Let's talk GPA- does IB need a super strong GPA nowadays?

Reading this forum a lot, it seems that a lot of people think that, for IB recruiting, a decent GPA is all you need to be competitive and it comes down to a lot more than that in the end. However, having gone through 2020 recruiting, I really think that, without another hook (strong connection, diversity, super interesting background, etc) having a great GPA (3.8+) is nearly essential to break into IB.

My background: target school (Columbia/Dartmouth/Cornell), PE internship at a tiny firm as a sophomore, involved in finance groups on campus. I'd say pretty standard IB recruiting candidate (white guy). Nothing special to stand out, but also reasonably qualified across the board. GPA of 3.65.

I thought my GPA would be totally adequate to land interviews coming from a target, especially with a little bit of networking, but I was wrong. I landed an offer at at a lower BB so I don't want this to sound like I'm complaining, but I really think that the advice on here about 'have a decent GPA, make your resume stand out other ways' just isn't enough to cut it anymore.

I applied to probably ~40 banks through my school's resume drop (pretty much every EB/BB/top MM posted a resume drop to my school with a bunch doing OCR). I got 3 interviews, converted one the first to a job, got a superday invite from the second, and canceled the third after I got the offer, so I'm confident in my interviewing. I just had a hard time getting to the first round where I would talk to someone (not a Hirevue). I did some networking and had a few resume pushes, but I'd say my networking was pretty average (it was adequate but definitely not exceptional).

My friends with 3.9-4.0 GPAs did substantially better than me. They landed interviews at nearly every shop they applied to, even though our resume's were nearly identical other than GPA. At the end of the day, there are probably over a hundred kids from my school applying to every IB job posting. Most banks won't interview more than 10-15 kids from a school, and how do you expect them to cut down from the 100 that apply to the 10 they want to interview? GPA is an easy way of doing that. There are probably a few they interview who are interesting in some way (connection, diversity, etc), and the rest they just fill with the kids with 4.0 GPAs. There are just so many candidates that are perfect, that having a good resume just doesn't cut it anymore. I actually talked to someone I'd networked with at a BB (MS/GS/JPM) after I got rejected and they told me my resume just didn't stand out, and when I pushed a little more they admitted my GPA played a role. I definitely think that if I had a 3.8 GPA I would have received a ton more interviews, and if I had a 4.0 I would have been interviewed by nearly every firm I applied to.

I think at semi-targets/non-targets this is even more pronounced. If a bank is going to interview 5 kids from a school like Tufts, they are obviously going to be able to find that many kids with near-perfect GPAs, and thus are going to be the ones getting interviews.

Another common sentiment on here is that kids with perfect grades usually are awkward and can't interview, and the kid with the 3.5 that has good social skills will get the job instead. However, my theory is that nowadays, the one who gets the job is the kid with a 3.95 GPA AND good social skills and technical knowledge, and a mediocre GPA just won't even get you an interview anymore. I totally agree that at a superday, GPA is meaningless, but this is a post about getting to the superday, which in my experience is far harder than going from a superday to a job offer.

My point is that the process has gotten so competitive that having a good GPA just isn't enough anymore, and it really takes a great GPA to stand out, and I made this post for the freshman on here to advise you to work your ass off in school and make that near-perfect GPA a goal. Do people still think that a 3.5+ GPA is all that matters? When did banking start to get higher 'unofficial' GPA cutoffs?