shitty gpa - am i screwed
Let's say, hypothetically, there is a current 1st-year student at a non-target who thinks he will have a GPA of around 3.5 by the time sophomore spring rolls around when recruiting for junior summer IB SA start. Hypothetically, if the student has currently developed strong alum and recruiting networks/relationships at the banks they are interested in, would the low GPA matter too much?
Also, hypothetically, if the student does not get an IB SA role, would the 3.5 GPA reduce their chances of getting one of those F500 LDP roles if they network well in advance?
TLDR: student has a low GPA (~3.5) but is currently networking & will network strongly by the time SA recruiting comes around, are they screwed during recruitment or not? hypothetically of course
Feel free to ask any clarifying questions for this scenario as I can answer them - thanks.
The main problem is non-target imo, hinders networking significantly by default so no matter how much you try to overcompensate on that end your academic acumen will always be a shortcoming when shortlisting candidates for interviews.
I think it would benefit you to try and get a 4.0, take some lightweight classes and lay off parties/any other distractive commitments. If you’re a first year there’s hella room for you to make up that space with summer classes and stuff too.
This is the right answer. You have one more semester before soph spring - take EASY classes, maybe even 1 less class if you can commit yourself to spending the time as a study hall in the library sending networking emails. Do you have an internship this summer, any online or accelerated classes you can work in around that?
Unfortunately from a non-target you need a really strong profile - networking isn't enough on its own these days. You basically need to check every box as a non-target - internships, GPA, networking, "well-roundedness". 3.5 doesn't kill you but you should work hard on your finals this spring and do anything you can to bring it to 3.7 by recruiting.
F500 should be okay with a 3.5 but there's a lot of roles in between BB IB and F500, so I wouldn't just default to that. Those recruit junior fall / don't really have a huge networking push, so it'd be weird to network anytime before soph summer. Focus on other roles like MM IB, boutique PE, corp banking etc.
Thank you for your advice - I am doing a real estate lending internship at a bank in my hometown this summer and will be taking some easy courses to help boost my GPA. I'll definitely try to fit in as many easy courses as I can before Sophomore spring. After talking to my academic advisor, I think at most, I can get around a 3.6-3.7 if I grind enough.
Should I be networking for the non-IB roles around Sophomore summer to not be weird?
Just curious - hypothetically if this kid went to W, would that 3.5 get him into a BB? EB? PE?
Good luck on recruiting ben shapiro!
underated
Hypothetically…
there's no one who can give you a right or wrong answer. doing your best to get your gpa up and network is all you can really do. coming from non target it may be hard to get people to hop on networking calls, but try to find alumni or people also from non target schools who also went through recruiting, they are understanding and want to help
It's definitely gonna be an upward climb for you. Advice is to keep grinding your gpa till you graduate. Hopefully, it will be high enough and maybe work at a MM first and then you can lateral to a BB and potentially a EB.
I think while your first job is important, it's not as life-defining as something like college. Just keep working hard and don't take your foot off the gas.
It's an upward battle but it's not done. I came from a non-target with a 2.9 GPA (fucked up my freshman year and never recovered). I networked my ass off to a freshman internship at a tech company and a sophomore internship at a small search fund. I leveraged the hell out of my story and cold emailed almost every single bank possible - even got scoffed/laughed at by some analysts who took one glimpse at my resume and wrote me off. I think I had something like 15-20 first rounds, landed 4-5 super days, and got one offer. Now I'm at a UMM PE fund. All it takes is one my friend.
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