Desperate w/ internship search
Hi everyone,
I am a junior at UCLA business econ with a 3.9 GPA. However, I'm a bit of a non traditional student.
I came to the US about 4 years ago from Germany, went to a community college :( got all A's there and then last fall transfered to UCLA. So now, I guess because of my CC background, I'm getting rejected for all on-campus interviews. So far I got rejected by Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche, UBS, Bank of America, Houlihan Lokey etc.
So I'm wondering what to do, this will probably continue the same way, right? The next on-campus interviews I'll apply to are Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Goldman, and I'm sure they'll reject me as well. At that point I feel like I won't get any interviews at all, even though I have a near perfect GPA...
Any help, comments will be greatly appreciated, thanks
Max
Here's an idea: don't talk about/mention your community college background, and list only your grades at UCLA! Why would you even go there if you dont have to?
I was thinking about that, however, most firms also require unofficial transcripts, and wouldn't it look weird if I only listed UCLA and the 4 courses I've taken so far?
No, it would not look weird at all. In fact, you are at a competitive advantage in that you have a 3.9 in your only semester. DO NOT MENTION CC, that is all.
No, because if you listed just your high gpa at UCLA without any of the community college stuff you would surely get some interviews.
UCLA is a good school and a 3.9 is near perfection.
If they ask for an official transcript tell them the story of your CC background at that time, only if they bring it up.
Ok, I think you guys are right, the only way for me to get interviews is to not mention the CC. But I do know that if they request transcripts at the time of application, I can't even submit the appl. without sending a transcript. In that case I should just send the UCLA one? They will be confused as to what happened to my first 2 years.
When they ask for transcripts, which they rarely do, send both transcripts to avoid problems. But yes, It sucks that you didn't ask this question before sending your resume.
Oh yeah, it really sucks :( Too late now, I just didn't wanna believe that my high CC GPA would not matter at all for internship applications.
The bottom line is forget your CC gpa ever existed. Only list your 3.9 at UCLA and you WILL get some interviews.
If they ask for trasncripts , which rarely happens, just tell them that look I went to Community College did well and did even better at a great school like UCLA. They like to here success stories.
I'm betting on something being wrong with your resume rather than a 3.9 at UCLA and a 4.0 at CC.
Yeah something is wrong if you can't get an interview with a 3.9 gpa from a great undergrad school like UCLA. If you did poorly at CC it may be what is keeping you out, but with a near 4.0 at CC and continued stellar performance at UCLA....something else is wrong.
Well, someone who goes through all the resumes here on the board said that when they see CC on the resume, it automatically goes to the "reject" pile.
Other than that, I don't have a lot of significant leadership skills, but I do have good work experience and the high GPA, which I thought would be enough to get at least an interview.
the people who will be screening your resume, interviewing you, and deciding whether you get a job or not are different from the monkeys who will process your transcript in the HR dept.
only mention UCLA on your resume. when some guy in HR sees the community college stuff and he sees that your GPA/what you wrote on your resume checks out, he won't give 2 hoots about the fact you started at a community college. shit he probably did too.
Maxx- Are you an EU national? US citizen? What is your Visa/work status in the states?
Language fluency? Are you only applying in the states? Have you applied London, Frankfurt, Geneva? Thought about Asian-Pacific area?
Was it finance related work experience?
There are so many ways you can sell yourself, if packaged correctly. Have you had the careeer center review your cover letter/resume? What is their feedback?
I share almost the same background(I transferred from one country to where I am now) with you and am seeking an internship opportunity.
I guess the best way is not to put that on the resume. If they require for any proof, just explain to them that you were the top of the top in your previous school and that's why you got transferred and what not.
I've taken the CC background off the resume. Hope this helps.
@john99: I'm a German citizen with a Greencard here in the US. The European deadlines have passed for many internships, but I'll try and apply to the ones that are still open. Also, my work experience was not finance related, so that might be another issue. The career center guy liked my resume actually, but I guess he didn't know about the CC problem
@Collenice: are you also having issues getting interviews? What school are you attending?
Hi, Max. I am in UK now, not in the States.
Here there are still lots of internships ongoing. If you like, you can try Europe as well. I didn't applly many and am waiting for the reply.
Best of luck, man.
Maxx,
I'm going to disagree with the consensus here. I don't think the community college is blowing you up. Most of us don't care that you went to a community college and transferred. In fact, many of us view it as a plus - you demonstrated that you are hungry and motivated and you clawed your way up while most of your classmates were hanging around the quad playing ultimate frisbee.
The short period at UCLA is a bit troublesome - your grades there, while good, represent a small sample size and may or may not be an accurate reflection of your abilities. Remember that UCLA for the most part is not a core target school, and a large school at that.
As another poster said, I suspect the issue is with the presentation of your resume. Lastly, I'd point out that by leaving it off, you're being a bit disengenuous. We're going to find out sooner or later, and when we do it will hurt you because you will appear to be less than forthcoming. We pull analyst offers all the time when they aren't upfront about things we might have forgiven had they just told us straight up.
Thanks a lot for your input GhengisKhan, it makes sense what you're saying. I'm just a bit clueless as to why I got all the rejections.
btw: I just private messaged you
Quis omnis omnis nulla reprehenderit qui nisi. Doloribus ut enim vel molestiae inventore voluptatem.
Atque et ut eos debitis cupiditate. Vel non aliquid molestias amet cupiditate. Temporibus dolorum animi officiis totam repudiandae.
Perferendis magnam est rerum sequi distinctio in nisi. Et veritatis repudiandae molestias voluptas. Unde deserunt minima quis. Quasi sunt et dolores in. Voluptatum architecto voluptatum provident architecto et est minus. Aut corrupti et sed et et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...