From weighing 280 pounds and a 2.5 GPA at a Non-Target, to 200 pounds and an Interview with McKinsey
Hi Everyone,
I've been browsing Wallstreet Oasis for the past few years and I want to share my story and more importantly, reiterate to everyone on this forum to dream big. I went to a non-target state school and while suffering from social anxiety and obesity, I was also facing an extremely difficult time academically. I ended up changing my major three times and even faced academic suspension for a semester. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to receive an internship at a local financial institution and finished up my degree part-time in the evening. During that time, I was also promoted from an analyst intern to a full time business operations analyst.
After graduating, I went to a boutique local firm (400 employees) and was able to specialize in digital marketing and customer relationship management. I picked up some incredibly useful data sciences and analytics skills during this time period as well. More importantly, I started going to the gym. About a year later, had dropped 80 pounds and regained my confidence. I was ready for the next big move.
I made a Linkedin profile and started reaching out to Accenture recruiters - eventually landed a job in their commercial practice doing the same exact work I had been doing at the boutique however for F500 clients. I networked my way onto a F200 client that's incredibly heavy on marketing, social engagement, and advertisements. You've definitely seen their commercials pop up at the movie theaters, super bowl, or at airports. This was a new engagement and pretty soon I was leading a team of 2 resources. This expanded to 12 about 2 months after.
About a year and a half later, I decided I want to push myself even more and decided to aim for Deloitte. This was a company that had recruited at my undergraduate school and typically only hired 3-4 analysts with 3.8+ GPAs a year. After a grueling interview process with a few of their Senior Managers and a difficult case study, I received the call. I had an offer from Deloitte!
Incidentally, the very next day I received an inmail on Linkedin from a McKinsey recruiter for their federal practice. They were looking for a new analyst with experience in analytics and strategy. I messaged her back (hadn't accepted Deloitte's offer yet). The following week, I had a phone call with her and she sent over the SHL test. She had loved my experience at Accenture and wanted to bring me into McKinsey as an analyst. I took the SHL test and had an in-person interview scheduled for 2 weeks alter.
I felt that Deloitte was a much better fit for me and ended up accepting at Deloitte (pulled out of the McKinsey interview process).
The point of my long story is, no matter what your background is or GPA is, there's always a way. Become great at what you do and opportunities will present themselves. If they don't, its up to you to aggressively hunt down those opportunities.
Hi there OP,
I finally found the time in my busy week to read your thread and I wanted to personally congratulate you on your own thread for your success. You see, I graduated college with a low GPA (2.5) as a Biology major and I was pushed into that major by overbearing parents who wanted me to be a doctor since there is nothing else outside of medicine that has job stability.
Right now I work as a lab tech and it is not too fun of a job to have. I saw my friends who picked up accounting and finance as majors get these offers from Deloitte and KPMG and I felt kinda depressed by it. Here they were starting out their lives on a promising path and here I was back at home working as a lowly lab tech.
I spend my time now searching for alternative paths that get me out of the life sciences, a part of me thinks that some employers out there might think "wow he graduated as a pre-med taking those hard sciences! Lets at least let him prove himself!". Either ways, it is always great to hear your success story and I am currently working out a path for myself to where maybe one day, I can share a success story of my own.
Congratulations OP!
Thank you for reaching out to me on my low GPA thread on the off topic forum.
Postgradwonderer,
No worries I hope you found it helpful. I've had friends in very similar situations as yours (low GPA, degrees in Bio/Chem) and realized Med School wasn't looking too realistic. I did suffer from a lower GPA because I too wanted to impress my parents and study engineering and make them proud. When I switched over to Business, my major GPA was much higher than 2.5, around 3.3. Nonetheless, you have to figure out a path that works for you and figure out a way you can translate your current lab tech experience into an entry level position at a small company.
A good approach would be to look at certain fields where GPA isn't as highly valued when entering, and build your resume and skill set around that particular niche.
Checkout Coursera and Udemy. Take some courses on business foundations and fundamentals. I know Wharton runs a certificate program that lets you take classes in Accounting, Operations Management, Finance, and Marketing. You also get some experience with a Capstone project.
I'm currently doing a program on Coursera through Darden and taking strategy classes so I could learn to communicate better with my peers working within Strategy & Ops.
You could also look to get Coursera's Data Sciences specialization. It would build up a lot of fundamental technical skills that could push you through the door into your first job. Leverage your network with your friends/family and see if you can do a short project at one of their family owned businesses/consulting firms to get some more relevant business experience down on your resume. It's way too early to call it quits because of your GPA. There are always ways to bounce back.
If you're still interested at getting into finance (which I assume you are), I would advise to put that on the backburner for now. You'll still have a shot at doing that down the road when you go back to graduate school. The finance world is huge - and not everyone goes into Private Equity or Investment Banking. Plenty of corporate finance and Asset Management positions out there that you could look at in the future after getting an MBA or CFA.
Either way, what you mentioned about being 30 and 'broke' because you haven't found a good job is not going to happen. You will find a good job - and you wont be broke at 30. I know you'll work to get some technical skills and break into a company before then. Stay motivated, stay positive, and keep investing in yourself.
no one cares
I care.
why do u care?
because I like seeing WSO members succeed and I know his story will help motivate other students that are also struggling in a similar situation.