Do you think "Extra-Curricular Activities" is Important in Hiring?

Really? So I can post youtube videos and make it seem like I am special?

How do you land internship when you're just 16? Like what did you do? where did you apply?

not much of an opinion, kind of obvious

Nice. I see that you use linked in. is it useful?

What the fuck is wrong with you people? How the fuck does GS get mentioned in literally every fucking thread?

thanks.

Divine

• time as in free time, outside of work

do something different unique and not so cookie cutter tthat will set u apart from everyone else seeking to do the same.

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/volunteering-useful-to-get-in

Argonaut -- See the above thread from a week or two ago.

Comp banker, thanks. Do you know more about your friend's story? (and are you comfortable sharing)

I volunteer at a Women's Shelter. A little awkward at times considering I'm a man. I feel it does the kids I work with good to have a decent man in their life.

Wait until your parents leave on vacation. When they're gone, hire a prostitute. Over the course of the next week, develop a relationship with her, culminating in a party to help all your high school friends lose their virginity for a small fee. Outsmart said prostitute's pimp. Invite admissions reps from Princeton, they'll love it and appreciate your go-get-'em attitude and offer you admission to their school. I have faith in you, Argonaut

Risky Business is a solid movie. Pretty funny that Booger from Revenge of the Nerds is the smart cool friend giving Tom Cruise advice...

That's a very good point, I don't know your parents, but I'll leave that up to your good judgment ;)

Besides, your example would be good for undergrad or something. I'm planning to apply for MBA, I would probably need to do something like mastermind a hostile takeover of pimps business and build my pimping empire in the area. Ripping off a hooker - you are thinking too small lol

OR, go one step further and throw in an illegal weapons smuggling business in eastern Europe

Global expansion - now you are thinking. Also a good area to export hookers from - human trafficking FTW!

Yes. Networking.

Networking is overrated. Yes, extracurriculars can outweigh GPA easily. Work experience matters more than GPA as well. I'm just speaking from personal experience based on the # of interviews I got despite my high GPA (a lot of people got more interviews with a lower GPA since I had weak experiences on my resume at the time).

A 3.1, however, is really low and may be under the cutoff GPA of many banks.

3.1 is shit unless you're at Princeton in which case it's not quite shit, just terrible. Your extracurriculars are great... it's going to be a crap shoot.

You're going to need good work experience to get a FT offer.

It can, if your resume isn't sent to the recycling bin during the initial screen.

Most banks have an explicit (or sometimes implicit) cut-off of at least 3.20 or 3.25. You should try to get a couple of A's to at least beat that bar...

If 3.25 isn't possible to attain, network your ass off to ensure you have some big-hitters at the bank really going to bat for you (i.e. literally e-mailing HR directly to put your name on the closed-lists for interviews at your Target school).

Leverage your frat and sports connections if you have to. If you play for the Yale's hockey team, make you sure find Yale alumni who used to play hockey and are now MDs at BBs.

Yeah you're going to have to take easy classes and kill them next semester to get your GPA at a level where it won't be taken out by a cutoff of 3.2 or 3.3. I remember even 3.5 being the cutoff for some internships...

Def try to position yourself for S&T because I-Banking is nerd central and you will need a high GPA to meet cutoff, while S&T is more "jocky."

hopefully you can network your way around this. Sports is a great topic of conversation in interviews/cold calls (and business in general) and sports alumni love helping out ambitious kids on the team. You can also spin it in interviews to say you have learned so much about teamwork, leadership, hard work (except in class i guess), failure, challenges, etc.

recruiters love athletes, espc for S&T, however I suspect that lots of athletes at Ivy's have pretty good grades.

you apply before you get you gpa updated from first semester marks, do you suggest putting in a projected gpa if you are confident

I had a similar GPA and my past work experience + ECs were enough to get me plenty of interviews. Once I was at the interviews, my GPA didn't matter and I had no problems getting a SA or FT position. The place I chose for full-time had a GPA cutoff of 3.4...I wasn't near that.

Polish your resume, network (athlete network at a top school should be great), and work on your interviewing skills. Being an athlete is going to be a huge differentiating factor. You will do great come recruiting.

If you know the right people there is no GPA cutoff. I think in general its bullshit because of grade inflation at some schools. At my school the average GPA was 2.85-2.90. If you had a 3.6 you were absolutely kicking ass where at some places that would be very average.

personally i didnt have the strongest GPA either but had really strong internship experiences throughout my 4 years of school. What I did was just not list my GPA on my resume period. Obviously in doing this you run the risk of people just assuming you don't have a strong GPA but many times if you have really strong work experience they might just give you a shot. This honestly worked great for me and I ended up landing 20+ interviews during on campus recruiting which culminated in 4 offers. During the interviews they get to see how eloquent and smart you are and half the time they didn't even ask me for my GPA. In some of the interviews they asked me why I didn't list my GPA and what my GPA was, in these cases I spun it in the following way...I would say that first of all I would want to work for a company that evaluated their candidates holistically and not just based on a single number as other characteristics are more indicate of future success and then I would tell them my GPA. Again in a lot of these cases they would ask why it was low and I would tell them the truth that I spent most of my freshman year partying, etc. but then caveated it by saying that even if I did have a strong GPA (which i had a good major GPA and great junior year one) that I would still not list it given the first point I brought up...it was hit or miss sometimes they saw right through the bullshit other times they moved me to final rounds based on how well the interview went, etc. 2 of the offers I had came from situations like this while 2 offers came from situations where they never even asked for my GPA.

So to answer your question I think it's definitely possible to overcome a bad GPA with great work experience & ECs...that said I personally would suggest going with my approach as it may allow you to get some interviews with firms that have stricter cut offs just based on what you've done for work experience and ECs. It can be risky but like I said in my case it worked out...I may be an exception but it may not hurt to try this approach.

from what i've noticed, alumni association from MBA profiles, alumni association involvement is looked upon very favorably by adcoms, especially if you have a leadership role.

No, you need to rebuild your understanding of the role extra curricular activities plays on your cv and job application. It is not about the president title, it is about the work you have done in school beside the academic ones to show your other strength. Being a president does not hurt, but that's not too important. Join some club in the area which is not much related to your major, courses, to make yourself a more all-around candidate.

If you can tell a story about it, it's a good EC. If they're going to look at your resume and ask you about it, and all you can come up with is "I figured it would look good on paper," then don't do it.

no no thats not what i meant.. i know that doing research will help me a lot cause i will learn a lot...I was wondering which one which look better for getting a job next year..

yeah its stressed, this is why you have your bs skills and can talk about all the things you do as a leader without having held the titled position right?

if your past internships/work experience show some leadership, and you can answer the leadership question, you're fine

great question, i do leadership work in h.s, and look to continue in college, i def. think it helps for every employment opportunity.

GeneralThade, are you really in high school?

I have zero extra-curricular activities and had no problems getting interviews (and ultimately a FT offer). That said, I had (in my opinion) better work experience than most of the competition at my school. In my case, I think my work experience helped fill the extra-curricular void.

2 GeneralThade, wtf are you doing here? Go bang a cheerleader or something...