Bad GPA and 6 years of undergrad
Hi all, long time user but posting on an anonymous account for privacy reasons.
Long story short, I have never been a great student. I have worked hard to get some solid work experience as an intern, and have worked at two different investment banks for 5 months each, a LMM private equity fund for 6, and they all offered me the opportunity to stay on as an intern beyond that (small shops, no FT analyst positions available - for whatever it's worth, they did say if a spot opened up they would reach out down the line). I have great letters of recommendation and references. However, I am facing a bit of a hurdle and I don't know how to explain it.
In short, I went to three different universities and it has taken me 6 years to graduate. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety 8 months ago, but have never mentioned it to any prior employee. It is never noticeable at work, as I keep my personal issues to myself, and no one has ever expected it. In fact, I've gotten great reviews everywhere I worked, not because I am the smartest (I am far from it), but because I am a decent grinder. I never had problems getting internships because I was never asked for my transcripts (I never worked at an EB/BB, and even the MM IB I worked at didn't request it). On average, I have a 3.2 from each school. My question to you, is how do I explain my lengthy undergrad experience? I have a good resume from an experience standpoint, a 3.4 GPA at my current university, but I don't know how to proceed. Do I bring up my entire past in interviews, or wait for it to come out when companies request transcripts? I have been dinged before automatically when I mentioned that I transferred twice, and it pretty much ended the interview on the spot (the only time out of 10 IB interviews I didn't make it past the first round).
The reasons I transferred are as follows, I started at a great STEM school, but STEM wasn't for me, and I transferred to a semi target and took the prerequisite finance courses. I did well (had a 3.75) but botched one class and failed to gain entry into the B school. Now, I realize how absurd that sounds, but at this particular university it is how they weed out a lot of students, and I know countless others this has happened to. I tried everything I could think of to gain entry, but nothing worked. Devastated, I transferred again to pursue a finance degree from a non-target and have been doing fine, I have one quarter left. Everyone told me when I went from a semi to a non target I had no chance of getting into IB, but oddly enough all of my experience has been gained without a single connection in the industry (just hustling and cold calling 100s of different firms) and doing whatever it takes to get the position.
bump
nobody will care about how long your university education took (in my experience, they never ask...and i also took 6 years to graduate.....kept changing majors)...they only care about the year you graduated, and your GPA.
Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. In other words, just keep hustling, be honest about it when needed, but don't necessarily feel a need to explain it?
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