GPA Cutoffs?
Hey guys. I'm stressing out. Gearing up from for FT recruiting and going to network my way in. I'm a junior at a target university but my GPA is a 3.1. A lot of reasons for it, won't go into it, but at the end of the day I know I'm smart enough I just don't have much IB-related experience to back it up. I don't want to convert my internship this summer into a ft offer. I actually really want to do RX IB, but all the people I know there have GPA's like a 3.7+.
So, fellow monkeys, can you share what you know about soft/hard GPA cutoffs for the top firms? Is there any hope for me, if yes/no please elaborate, would appreciate any advice out there. I've heard a lot of answers before but want to get a 2021 take on this. Evercore, Lazard, PJT, PWP, Moelis, Greenhill, HL, Guggenheim, Centerview, Miller Buckfire? And more generally for IB at GS, MS, JPM, CS, Citi, BAML, UBS, Barclays?
Thanks everyone
Have u had a IB internship?
No. Summer will be my first one at a lower MM fund.
I feel your pain, I have a bad gpa from a non target but with no experience I would focus on boutiques and try to lateral after that
Hey man I'm a college senior heading full-time at one of the firms you mentioned and honestly making the move is possible but going to be a grind for you. Getting into RX with the gpa/no experience will generally be harder than getting into regular IB and even that might be tough, but if you really, really network and cast your net wide (think about MM/LMM banks) you'll land something given you know technicals inside out. And once you're in the industry, I hear lateraling is an easier process.
As others said already if you don't have a banking/legit PE internship with a 3.1 GPA, the chance of getting any of those places would be extremely slim. I'm pretty sure most firms you listed are not even gonna take a look at your resume and will screen you out unless you're an heir to an F500 company. The best route might be no name regional boutique then lateral. It might sound salty, but that's the harsh reality. Also, banks' GPA cutoff doesn't work like "Oh HL is not EB/BB, so their GPA cutoff is lower than GS/Evercore." They will still set a hard cut-off at 3.5 unless you charmed someone at that bank. If I had no experience, I wouldn't even be comfortable with 3.8+
Hey I had a few questions with your reply:
1. What's considered a "legit PE" internship? If it's a LMM PE firm is that fine?
2. Let's say hypothetically my friend enters the recruiting cycle with a 3.8 from a non-target (but he has an LMM PE internship) what are his chances?
3.1 is very low, sorry.
can't be picky with a 3.1 ... some of the firms you listed hire less than 10 summer interns a year with 4.0 H/W kids lining up for them
as a junior you are way behind the game too
Too late for a junior to go for EB/BB. Let alone you have no ib/PE experience. Your best shot is to go to a small boutique and lateral from there
my mans i had 3.1, went to a nontarget and had about 7-10 interviews, you have to network hard like hard hard, dont focus on the gpa just network
Hey, first off, don't feel too discouraged. Not sure what 'tier' of target school you go to, but you should still be able to get a job in corporate development, then target a top-15 MBA, which should position you well for a gig as an associate in RX. While it might feel like you're 'behind' your peers, keep in mind that your career, based on new life expectancies, will be 45-50 years. So a few years here and there will not make a meaningful difference in the wider scheme of things.
To address the post directly, I don't think it's feasible for you to get into RX with your current stats and level of experience. Not sure why it hasn't yet been brought up yet, but you should definitely think about extending your graduation date by at least a year. This will give you some space to bring up your GPA, hopefully to ~3.5 or higher, and even more importantly will give you some more time to network! and get relevant experience (boutique IB, PE, etc.).
From the networking angle, you might find it difficult to get responses with your current GPA, so I’d recommend reaching out to your career office and seeing if they can connect you directly with people in finance. In a one on one setting, you’ll be able to explain the context for your GPA, and hopefully make them want to go up to bat for you.
Happy to send over RX materials if you need them, and good luck with your journey.
Just to add a data point, I got an interview at an EB for RX SA with a 3.1. Getting the interview with a low gpa is hard but once you are actually interviewing gpa matters a lot less than you think. Obviously if candidates are equal, the higher gpa will win out. Also Im not sure about specific cut offs, I feel like some BB/EBs have a 3.0 cut off to apply and I think citi has a 3.3 or 3.5 cut off, not sure tho.
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