Do investment banks look at your transcript to check the types of courses you've taken? Would they take into consideration the difficulty of your courseload when they look at your GPA?
Currently, I have a 3.8 with an average courseload for my school (top target). Is it worth it to increase the difficulty of my courseload if my GPA might decline to a 3.5/3.6?
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No. Get the highest GPA you possibly can (i.e. take the bare minimum number of classes required for that Economics major, and take BS for the rest of the credits).
Seriously.
So, if you just want to goto a bank boost that GPA anyway you can. Always remember though, if you want to be in the top program you should be getting a 3.8 in a hard, not an average courseload.
Powermonkey said "Banks dont B-school does" care about the difficulty of your courseload
how accurate is this statement?
they dont know what classes are hard - unless u go dumpster diving into ur ed school or something - that might send up some red flags. keep the gpa high. and b school doesnt care that much what ur gpa is - google average undergrad gpa entering HBS - ull see what i mean.
Clarification: "Banks dont B-school does" look at your transcripts. As in, a bank isn't going as for a copy of your transcript and figure out what was hard and what wasn't.
However, banks will know how difficult the classes you took were, remember if you are at a target the people reading your resume and relevant course work are junior analysts that went to your school. So when you put down that bs finance class because you think it will look good, but everyone at your school knows its worthless, remember that.
Banks care about the relevance of your studies, your experience, your personality. If you read any of the other threads about this, banks like you to show an interest in finance through your coursework, ECs, and work experience. It lets them know you have put forth some effort.
As I said before, "If you want to be in the top program you should be getting a 3.8 in a hard, not an average courseload."
PS the average GPA into HBS is a 3.6 with good work experience and a 708 GMAT
The sad thing is, a lot of banks get so many resumes they have to pick a arbitrary GPA and just toss everything below so they have time to dig into at least a few of them.
One great way (usually) to boost your GPA is to study abroad. Classes usually aren't too difficult and I can't remember a single interview where it didn't come up in casual conversation. Of course it didn't hurt that it was Scotland and senior bankers are usually open to suggestions on new types of Scotch..
my point exactly, a 3.6 not a 3.8 (theres a huge difference), and the bank isnt going to comb thru ur transcript class by class. the b school mostly wants to see that ur work experience is awesome so give urself the best shot at getting that awesome work experience.
obviously dont dedicate a section of ur resume to bragging about the research proj u did a not-that-hard class; u will get called out on it.
the automatic assumption when u have that kind of gpa is that u will get an A or close to it in w/e class u attempt - at least that is what i found. a bad grade in a relevant class will burn you. u've got a good thing going; dont screw urself.
so will top business schools frequently reject people who have solid GPAs from target, great work experience, great ECs, 700+ GMAT... just because the courseload they took is not that rigorous or because they got a bad grade in a math/econ class?
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