Life Sucks

This is not the forum for you. Please follow the above poster's advice. 

As above, talk to someone that can make you see the situation from a different perspective, because I'm sure it's not as bas as you are seeing it.

You are young and haven't even got started, don't rush into thinking that you career is compromised because it's not. There are many paths to pursue your objectives so don't think that what you read on WSO is the only way of pursuing your goals.

Take a deep breath. 

Speak to a close friend, family or a professional like others before have said.

It's not all doom and gloom, you can't take on everything just by going solo. We all need help along the way even though it may not seem like it on the surface. 

Most importantly get in touch with someone.

Please, please seek professional help and therapy. Know that all your troubles are just setbacks and are by no means the end

Look into your school's policy on retaking courses – at some schools you can retake a class and the updated mark will replace the previous mark in the GPA calculation on your transcript. This might entail delaying your graduation but a lot more doors will be open to you if you can get your GPA to at least 3.5, plus the additional time for networking/internships should also be helpful. Best of luck.

Moved my GPA from a 2.9 to a 3.44 over the summer between sophomore/junior year. Hope is not lost. Please speak with a loved one and when you’re ready, look at your school’s retake policies on classes.

I had a similar experience 3 years ago. Really low GPA, no offer after 3 internships, almost all my peers secured offers before graduating except me.

Lessons learned since then:

1. GPA is just a number, if high will help you, otherwise you have to play well your cards and will still be fine

1. Take care of yourself, things will get better even if you can't see it right now

1. Most of the things you worry about right now are just in your head, you will be relieved when uni Is over and you actually start working

Now I'm at a BB (GS/MS/JPM) in a FO role, despite low grades and everything I mentioned before

Life is unpredictable, there is no unique schedule to follow, enjoy your own journey

Please speak to a professional about your suicidal thoughts.

I want to empathize with you on a cellular level as someone who has struggled with suicidal ideation/thoughts since their early teens. I can’t speak for you, but I want you to know I look back on those moments with empathy and not disgust. I totally understand given the stimuli I was experiencing why I felt that way and why I thought that was an option. I can tell you that as I kept working through my life and seeing improvements and my stimuli changing, my thoughts changed and they are much happier now. I am sorry you are feeling such a pressure on you to be perfect, but life isn’t a 100% speed run.

Now I want to give you some hope from a career perspective. No, it’s not even close to being hopeless. I can rattle off a couple of thing very quickly.

1) Many students in similar positions use an MSF to right the ship after either choosing the wrong school/major, underperforming, or both. This gives the chance to get better grades and show you can handle grad school to an M7 and also to get you into some professional experience. In my humble opinion, this is better in some ways than the traditional 22 y/o getting a job and MBA’ing 3-4 years later. MBA apps are less intimidating after you have been to grad school and also I think admissions is a little less GMAT-obsessed for people with masters degrees.

2) Family offices, small-mid cap businesses, regional boutiques, etc. will still consider you if you get your grades up just a bit. It’s not going to be prestigious high finance, but it will be good work and experience. It is safe to say you probably aren’t going to land where you want to right away, but there is definitely mobility in this industry. I have seen people lateral from law to IB to L/S HF in a 2 year period. There is not one set path.

3) Most people in the “real world” (for lack of a better phrase) are significantly more forgiving than the college pipeline process. Most people have screwed up in some way during their life, and even the ones that haven’t will in general be reasonable about it. You didn’t (to my knowledge) kill someone, you got some bad grades because you are an imperfect person. That’s a beauty and the beast tale as old as time. Redemption arcs never get old.

First of all, you get suicide out of your head entirely. In no universe are grades in school or an entry-level job in finance worth your life. Talk to a therapist, maybe see if there's a counselor your school can match you with. It is not the end of the world if you don't get onto the buyside or into a banking role right out of undergrad, plenty of professionals make the transition 2-5+ years down the line. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. 

To address the actual problem you're facing - You need to explore retaking the classes you've done worst in and try to take as many summer classes as possible. While a sub 3.0 might not preclude you from getting into a finance role if you can network well and prove you know the necessary information, it's almost a guarantee it will prevent you from getting into any top 10 MBA program barring some extremely extenuating circumstances and you being able to check a LOT of other boxes (e.g. diversity, coming from a rich/connected family, etc.).

I had a terrible GPA my Freshman year and had to work my ass off to right that ship over the following 3 years, and you have substantially less time to work with. It's not impossible, but it's going to be very difficult. Not trying to discourage you, just set expectations in line with the reality. Even if you can't fix the GPA, as I said above the focus should then be on finding a role with some transferrable skills where you can learn a lot + develop a track record of consistent improvement. Then it's just stair stepping your way into the type of role you're targeting by continuously networking and lateraling till you get where you want to be. Good luck, you can do this!