resume drop min gpa question

an MM bank is recruiting at my target and it says "prefers 3.5 gpa" in the description, and "minimum: 3.5 gpa" in the requirements in the sidebar.

mine is in 3.0-3.2 range and i tend to strategically leave it on/off my resume depending on who i send it to and for what purpose

at this bank, neither the university career application asks for a transcript, and neither does the mandatory web application.

also, i have been speaking with the HR contact since last year, and I have two MDs who said they will mention my name to her

should i discuss the min gpa situation with the HR contact since I am on good terms with her? or should i just leave it off my resume and hope my work experience (MM IB lots of deal experience, plus other solid previous experience with modeling) and networking will get my foot in the door?

any help is appreciated. thanks guys.

8 Comments
 

If you leave off your GPA and they interview you then they think you are good enough. Why would they interview you and all of a sudden find out your GPA and turn you down because of that? Seems like a waste of time on their part when they could have dinged you in the first place.

BTW just curious but what sort of success have you had with leaving your GPA off? Have a major or concentration GPA on instead?

 

i'm talking about getting the interview, not the offer.

ive had one preliminary interview with an NYC boutique and i left gpa off for that... the first question i got was "what are your grades?"

im just leaving it off for informational interviews/networking so that people will give me a chance. and my major gpa isnt much better

 
Best Response

Regardless of your decision, you need to make sure that you are completely comfortable with discussing your classes, grades, and answering any "why" or "what happened" type of questions. If you are comfortable with it and ready to give solid quick answers (to keep the convo going), they are much more likely to be comfortable as well. If you are nervous, depressed and tongue twisted about it or dwell on it, you will definitely hurt your chances. Althogh I rarely recommend this, in your case, I would recommend leaving your GPA off your resume. If you were just dropping your resume, I would say that it doesn't matter since they will check for GPA, and if they don't see it, or see one lower than their cutoff, DING. In your case, however, you have been in contact with these people for a while, have a few solid connections, and can garner some suppport (from the way you've described it). As a result, I would leave the GPA off and hope that you've got enough backing and a good enough resume (which you should have a decent one, otherwise you probably wouldn't have much support) to get the first round. Once the first round comes, if they care about GPA, they will ask, and just be ready for it. If they don't ask, they don't care. Good luck.

IBanker www.BankonBanking.com [email protected] Articles, News, Advice and More Break Into Investment Banking

 

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