Book Smarts Overrated In IB

So I just finished my summer internship at a solid MM bank (think HL/WB/HW). I'm from a decent semi-target background (think SMU/BYU/Kelley). I had a few small PE shop internships before the summer but nothing crazy. One thing I was really insecure about during recruiting and even before I started the internship was just not being the smartest guy or having the best qualifications. I had a 27 ACT (didn't put on my resume) and a 3.5 GPA (put on my resume). I definitely got cut from a few EB and BB processes because of my resume but whatever, MM is fine.

Anyways, I got a RETURN OFFER. And there were two kids who didn't. Both were 34 ACT and 3.9 GPA target school kids. Both cocky fucks who thought they knew everything, were a little weird to the full-times, but did hella good work. Always finished fast, knew their technicals, and were hella smart. BUT at the end of the day my bank chose me over them because I was normal, nice, and of course sucked a little bit of corporate cock (figuratively) every once in a while to make sure people liked me. Yes, IBs want smart kids, but at the end of the day you have to be likeable. I was always insecure about average intelligence and my low GPA but at the end of the day, the team liked me.

Not tooting my own horn here. I am nothing special but I came in an grinded, was a good teammate, and was likeable. This will 99% of the time beat the kids who are smart but ass holes. Hopefully this will be encouraging to some of the kids out there who are average (like me) and don't come from super target backgrounds.