Hey yall, I'm currently freaking out getting ready to go through on cycle recruiting. I come from a semi-target, majoring in chemistry ( premed) but ended up getting a 3.4 gpa. During college i was heavily involved in EC's ( d1 athlete and founder of an org) and my grades ended up slipping. I have a 33 ACT as well if that helps. I'm wondering how much this gpa will hold me back.
| +186 | Ideal College/Recruiting Timeline | 38 | 2d | |
| +116 | Military Officer vs. IB analyst | 42 | 2h | |
| +75 | Lied on CV? | 56 | 19h | |
| Got fired after 1.5 years as an Analyst, want to stay in Banking but I am confused | 10 | 1d | ||
| +26 | Amazing offer but I’m drowning in debt | 13 | 2d | |
| +25 | Is there a point to networking if you have (nepo)? | 7 | 1d | |
| +23 | Are Single Managers Just Not Hiring? | 10 | 4d | |
| +23 | How do I go about explaining huge gaps in a CV for Spring & Summers? | 11 | 1d | |
| +21 | Job Switch Advice | 6 | 9h | |
| +21 | IB > PE, except burned out. What now? | 8 | 1h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
It will hold you back by quite a lot. You will be competing with 3.9s that also have 1500+ 33+ standardized test scores.
Why tf am I getting MS 💀💀💀
Interned at a MM this past summer and our class average GPA was a 3.9 out of 50ish people No Cap
The ones with the 3.5-3.7s were all D1 athletes and lowest GPA I saw was a 3.5. (Firm provided resume book for entire class)
Why not provide an insightful comment instead of throwing MS? Idiots.
I actually agree with you. A 3.4 is not helpful to recruiting efforts at all and you’re right that most of the competition is rocking a better school and a better GPA.
With a 3.4, you’ve gotta navigate some pretty tight networking and be on top of getting in front of literally everyone from day 1 - there’s no room for interview behavioral / technical mistakes with that. Speaking as someone who recruited with a low GPA so I recognize
Candidly, I didn't see one semi-target <3.5 resume in the entire associate class at my firm.
As in they were filtered out by the hh? Would they not take the other things i did in college into account?
I'm not sure at what point they were filtered out, but none made the final cut.
Regarding the other things you did during college -- many candidates were athletes, led orgs, AND have high GPAs.
damn that sucks like i knew it would be rough but didn't think it would be this hard
On-cycle will be difficult because HHs screen you and it's a numbers game for them - stats are everything. I would recommend not pursuing on-cycle and going off-cycle instead. Not sure if you're aware but you only have 1 shot per firm - doesn't matter if on- or off-cycle. Wouldn't worry too much - most good firms hold on to more off-cycle spots now because they all recognize the on-cycle process is a crap-shoot hiring way too far out and with way too light of a DD process
In off-cycle your GPA will matter much less - your salesmanship, work experience and overall well-roundedness (your ECs) will shine through because the initial HH cut-off is much less severe, instead allowing actual employees at the firm to be a first "real" screen. Downside it's a much longer process and tons of well-qualified (but maybe slightly off-brand) applicants competing for a very few number of spots
I asked this to another monkey, but is it possible to go through both on and off cycle?
Won’t be impossible but won’t do you any favors.
Like everyone said, HHs screen thousands of resumes very quickly. There’s enough qualified kids (especially during the chaos of on cycle) that they could fill every MF/UMM many times over with a BB/EB/top MM candidate with a 3.8+ from a target.
There’s ways to get through this (networking, impressing HHs during meetings, some other hook) but I wouldn’t bank on getting a KKR interview during the first wave of on cycle purely because headhunters suck and are super shallow in their screening.
IMO if you get in front of a fund no one cares, but the challenge is getting in front of a fund.
Agree with the recommendation to think about off cycle or be open to MM funds. Especially after the chaos of on cycle slows down and the HHs stop trying to find the GS kid with a 3.9 from Princeton, they get much more open and it’ll be easier to impress them during an intro call and make the case why they should put you in front of a fund
I gueds my next question would be, is it possible to go through both. As in try for on cycle, and if that doesn’t work do off cycle?
For more context, I’m at mbb and would be targeting more consultant heavy firms.
no because there will be a record if you interviewing and not getting through
1 bullet and that's it
Rerum placeat aut earum quod et mollitia itaque consequuntur. Quia ut recusandae nihil quod qui et. Alias qui ab magni et velit vel.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...