3.6 GPA, Private Equity Boutique Internship, Target (think Penn CAS, Stern) , Math, and Econ Major. Few extracurriculars, but no leadership experience due to transfer in sophomore year. 3.9 GPA at non-target school before transferring.
Is it worth pursuing elite boutiques? Networked a good amount.
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So you're at Penn CAS... Given the lower GPA it is going to be harder to compete with the Wharton kids who always get preference for OCR and who I am sure have higher GPAs. You don't see many CAS kids within EBs given the lower amount of spots and how many people are starting to take a preference towards them. Also worth noting that EBs for the most part have a much higher unofficial GPA cutoff (like 3.8+). With that said, it wouldn't hurt to continue to pursue EBs if you feel you have built strong connections at those firms cause at the end of the day it's better to cast a wide net in recruiting. If not, would probably be best for you to focus more on reaching out to BBs and trying to break in there given the larger class sizes and the delayed timelines.
Assuming you can carry a conversation about something other than finance and can come across as articulate, humble and intelligent you should have no trouble getting a BB or EB internship given that GPA at one of those schools. It's not that competitive and being nice guy that's approachable can cover a multitude of sins. If you aren't that outgoing then it will be tough imo.
What do you mean IB is not that competitive? FT recruiting is especially a bloodbath isn’t it
The average GPA at my EB is 3.8 and most recruiting teams have a cut off around 3.7. But Penn is always more competitive because they only want to do so many Penn screens so they would be looking for even higher GPAs
Do you think networking will be able to overshadow that GPA?
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