GPA cutoff for HF out of UG?

I am a junior at a semi target state school.I hope to do HF out of undergrad or maybe buyout. I have decent experience, I interned at a lesser-known Tiger Cub and a solid growthy PE shop. However my grades are pretty mediocre, I have a 3.4 rn and will be hoping to raise to a 3.5 if I do well this semester. I know my grades and school will realistically make it hard for me to land at a point72/citadel type of place but do I have a shot at going to a solid SM given my position?

Comments (5)

  • Intern in HF - EquityHedge
2mo 

Had a 3.3/3.4 and got a SA offer at one of those shops. Not saying this is the standard at all but it does happen.

  • Associate 2 in PE - Other
2mo 

With your WE if its quality and you can come up with good pitches, I don't think grades matter as much as you would think.  I assume you have a job for your junior summer.    SM hiring out of undergrad is generally non-structured anyways beyond the few shops that do run structured processes so there isn't an explicit bar per se.    

Most Helpful
2mo 
Mr_Agree_to_Disagree, what's your opinion? Comment below:

With your WE if its quality and you can come up with good pitches, I don't think grades matter as much as you would think.  I assume you have a job for your junior summer.    SM hiring out of undergrad is generally non-structured anyways beyond the few shops that do run structured processes so there isn't an explicit bar per se.    

This. A 3.4-3.5 isn't bad, especially if you have that work experience from interning before. That'll matter more overall than being some overachieving 4.0 GPA. So build up your work experiences, build up your highs & lows stories and put those out front because that's what they're going to care about more. Believe you me, even after just a year into it, no one's going to care about your GPA anymore and will focus on your work experience above all else. In maybe five years at most (assuming you want to drag it out that long), you'll start dropping that GPA stuff off your resume and just say you graduated from XYZ with a BSc in ABC. And that's that.

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  • 2
2mo 
rumplestiltskin, what's your opinion? Comment below:

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