GPA for KKR, TPG, Carlyle, etc.

before anyone says "troll" or whatever, what I'm asking is if an analyst is already working for a solid investment banking group right below GS TMT/MS M&A (e.g. JPM M&A, GS Industrials, etc.), how much will a low GPA hurt for recruiting with the megafunds? it seems like they like to take kids with very high GPAs (like 3.8+) and would love to get more information or know if a lower gpa (3.4+) will disqualify a high-performing analyst at an already solid group. Are the GPA qualifications for KKR and TPG even higher than those for GS and MS? What about the other top 10 funds like Apollo, Providence, Warburg, etc.?

12 Comments
 

After your group, your school is going to be the most important thing. MOST people in top groups (or even the next rung down) already have high GPAs, but a 3.4 will certainly be looked down upon. When KKR is looking to add 3-4 people to their pool, they can be as selective as they'd like.

Top PE firms are probably LESS selective than HFs in terms of arbitrary shit that shouldn't matter anymore (college, GPA, etc), but it still happens. Coming from Wharton/Harvard will give you a leg up over the kid next to you who went to Brown.

 
Best Response

megafund associate here, we have pretty much wrapped our interviews in the last 48 hours.

what matters the most in my opinion, behind group, is how you reference that group. references will determine which candidates the headhunters push at our firm.

your resume will get distributed, but the only people who are shallow enough to care about it a lot are the associates and maybe the VPs. Generally I think the Partners / MDs at the firm will skim a resume to find something to talk about, but they aren't trying to poke holes in a kids resume the way associates and VP's might.

once you have an interview, resume doesn't really matter that much anymore. we care more about how your case goes and whether you can talk like a potential PE guy in your interview.

if it comes down to a side by side for equal candidates, sure maybe we'd rationalize a 4.0 harvard guy over a 3.5 brown guy (not that many of those guys find their way into our universe), but frankly its only very rarely a side-by-side situation...

 
what matters the most in my opinion, behind group, is how you reference that group. references will determine which candidates the headhunters push at our firm.

Can someone explain this a bit more for those unfamiliar with the PE recruiting? How do references, headhunters, etc. fit into the process?

 
AstonMartin
what matters the most in my opinion, behind group, is how you reference that group. references will determine which candidates the headhunters push at our firm.

Can someone explain this a bit more for those unfamiliar with the PE recruiting? How do references, headhunters, etc. fit into the process?

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but would love to get more insight on this. Thanks a lot.

 

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