A freshman who F’ed up looking for advice
I’m a freshman at what some consider a low end semi target. My first semester I made out okay with a ~3.6 GPA but this semester I made my schedule without consulting my advisor and took only challenging classes and then I fell into a pretty deep depression for other reasons and started doing badly academically which only made it worse. Long story short I will end my Freshman year with a ~2.95 cumulative GPA. I’m doing summer classes through my school that are all really easy and will be able to have a ~3.4 GPA after summer classes and my first semester of sophomore year if everything goes to plan.
Some context: I’m currently doing an internship at a searchfund looking to acquire a tech company of decent size, ~30MM and getting really good work compared to most of my friends who have done other ones (data room and analyzing CIMs). I’ve had an internship at boutique investment bank that I have a personal connection to and this summer I’m working under a Senior ER Analyst learning modeling and helping him initiate coverage of a company. I can return to the boutique whenever I want as well. My college has a decent amount of alumni in IB mostly MM and then some scattered about at EB’s and BB’s. Additionally, I probably have about 10-15 family friends in IB/PE at all levels of seniority most at BB’s and MM’s as well as my HS alumni network which is pretty solid. I only include all of this to give a sense of networking / connection leveraging opportunities I have.
How bad of a spot am I in when it comes to junior summer recruiting? Any opinions, advice, and/or help would be very appreciated on how to move forward. I kind of feel like my entire plan is crumbling before me and I’m having a really hard time forgiving myself for my mistake as I’ve never performed this bad in my life and idk how I let this happen. Sorry for the rant I just wanted to give as much context as possible.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's what you need to know:
GPA Recovery Plan:
Leverage Your Experience:
Networking is Key:
Target Firms Strategically:
Prepare for Junior Summer Recruiting:
Focus on the Long Game:
Mental Health and Resilience:
Actionable Next Steps:
Remember, many people have overcome similar setbacks and gone on to have successful careers in IB. Your strong work experience and network put you in a much better position than you might think. Keep pushing forward!
Sources: Low GPA, trying to get my foot in the door. What do I do?, You want a summer analyst offer? Here's how..., Pre-Investment Banking Internship: Calling all freshmen and sophomores, Freshmen: What to do during your freshman year summer, Two Internships Later: What I wish I Knew While Recruiting! (Toronto)
I think you’ll be okay but you are going to have to network a little harder than others likely due to your low GPA. Every other box is checked so I think you can make it
Now that I think about it, I was in the exact same situation as you when I was a freshman in college. I fucked up and end of the year I sat around a 3.0. With your experience and some networking, you should be good assuming you can boost your gpa to at least a 3.4. use your major GPA if you have to.
When I was a first sem junior my life was hell because I was networking really hard everyday, shooting out about 15 emails a day for several months. I scheduled super early morning classes and really late night classes so that I could easily schedule hella phone calls during the business day.
Put your mind to the task and you'll get it done if you really want it. Good luck!
In your case, assuming you are past your health problems, I would stay at school this summer to take a few classes to bump you above 3.0. Then really focus on a 4.0 going forward...by the end of sophomore year you can easily get back to >3.5. One bad semester is easy to write off as health problems in the face of a high academic load. You don't need to say it was depression, just severe health issues that you needed to focus on. Hope you are doing better now. You already have some decent experience and should be able to leverage your existing network.
Thank you for the advice! I am taking easy summer classes (my dad is pissed cus it’s ~15k for 12 credits since out of state lol) to boost my gpa back up. My one question is won’t my gpa after first semester of sophomore year matter not my cumulative at end of sophomore as I thought recruiting starts early winter and that’s the gpa I’m gonna be sending.
Yep you only have sophomore first semester GPA when you recruit so make sure to take the absolute easiest classes possible.
I’m old so I don’t get the current recruiting timelines. Still summer plus 1 semester of a 4.0 should put you in a better place to tell the story. When I was in school summer interns got recruited in the spring before starting and FT was fall of senior year. I know that has changed, but I’m not aware of the timelines. Others here do know that though.
"I kind of feel like my entire plan is crumbling before me"
What is your "plan" exactly though?
Plan might not be the best word. I had done a lot of research on banking recruiting before hand and wanted to target an EB tmt team and a core aspect of doing that was having a high gpa (3.7+) and now that’s not possible. My greater plan though was do what I needed to do get a desirable banking job through a return offer after SA (grind networking, do very well academically, build out my resume, and grind behavioral and technicals to where I know my shit for interviews) and then figure out if I’m cut for staying in IB and if I’m not lateral out to something with better w/l balance after my analyst stint.
Oh ok. Well yeah, I'd expand your options at this point. There's a whole universe outside of EB TMT groups.
Goldman stanley’s TMT team?
Milk the search fund experience and you’ll be fine. GPAs don’t get you hired, they get you in the door. Experience can accomplish the same with networking.
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