GPA & Fortune 100 Correlation
Hi,
I'm a recent graduate from a target school and have been wondering how my GPA will affect my career.
My goal is to start with a FP&A position and eventually move up to a Corporate Strategy role.
My cum GPA is 3.6, and my major GPA is 3.3. Do I have a chance for Fortune 100 companies?
Thank you in advance.
following
I'm in a top F50 FLDP and graduated w/ a cumulative GPA of 3.45 and major GPA of 3.7. The difference makers for me were my extra-cirricular leadership experiences and my junior year summer F500 FP&A internship. I was grilled in two interviews for this FLDP on my low GPA relative to the average 3.7-3.8 they bring in.
deleted, reposted with edits below
I was at an F200 A&D company in an FLDP that is sometimes mentioned on this forum as one of the better ones. Graduated with a 3.46. I got to participate in interviewing FLDPs that came after me, and I'd say the average GPA we saw was around 3.3-3.5. I don't think anyone cared about GPA as long as it was above 3.3.
You also say you wonder how your GPA will effect your career. The only time you should keep GPA on your resume is in your first 3ish years out of college, which is likely just one set of interviews. After that, it does not matter at all, except for getting into MBA programs.. which favor work experience anyway.
I challenge the fundamental assumption that you seem to be making- that the higher on the F500 list, the better. I look at the F100 list and see a few companies I've never even heard of (Tech Data, StoneX group, Plains GP holdings). Huge companies, but not a big brand presence unless you are in the area or in the industry I assume. At the same time you have Dean Foods, GameStop, and Dillards in the 400 range but everyone knows about those companies. All else equal, the higher on the list the better, but there is plenty to think about: office location (corporate office vs small satellite), industry (Do you want to be in Energy? or CPG?), brand recognition (Coke is better known than Mckesson, but is smaller), and most importantly: THE JOB. I'd take global FP&A at a F499 company over program finance/cost accounting at Boeing.
In short, if you're going for corporate, best to try to keep your GPA above a 3.5 and don't worry too much after that. I found there to be enormous diminishing returns to my time spent studying in terms of GPA after the 3.4-ish point.
Thank you for the response. One quick question. When we are talking about GPA, is it major GPA or cumulative GPA?
Cumulative- I don't recall people listing their major GPA. If your Cum GPA is 3.6 compared to a major GPA of 3.3, I wouldn't bother listing your major GPA and likely no one will ask
I’ll be joining a F50 FLDP next year as a full time analyst and I think GPA in relation to the program is extremely dependent on the school/company relationship. I would say most/all of the interns I worked with had GPA’s over 3.4-3.5 but on average the nontargets had a higher GPA. There’s a clear preference to target schools, obviously, and that tends to play a bigger role in recruiting than anything else (IMO).
If you’re applying to a company that has no presence on campus, you’re going to need a higher GPA to grab their attention, or an extremely good internship/experience on the resume. I was the first one from my University to work in the FLDP and would say my luck was a high-ish GPA (3.78) and an extremely relevant sophomore internship.
I chuckled at "cum GPA"
Did you cum?
Not at the moment
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