Taking GMAT to help with PE recruiting
I am going to graduate with a 3.4-3.5 GPA. After IB I want to move to PE. Would crushing the GMAT help me with headhunters and interviews? I think I have some time to study for it. THX
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Also planning on taking the GMAT (current senior). I'm more inclined to take it simply because I know I have more time now than I'll have during the 3-4 postgrad years during which I'll be working.
I think it'll also help with PE recruiting. Not sure to what degree, but it should do something
From a European perspective: I think that a crazy GMAT score will not really move the needle when recruiting for PE. As a recruiter I would focus on relevant experience, rather than the score of a test for which you can prepare as well as you want. I am also taking it currently and do not see direct transferability of the content to real-world problems.
A good alternative would be the CFA. Taking it confirms your interest in finance and it is allegedly harder than the GMAT.
Taking the CFA for PE?!?!?! That's crazy, man
Neither of the tests will be a golden ticket to break in, but if I would have to choose one I would go for CFA. Learning about equity valuation, financial reporting, stakeholder management, supply & demand etc. seems more applicable to me than learning how to calculate the area of a triangle.
Only reason to take GMAT would be if you feel that you might want to ultimately go to B School (and you have free time now). Any benefit you might receive from crushing it (such as high quant score) would be nominal at best.
Also my experience (as a junior level): GMAT signals the plan for B school, and people keeps asking me “MBA? Are you gonna change career in the future?” Food for thought.
In a similar boat and would love to know if a good GMAT might help with PE recruiting given a 3.4-3.5 undergrad GPA.
How would a good GMAT prove to a PE shop you would make a good investor? I'm sorry but GMAT should be taken if you wanna go to business school get deal experience to get into PE.
Well they're gunna be looking at my GPA so why not give them a good GMAT...
Yes, it will help if your other standardized test scores (e.g. the SAT) aren't as high or your GPA looks like it will come in below a 3.5.
Unless things have changed in the past few years, my experience is PE firms care A LOT about credentials, particularly credentials that signal "I'm smart". I was asked for my SAT scores by most PE firms when I was recruiting, for example.
Yeah... I have a pretty average SAT of 1500 out of 2100 or whatever it is. You think I can crush a GMAT and bring that up whenever they ask about SAT? I feel like I'm fucked for recruiting if my GPA is gunna be 3.5 at a semi-target and I'm going to have a poor SAT...
The SAT is out of 2400 (3x8). The GMAT is much more difficult than the SAT and from what I've seen there are people who generally crush standardized tests (with comparatively little effort) and those who don't (despite months of studying). If you didn't score >2,000 on the SAT, you may find breaking 700 on the GMAT to be quite tough and an immense time and money pit. I would worry more about breaking into IB and doing well there, which is entirely unrelated to your ability to perform in standardized testing
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