Federal vs. Commercial Consulting GPA Cutoff Comparisons

Hello WSO,

I was wondering what the difference was in general GPA requirements for Federal vs. Commercial Consulting. Obviously due to salary differences, as well as other factors, I assume the Federal practice would be less stringent...but how much so? I've heard various things, ranging from still at least a 3.4+, to something as low as 3.0 if you have a strong network or federal experience...any input? Thanks!

By the way, this is for the Tier 1/2 Federal consulting practices (i.e. Deloitte, Accenture, Big 4 Federal, etc.)

3 Comments
 

In my limited experience it's not as much about GPA but about where firm's recruit. So they're still looking for a high GPA (maybe they'll accept a bit lower), but it's the type of schools. So if commercial is recruiting from JHU, UVA, and Duke, Federal may be recruiting from VTech and UMD-College Park.

Also it seems that federal is skewed more to tech implementation engagements, so going after those technical/hard science degrees may open the door for slightly lower GPAs.

 
"Blueapple"

In my limited experience it's not as much about GPA but about where firm's recruit. So they're still looking for a high GPA (maybe they'll accept a bit lower), but it's the type of schools. So if commercial is recruiting from JHU, UVA, and Duke, Federal may be recruiting from VTech and UMD-College Park.

Also it seems that federal is skewed more to tech implementation engagements, so going after those technical/hard science degrees may open the door for slightly lower GPAs.

My firm has the same GPA cutoff (3.4+) for fed and commercial and the quality of people are more or less similar, although fed is significantly less hours and lower potential future earnings.

I went to Duke and help with recruiting - funny thing is that a lot of students there specifically look for federal consulting an chose it over commercial.

 
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