Low GPA with internship at Goldman Sachs

StryfeDSP:

Dubyah became President with a 2.0 GPA. After learning that I'm convinced anything is possible regardless of GPA as long as you can network/have connections.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ARUz21X1JDk?rel=0

To address OP's prompt - it can happen, but it's a function of: (i) the strength of the rest of your profile? (it should be bulletproof), and (ii) internal support (i.e. contacts and/or networking).

So let's call a target school GPA of X the "baseline" in terms of getting an interview, meaning it is the lowest level where GPA won't be a disqualifying "problem." This would require you to also have great experience on your resume, but again GPA X is our variable for the lowest level which could reasonably get you into an interview, from a target school, without someone pulling or you.

The reality for Goldman is X is probably around a 3.5 for non-engineers (Goldman considers them differently), and for each marginal tenth of a point lower, you're going to want proportionately stronger support. If you've got a 3.4, hitting it off with an employee or two during a job far and staying in touch over a few months might be enough to push you into the realm of possibility. If you've got a 3.3, maybe you're looking at a more involved/intensive alumni networking effort, starting many months, or even a year+ in advance. Below that is where you start to need some more extraordinary help.. this might be the realm where a relative or a family friend is necessary.. this is followed by family member at Goldman (in which case you wouldn't be asking). Relative or family member who is a Goldman client is another level, with some overlap to the above.

Please note that none of this is hard-and-true or definitive, and I could be completely off mark with the GPA levels. But I do stand behind the gradient of the relative efficacy of various forms of networking/internal support.

Of course, the trump card is and will always be father-is-a-sell-side-client-CEO. That's how the 2.7s of the world find their way into banking.