Doubts about the competition at a Business School
Hi everybody and thank you for reading this post. I got accepted to a Master in Finance in one of the main universities in Europe (the italian one) but I am still doubtful about going or not going.. I don't have enough money to finance everything and I will have to get a loan in a bank (I would say around 15k euros or more..)
I read everywhere on the forum that you have to get a good GPA in your business school, as it will directly impact your possibilities of getting interviews (> 3.5 for IB for example).
My first question is : do grades and gpa depend on the ranking of a student inside the classroom ? I mean : will a student who got an A in a classroom of many A+ will have the same gpa as the student who got an A in a classroom of many B grades ? Some ex-student brought me doubts saying that the competition is extremely high for this master with the very best students of Italy taking it. And I have to admit that if the gpa depends on the ranking in the class, it seriously brings doubts concerning my decision to go. Without an excellent gpa I won't be able to pursue my goals and I will be very indebted (i have today a job opportunity which is not the job of my dreams but very decent).
My second question is : Do a bad gpa destroy your chances to get employed to a "good job" in finance ? I mean in a well known bank/Asset Management firm etc.
Thank you in advance for your answer
Hey there, so it seems you're talking about two different topics simultaneously. One is grade inflation. The other is relative performance. Grade inflation is fairly common at many of the top programs and a lot of programs curve to a B+ / A-. That can mean even mediocre students "look" like they're doing well. On the other hand, relative performance is important. If you're the top X% of your class, that can be a pretty useful stat. While most companies do have GPA cut offs, they sometimes adjust those based on the school most likely if they're recruiting on campus. If it's off campus, it's anyone's guess. Which is when you really call attention to relative rankings (e.g. I have a 3.4 but that's top 5% or something like that). Finance is a notoriously stat heavy profession so yes, understanding both the size of the pond and your size as a fish are important! But don't psych yourself out before you even start either - we've got faith in you!
Bhavik
Hi Bhavik and thank you for your answer and your support.
So if I understood well, the grades received by other students have no influence on your grades and therefore your gpa. So the schools have an interest in making the grades higher to place students into better jobs and improve their network (and the consequence is grade inflation).
On the other side the relative ranking shows directly your performance among the other students. And is therefore an important added value to an application.
The questions that comes to my mind is then : are there average GPAs according to schools ? I mean : maybe the average gpa at LSE is 3.5 while the average in Oxford is 3.8... etc. This would show the difficulty in getting a good gpa in a particular school.
Not familiar with Europe, but if it's the same as the US then you are reading it wrong. Other student's performance DOES affect your grade; its what creates the median. Grade inflation means that the median student will get a B+ or an A-; but the performance of your peers determines whether or not you get above or below the median.
In a class of competitive students, the median numerical grade could be a a 95. So if you get 95% correct in all your assignments, you could get a B+. A class of slackers could have a median numerical grade of 85, so if you get 85% correct you get a B+. Its common for some classes to have a B+ median, and others (electives typically) to have an A- median.
Either way you slice it, if you are a median/average student, you will leave with something close to a 3.5 GPA.
At Kellogg, it's 35-40% A's, 50% B's, 10% C's generaly. Average is probably around 3.4-3.5. Everything is bell curve.
thank you so much guys, yes now it's clear. I didn't even know what grade inflation was.. I feel stupid :s i'll try to improve my knowledge with this forum.
John-Doe8, I thought that having a 3.5 gpa would mean to be in the top of the class (first quarter for example) but if it corresponds to an average student, it is less scary ;)
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