GPA vs. Experience for recruitment

Hey guys. Currently, a non-diversity attending target and gearing up for Junior year recruitment. Business major with a 3.65. Tanked because I've been interning for 2 of the 3 semesters I've spent in school. Recent experience in Big4, LMM PE, and now incoming IB SA at Tier 3 BB (HSBC/BNP/SocGen) in NYC for sophomore summer. Also tanked because of commitments towards business clubs, music/art, and frat (did end up gaining some leadership positions tho). 

The cutoff generally seems to be a 3.5+, but competitive GPAs are 3.7+ at the minimum. Currently have a potential offer at a boutique IB for Spring 2022. Should I reduce course load and focus on grades next semester before recruitment fully picks up or work the internship as well? How does either option affect my chances?

Thanks everyone.

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

First of all you are completely fine for junior year recruiting. Target, 3.7 (assuming you can round up, do it), 3 impressive internships, you're set. I've seen a boatload of target students come through with like 3.3s, the GPA cutoffs are a guide but not a requirement. At my bank given your internships and school, your GPA wouldn't even come up during the process. Just make sure you're totally set on technicals because with those 3 internships you will get grilled.

That said, I think a fourth internship has diminishing returns given what you have on your resume so far. It'd be a shame if your GPA dropped even more just to fit one more internship on there. PE will care more about your GPA if that's a path you're interested in, while the internships will get whittled down to like 1-2 lines on the resume by the time that recruiting rolls around. I'd take some GPA boosting classes and give junior year recruiting your best shot with the free time.

 

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