Career Position

Eh i'd say your pretty much behind the 8_ball if your cold applying. If your a D1 athlete or have some other stellar extracurriculars, internships, and or references you should be able to get some call backs. But why RE banking? it's shrinking and the hours are terrible.

Don't know what the guy means when he says hours are terrible and RE banking is shrinking. Maybe hours are terrible in CMBS.

What type of bank and location are you looking to land with? ie Goldman, or a regional bank, etc?

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Networking can go a long way in this industry. Focus hard on getting some sort of relevant internship, even if not in REIB. During your internship continue networking like your job depends on it. Something will come along, as it’s not like you have a 1.8 GPA. It may be unlikely you’ll get that top tier offer straight out of school but once you have a year or two of experience under your belt, nobody will care about your GPA.

Although not banks, when I was graduating I interviewed at a number of investment shops and REPE shops and only one of them asked me what my GPA was. (thank god because it was very low). My GPA never held me back and now I have a great gig in REPE with easy hours and above market pay.

You will probably run into the GPA question more often if you are just applying to job ads on linkedin because you have to go through HR most of the time.

The world needs ditch diggers.

Keep your GPA at or above where you are now, and start reaching out to people in the industry via email, linkedin msg, phone, etc. for coffee or lunch. Pick up the tab and be prepared to have a discussion about what they do and how they got to where they are.

If you're ambitious and can hold a conversation, someone will vouch for you. Being referred is 1000 times easier than going through the HR system, especially if you don't feel you're as competitive on paper.

I switched careers twice before landing in CRE lending and that's how i did it, with a similar GPA from a non-target. Just be persistent and keep your head up, you'll be fine.

I know a lot of alumni from there work at JP Morgan Chase Columbus. Have you tried there?