How much will my GPA hold me back?
Hey all,
I was just wondering how important you GPA is for private equity. I’ll be finishing my undergrad with a 3.4 which I know is low, but I also majored in engineering while playing D1 football. I will be at the MBB in the fall. Please give all advice!
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Yeah that’s very unfortunate but I kind if figured. Would staying an extra year at my firm help? I knew GPA was important, but this is kind of shocking.
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What about a 3.6 from a T25 school but a top banking group (GS TMT)?
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If you are at a good school and network well it won’t matter for most of the UMM funds. 3.6 / 3.7 is the cut off for cum laude at most schools, and only like 50 / 60% of associates in PE have these credentials. Just keep working hard, GPA matter significantly less if you demonstrate a strong work product and have word of mouth recommendations.
You will be fine if you've got a good story and work hard. I graduated with a 3.3 rounded and now work at a MM fund staked by top brass from multiple MFs and F500s, led by a former sector head from one of the top MFs. I do not have a prestigious background (blue collar and public service) and just came from a reasonably notable semi-target. Didn't even have the typical IB or consulting start. Nothing's impossible if you can do the work and will grind out a recruiting process.
I wouldn't rule yourself out anywhere, think you have a good shot given the D1 football story and some firms really value the athlete thing. If you have good test scores, that also helps and if not then consider if it's worth it to you (it really might not be) to try and get a good GMAT to check the "I'm smart" box with added benefit of giving you optionality if you decide to go do b school.
Ding
Im totally kidding. 3.4 in engineering in very impressive IMO. I got a 3.65 in finance/business lmao.
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What're your test scores? For better or worse, funds see GPA as a proxy for intelligence/horsepower. When reviewing a resume, my back-up is to check test scores if GPA is weaker to ideally assuage concerns.
My ACT is 33. Is that still too low?
No, you're fine. I would've said >31/32 is fine and 33+ would fully eliminate concerns.
Assuming this is MBB based on NYC which is very coveted you will probably be fine from a recruiting perspective. That being said you probably won't be targeting a number of funds generally speaking because you are not coming from IB background and at a lot of MBBs candidly there will be a lot of top target 3.8+ GPA candidates. This is not to be negative by any means because you have an impressive background + engineering along with sports can be difficult. This is just to say that you should definitely try to sell yourself in any interview you get, because I think you should be able to get your foot in the door at consultant friendly firms.
My MBB isn’t in NYC but it is within the top three biggest offices, and it has a very large private equity practice. I’m really only aiming for consultant friendly shops and that’s it.
Got it - I would definitely try to do as much PE cases as possible in that case, I know that was some of my friends limiting factors from recruiting from MBB this past cycle. If you are interested in recruiting in NYC, I would suggest trying to internally transfer to NYC if possible, but if you are okay working in the city that you are in that works too (not to say you can't recruit NYC, it just might play in as a factor; and for Boston and SF based firms it probably doesn't matter much). Best of luck!
Did your friends ever shed any light on what headhunters found important and what they did not.
FWIW, I think it is super impressive to get an engineering degree combined with the highest level of intercollegiate athletics such as D1 football. I would say that 3.4 GPA in these circumstances is totally acceptable.
If I were you, I would try to think hard about how to position yourself and create a strong personal brand on your resume to make you a standout candidate for future jobs. You already have all the ingredients! Position yourself as an elite-level athlete: list important competitions and other athletic accomplishments. List the grades for individual courses where your grades were high.
Still worried? Do you think you need additional branding as a bit of insurance for the future? There is plenty you can do.
May be list your standardized test scores alongside your GPA. As others have suggested - may be prepare for GMAT, ace it and add the (hopefully high) score to your resume. Once you start your job, see if you might be able to carve out any time to get a CFA (at least one of the levels). While you are still in college, may be write a short article in your field of engineering and publish it in the industry journal or trade magazine (even a regional one that nobody cares about). You can team up with a friend to do this - may be you can repurpose a colleage paper you already wrote or an engineering project you already completed? Can you consult a start-up that has an engineering product where you can offer expertise?
Finally, remember that you are very fortunate to be in a minority of general population with a truly remarkable athletic ability. Is there a way to play this card more than once, outside of D1 football? Can you run a marathon and put it on your resume? Open water swimming race? Some sort of edurance competition? People in finance generally are impressed with these kinds of accomplishments.
I am personally not worried for you at all, as I think that you are a remarkable young person who just needs clever marketing and positioning. Good luck to you!
Sorry, cut off for any private equity role is 3.5, so you just missed it my man.
Get ready to justify it. I had a 3.5 in IB and was asked by a few top firms to justify my lower GPA, but once I did it wasn’t an issue at all (and most firms / all headhunters didn’t ask about it at all). A few friends had lower GPAs and had the same experience. As long as you have a way to explain it away it shouldn’t be too bad.
Good luck!
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