Had a pretty rough semester and my GPA will probably be below a 3.3 by the end of the end year. Already locked in a SA gig at a strong MM for this upcoming summer. Looking to try and latter into a EB or BB for FT and was wondering if GPA still plays a huge role even though I already did a SA at a reputable bank. Am I screwed?
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In the eyes of potential employers, yes – your GPA is a huge marker of your professional ability. If you're unable to land good grades in courses when you have nothing else going on (save for health/extenuating situations), how will they know that you're able to do mind numbing work in 90+ hour weeks.
Congrats on the top MM offer. It's a great accomplishment, but you don't even know if you'll love/hate it there. Might be better to experience that and then gauge if it's worth transitioning to EB/BB. Network/etc so the doors are open, but if you secure a FT offer at this top MM shop, then you won't need to worry as much about your GPA. FT recruitment takes place one year from now for you, so you have the rest of this semester plus the spring to get your GPA back on track if that's truly what you're looking to do. Try to push at least a 3.5+ and your shots will be that much better for FT recruitment. FYI, it's much, much more competitive/tougher, especially at EBs, because the majority of banks (BB/EB/MM) look to take a huge % of their SA class, so you're competing for scraps of scraps.
southern_beta, congratulations on your offer. GPA matters very much for FT and will continue mattering past that if you decide to leave to PE, corp dev, or something else. That being said, enjoy your summer and don't worry about trading up come FT recruiting. You're in a good spot.
Coincidentally enough I also have a 3.3 and will be working at a MM bank this summer. I know that a lot of PE firms care a lot about GPA even after your two years in IB but how important is GPA for corporate development (esp companies that aren't like Google, Facebook, Snapchat etc)
PEGs use GPA to eliminate candidates just like IBs do because of the massive size of the applicant pool. For corp dev positions, the applicant pool is a lot smaller, so the amount of weeding out is also smaller. If you get some solid experience at this MM and can talk about your deals at great length, I do not think a 3.3 would eliminate you, at least not like it might in PE recruiting. I had a 3.6, so my corp dev interviews never touched on my GPA, but what they really cared about was my work experience in IB.
I hope that helps. I'm happy to elaborate more.
How much does GPA matter after Junior Year? (Originally Posted: 12/31/2017)
Since internship recruiting has mostly come to a close, it seems that a lot of juniors I know have started coming down with an early case of senioritis. I was wondering, if you come from a target school and land a Summer Analyst position at a BB, will having a 3.5 vs a 3.6 matter for full-time recruiting? How detrimental would it be if GPA dipped past 3.5?
Serenity1697, sorry about the lack of response. Maybe one of these topics will help:
If we're lucky, the following users may have something to say: joycewsj George87 Sameer-Babar
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
It probably won't matter much for FT recruiting, but your GPA follows you. It will rear its head when you recruit for your second job and then again when you apply for bschool. So, depsite the incremental pain, you should try to continue to do well.
GPA for FT Recruiting? (Originally Posted: 04/13/2017)
Heard from a few that GPA matters less for FT recruiting than SA, can anyone confirm/deny? I get that you can overcome anything with networking, but curious as to what people's experiences are
My gut says no. FT recruiting is very similar to SA recruiting. They might weigh work experience slightly more, but GPA is still a big factor
FT recruiting is very different than SA recruiting. It is a lot harder and there are more people competing for 95% less spots since most FT spots are taken by summers these days. You have to step your game up for FT recruiting.
Matters less now that you one more "legit" internship experience to add. That said, a bad GPA is still a bad GPA and will close some doors.
It still matters a shit ton.
Considering state of FT ibd recruiting nowadays, your summer internship experience (most likely at a BB or EB) + networking should be the only factors relevant in getting you the interviews anyways. I don't think gpa would be a big factor at all.
I would think GPA is an important signaling tool for full time recruiting, because they don't really have any performance to base your offer on, and most offers are based on how interns perform in the role. There are also so few spots. If your GPA didn't get you first rounds for internship applications, those firms probably won't invite you back for full time recruiting.
FT recruiting nowadays is incredibly small compared to the "old days" (2011-2012?). In my experience the only good banks I received interviews at, with one exception, were places I already had a lot of contacts who I had kept in contact with.
I would guess that GPA matters about the same or maybe marginally less for someone working at BB / EB as SA looking for a FT switch. I don't expect they would throw it out the window.
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