After cold emailing an alum at a MBB Consulting Firm, I was asked to provide my resume, GPA, SAT scores, and transcript. Everything's fine, but my transcript, to say the least, isn't the best. I had a rough sophomore year and ended up with a couple of C's but my cumulative GPA is around 3.3 with a major GPA of 3.56. Will this end up killing me? I did have a great junior spring relatively speaking after having been abroad junior fall.
I know there isn't much I should do, but do you think that will doom my chances for MBB?
Target/semi/nontarget?
not great advice
It does matter, if it was a complete nontarget like my school then I think the partner would be more cautious about putting his rep somewhat "on the line" to get a 3.3 an interview than if it was a target that MBB regularly recruited from. It would stand out a little more. End of the world? No, but it still is of significance IMO.
I don't know anyone below 3.5. Maybe if you're an Engineer at MIT or something equivalently destructive to your GPA at a top school, with great interview skills, extracurriculars, and charisma. The fact is there are plenty of people out there with better stats than you applying.
Who cares? Send it in... shits already done. No use in worrying about the what ifs.
Thanks for all the feedback. I would say it's a target (MBB recruits on campus). Not Ivy though, def. Top 25
Do you think a general explanation for the low grades would be a good idea/well-received in the response? Thank you so much for all your help.
No, good chance he wont even look at the transcript.
HR might, but the alum probably doesnt care.
Different firms have different absolute cutoffs. 80-90% chance of a ding, which is not the same as 100%.
The alum will pass your resume on to HC, the question is what will he say. He might not vouch for you and let HC make the call, wihch would mostly be to ding you. Easier on the alum for the HC to ding you, than for the alum to do nothing and have to deal with your follow up inquiry.
Or the alum might see something extremely compelling and push for you.
The alum is a partner and is having me send my stuff to both him and a manager at MBB who is also an alum of my school.
that's sick
The good news is that if you get an interview, you've got a shot. These firms don't just interview people for the hell of it if they have no intention of possibly extending an offer -- they don't waste their time on that. To some degree, you might have a higher burden of proof to show that you deserve an offer (in other words, you'll have to absolutely crush the case), but on another level, once they give you an interview, you might get a slight benefit of the doubt (because a partner and manager are already "on your side").
Bottom line: If you get the interview, you need to be really, really prepared for the case to make the most of your good fortune.
Haha we'll see... first I gotta get the partner and manager on my side......
I mean that if you get the interview, it's because the partner and manager on your side. First things first, get the interview.
Shouldn't kill you. Just send him what he asked for (hopefully this is done in a timely manner).
To be totally honest, I can't even imagine any MD ever looking through any of the material you are sending him (other than a cursory glance at your resume). These materials will be FWD to HR and HR will look at them/save them.
.
I've sent my stuff in to him and the manager so now i'm assuming this is just a waiting game. Should I follow up eventually or even expect some sort of response? What happens next and/or what's my next step? Thanks everyone.
Dude, you're still in the hunt because of your connection. Just try and convince him by stating in the email that you did have a rough sophomore year but you're now the better for it and your resuls post-that speak for themselves. If you have a 3.3 despite a bunch of Cs you've done pretty well in many of your other subjects, so focus on the positives and not negatives.
Basically, sell yourself hard and say that all you need is an opportunity to get an interview, and you're confident you will do well.
MAKE SURE YOU PRACTICE UR ASS OFF FOR CASE INTERVIEWS to back up your email.
Look, life's too short to worry about what went wrong (e.g. Sophomore Cs...everyone has a shit sophomore year...see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophomore_slump....so just try and get the godamn interview and leave the rest up to your case interviewing skills, which NEED TO BE FANTASTIC or else bye bye MBB)
if you wanted to make him more comfortable vouching for you and have confidence in your case skills then maybe ask him to run through a few practice cases with you or if he doesn't have time, ask the manager, word will get back
basically you're giving him the information he needs to vouch for you to HR by saying "this kid had a sophomore slump in grades, but thinks the right way"
much better than excuses
What's your work experience? Can you ask for a recommendation from your previous supervisors?
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