So I screwed up freshman year... what's a realistic outcome?
This is going to be another one of the many posts talking about how "I screwed my gpa freshman year" (just above a 2 at non-target).
Long story short, I have been a high achiever my whole life, but after high school I was "done". I had started my own business and loved the idea of being an entrepreneur. I got into a couple semi targets but decided on a middle of the road (non-target) school that I could pay for myself. Basically I went in with a mindset that I was dropping out after freshman year and be an entrepreneur but wanted to go for one year to make parents happy. Additonally, my unwise ways of thinking were given some confirmation bias after I started making real good money my senior-> freshman summer (seeing 10k in your account as a retarded 18 yr old really feeds your ego). First semester comes around, and I was running my own business, joined a fraternity, and didn't really care about my grades.
As time went on in my second semester, I started really enjoying my finance-adjacent classes and doing career research. I also really started to loathe my physically strenuous company and pulling 80hr weeks if you included school. I found out about IB and other high-finance and was hooked. Put a lot more effort into classes, started networking my ass off, technical prep, started a modeling/high finance club at school, landed a remote VC internship for the rest of the semester, and landed a corpfin/accounting internship for the summer. I am also now doing some deal sourcing work for a family friend's VC firm.
Unfortunately, I got too excited with the other activities that my grades weren't stellar, so I'm left with a terrible gpa. I know it was a stupid decision but can't change the past and/or make excuses. I am retaking the classes I got a D or below in next semester (my school let you do that and it fixes the grades), but it's likely too little too late for recruiting for my junior year internship.
I am interested in RX/Levfin, but I know that's out of the picture at this point. So that leads me to the question of what is a realistic outcome for me? I think BB credit or corp banking is a bit out of reach, but hey, what do I know? What would y'all do in this situation, any input would be awesome.
Thanks
Leave GPA off your resume. Make up for it through good networking and try to make meaningful connections. If you don't have success with oncycle recruiting, then try to land something at a regional boutique type firm. Build up your resume with internships or other experiences to make up for your GPA. When I lateraled into the bank I work for now, I didn't have my GPA on my resume, and I don't even think they asked for proof that I ever graduated college lol
Really? I've been told conflicting things about leaving the GPA off the resume, but I thought consensus was to leave it on. Something along the lines of better show and explain rather than hide it.
Maybe if it's like a 3.3 but if it's in the twos I would just leave it out personally
Sounds like you are doing way too much outside of school. You don't need 5,000 internships and clubs. 2-3 total internships on your resume by the time you are recruiting is MORE than enough. Starting clubs at school is a lot of work and isn't that impressive on the resume if you already have a finance internship or two.
I would also consider extending grad 1 semester (4.5 years) to give yourself another year before recruiting to bring your GPA up. Take summer classes (or online classes if your school will let you transfer other schools' classes in). If your school lets you replace the bad grades, I would imagine this would bring your GPA up quite a bit, might be worth delaying grad for
GPA doesn't matter once you have that first job, but it's a real uphill battle trying to break in with a low GPA. IMO worth the extra semester
Heard loud and clear, will get on that.
made it to the superdays of multiple rx groups with a 3.2. dont be a wuss
I will have lower than a 3.2 by the time recruiting starts. It's not about being a wuss at this point, I just look like I'm stupid and won't get an interview.
dm me
This is going to probably be a controversial take, but I had a very similar problem and decided to list a pro forma adjusted GPA on my resume for recruiting. Instead of putting my GPA on my resume, I put my "Business GPA" (not something technically real in that it was officially reported) and essentially just took the business/accounting courses I did well in sophomore year and averaged those. Obviously there is some risk in doing that, but if you feel that you can actually make some sort of good (enough) argument for delineating like that, it might work for you like it did for me. My argument was I went in as an engineering major and bombed a bunch of higher level calc courses so they shouldn't care abt that and my accounting/business courses were a better representation of what they were looking for anyways. And most importantly I was not lying - this was clearly labeled as business GPA on my resume. I also used this for online apps to get past the typical 3.4/3.5 GPA filter bc I submitted my resume along with these apps that clarified it. I was asked about this at times in interviews in which case I'd answer honestly, and I can't read minds but I think more often than not it played. If it ever put anyone off they never outright said so, I was never accused of lying, and the most they did was ask what my actual full GPA was as well. I made it at a bulge bracket and immediately took my GPA off my resume - doesn't matter once you take the first step.
I'm sure this will get some negative replies, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Just don't lie and have some decent rationale for what you're doing and there shouldn't be significant blowback - maybe your school's career center tells you to knock it off if they find out (in which case stopping is probably prudent).
Do what you gotta do and congrats on BB, but as you note, doing a "pro-forma" GPA that is not actually reported runs you a very high risk of being rescinded...
Sounds like you got lucky and your bank never checked your transcript. I would strongly recommend against doing this
So they actually did check my transcript, but not for the internship just for FT. Apparently whoever was doing the background check mentioned to my reference (who was a very good friend of mine) that they couldn't find my Business GPA on my transcript and whether he knew anything about that. He gave me the heads up and I drafted an explanatory email with exactly which classes were included in the calculation and why, and most importantly noting that I had been upfront about this during the interview process. I had full faith that the MD who had interviewed me in the first rounds for the internship would back me up on that bc he sorta decided I was his guy during the R1 interview and he was going to get me through the process. End of the day they never ended up asking about it - I assume bc I had crushed the internship and at that point they didn't care, I had proven I had the addy crushing capabilities they were looking for.
So some luck involved for sure, but tbh I was never THAT concerned because I had built a fact pattern of not actually lying about it. Maybe a bit over confident but it really was just a ploy to get in the room. Once you're in the room its more or less irrelevant, even if they wouldn't have let you in the room if they fully understood prior.
I've seen some posts about this, now that you mentioned it. Would something like "Post-Freshman GPA" or similar work?
If I saw someone list a Pro Forma GPA and footnotes their definition that’s an instant first round from me that’s hilarious. Arguably shows they will do the job better too than someone with a good gpa haha.
Ive also seen “Major GPA” where just included the business school only classes. If your interviewer is a douche they may not like it but in my mind worth the chance and what else are you gonna do. Can simply list both a cumulative and major-only GPA too.
I'm actually doing the same thing for summer 2025 internships. Having the same problem as OP, and listing a "Major GPA" on my resumé. Only con is when they ask if your GPA is above 3.3-3.5 or they ask for my cumulative GPA in an application. Then I know it's an instant rejection. Mind if I DM with a few questions?
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