Who would get hired first?

Let's say you go to a good target school, and GS, JPM, MS or any bank is recruiting students.

There are 2 candidates in the running for the final spot at a summer internship. Student 1 is a math/physics double major with a 3.2-3.3 GPA. Student 2 is an English major and has 3.7-3.8 GPA.

Both of these candidates are virtually identical in leadership quality, prior work experience, and gave similar-quality interviews.

Who would get hired?

25 Comments
 
ricottacheese
JustADudethe English major, because unless the math/physics guy networked his ass off he would not have gotten an interview in the first place
agree. of course networking can change anything but 3.2-3.3 is hard to justify anywhere.
I strongly disagree. The math/physics program at my target school curves most of its classes to a 3.0 while our business school curves its classes to a 3.6 thereby making a 3.2-3.3 in math/physics just as good as a 3.7-3.8 in business/finance based on the different grading scales alone. And that's not even including the difference in difficulty between the subjects.
 
Best Response
mario234
ricottacheese
JustADudethe English major, because unless the math/physics guy networked his ass off he would not have gotten an interview in the first place
agree. of course networking can change anything but 3.2-3.3 is hard to justify anywhere.
I strongly disagree. The math/physics program at my target school curves most of its classes to a 3.0 while our business school curves its classes to a 3.6 thereby making a 3.2-3.3 in math/physics just as good as a 3.7-3.8 in business/finance based on the different grading scales alone. And that's not even including the difference in difficulty between the subjects.

For the most part, HR / bankers don't care. 3.2-3.3 is low for anyone if you're looking at BB IBD. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of exceptions but it's difficult. I'm not saying that the current system makes sense or is justifiable given your rationale (which I agree with) but those looking to recruit college students draw the line somewhere.

 
saints2009Let's say you go to a good target school, and GS, JPM, MS or any bank is recruiting students. There are 2 candidates in the running for the final spot at a summer internship. Student 1 is a math/physics double major with a 3.2-3.3 GPA. Student 2 is an English major and has 3.7-3.8 GPA.

Both of these candidates are virtually identical in leadership quality, prior work experience, and gave similar-quality interviews.

Who would get hired?

Hard to tell, the 3.2 kid might have not gotten an interview through OCR and would have to be "networked" giving him an inherent advantage. Also you can't just group all of the BB's together like that, they all have different cultures and GS might be more prone to giving the math kid a shot while JPM would prefer the english kid. Overall for IB, I would say the english kid has a much better shot at getting an offer vs the math kid, but the math kid would have a great chance of being either smarter or more exposed to finance which could help him.

FWIW, if your picking a major I would go with english as the kids who ultimately succeed in STEM are rarely the kids doing it for the "prestige" or doing it for the purpose of breaking into finance.

 
SanityCheckTrust me it's going to be the person that interviews better once you both get the first round.

But for getting that first round, I'm more inclined to pick the person with the higher GPA.

agreed. once you get the interview it all comes down to fit.

 

I don't get it. Why are 3.5s for finance majors acceptable, yet 3.3s for math/physics majors are a no-go?

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 

the BB IBD hiring process reminds me of law school acceptance processes. why so obsessed with numbers even though the reasoning is clearly flawed?

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 

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If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.

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