cause.

I wish you the very best.

 

Not to rehash what's been said, but yes, don't say anything about your GPA unless they question it. If they say 'well your GPA is kind of low, why is that?', then just remain poised/confident and to the point. 'It was due to personal family issue, but in junior year when I took more technical courses, I improved greatly.' Then because they are mostly worried about your commitment to work, you can just reinforce that you are very driven. But do not make it a long-winded answer, and normal people will not pry into what personal family issue you had. Don't mention post-traumatic depression, more information than they will ever need.

 

Thanks guy,

all the feedbacks are great. I did take all my harder classes in my junior year and did great so I can spin it like that..

I am taking 2 classes this summer, but I calculated even if i get an A it'll probably full me up to only 3.4

Are there other places I can take courses just to push it up another 0.1?

Thanks.

 

If I drop my worst major (the easiest one...ironically), I would avg at a total GPA of 3.6 and major GPA for Econ would be 3.4. But all the courses would still show up on the transcript...

Should I just say i'm a double and have a 3.6? I am not lying, just...excluding a lot of courses that is for the worst major.

If I get an offer that way and they request an official transcript, wouldn't I be dinged big time?

 

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