Low GPA, trying to get my foot in the door. What do I do?
Im a sophomore at one of the less-prestigious NESCAC schools, one which seems to pride itself on its alumni network on Wall Street, although I'm not sure how much truth there is to that. Anyway, I've got a 2.667 GPA so far, due mostly to a small number of really bad grades, thinking I'll probably major in poli-sci. To make matters worse I also have no pertinent work experience, just little summer jobs in food service etc. To my knowledge, all summer internship programs at investment banks of any size require at least a 3.0 GPA, and so at this point I find myself wondering what I can do to get something even remotely conducive to a junior IB internship, on my resume over this summer(obviously, I'm already doing everything in my power to raise the GPA). I really have my heart set on IB, but in my position, I'd be down for anything that might help. Any advice?
Hey fosterh, what a lonely thread. I'm here since nobody responded ...so maybe one of these discussions will help:
Calling relevant pros to the rescue! Lizalfos Hank-Terrebrood juntgd
Hope that helps.
Shot in the dark. But I’m guessing your gpa is low because your pledging was brutal. You could reach out to your bros that are in the industry. PWM jobs might look at gpa less critically since a lot of it is people’s skills, which GPA isn’t indicative of.
My school has this ridiculous rule that doesn't allow anyone to rush until sophomore year. The shit grades were mostly because of poor decisions when it came to picking classes. Evidently, art history isn't my forté. I like that idea about PWM, though, I think the people skills aspect is something I can really use to my advantage.
PWM worked, got a paid internship. Thanks for the advice.
Good sh t. And good luck
I would recommend working at a search fund if you can gain some traction. Keep in mind these positions are often unpaid, but if you spin your story the right way, you can make it happen. I would recommend emailing the managing partners directly, and including a brief paragraph explaining the mitigating circumstances. If you have a good reason as to why you want to work for that specific search fund, and know what they do well, you should be able to make it happen
Sounds like a viable approach. I'll look into search funds, I cant say I know too much about them, thanks! Fantastic username, by the way.
Thank you. If you find some hiring in your area or land an interview I would be happy to help you prep, I know the space quite well
You definitely need to get a 4.0 next semester to bring your GPA up to a 3.3-3.5 range so you can even compete for Jr SA positions.
In the meantime, try to find any internship relevant to finance. There are tons of wealth management internships, part time accounting/bookkeeping or even something in a sales role. Work throughout your school year as well or join student run finance/investment clubs too.
If you want IB and have it secured before you graduate, start now. It will be tough, but not impossible if you keep working hard. Good luck.
Shot a resume to a PWM place as you recommended and now I have an interview lined up. Not sure if thats means anything, but it's farther than I've gotten with any IB.
I was a Bantam once-- if I learned anything, it was the power of networking. That, and no one outside of NESCAC takes NESCAC seriously.
Your past experience shouldn't matter, if you're looking for internships. I'd say focus on your GPA, become an Ace at behaviorals, and network until you're blue in the face. Leadership and Diversity programs are great feeders for the SA/FT pipelines. If there is any truth to that Wall Street myth, tap into your Career Office or your Alumni Org. There are so many hungry kids out here, unless you're at Williams/Amherst, you can't be ashamed to get creative in order to remain competitive.
Go join the Investment Club at Trinity and get as involved as possible. Ask Lauren Glasse, who runs the club, about getting certified on the Bloomberg Terminals they have in the lib. having this certification is a good start to having something on your resume that most all other applicants to a summer position will not have, and its a good talking point that shows you're committed to learning about the industry. If you already joined the Hall as an underground pledge: please, please do not spend your weeknights playing pool in the basement and looping yourself out on drugs. You have a shit GPA and you need to get it up, there will be another time when you can have fun. Now is the time to put your head down and get ready for a battle to save your GPA, or you can kiss your ideas of going into IB goodbye.
As you know, Trinity has an incredible amount of alumni recourses at your disposal. Absolutely set up a meeting with the CDC, but DO NOT expect them to make an internship happen for you. That's not their policy and even if it was, they're incapable of that type of placement success. Get on LinkedIn and use the Trinity page to filter alumni by sector and firm. Send out well written and humble messages to anyone and everyone you can that you think could help you. Don't ask for an internship outright, ask them questions about their background and if they respond, then ask if they know of some summer opportunities. Also understand that as a sophomore, regardless of your GPA, you aren't going to get into an IB internship. They hire SAs exclusively from a class of undergrads between their junior and senior years, so you need to look into Ops internships at BBs, or PWM internships, or with some small equity firm that I am sure some of your friends at Trinity's fathers are partners at. Take literally ANYTHING in the industry, do not set a high standard for yourself this summer, its more important for you to FOCUS on your studies and become better situated for next summer, which is the one that really counts if you're trying to do IB. If you are currently pledging or have pledged last semester, there is a strong PWM young alumni presence at the Hall, and a strong Consulting and Legal alumni presence at Kappa Sig. Keep this in mind for networking. IB presence is relatively strong in young AD alums.
Biggest takeaways: Get your GPA up. That is the best and most important thing you can do right now. Secondly, open your summer internship net wider and look into PWM and Ops for your sophomore year. Thirdly, network the hell out of Trinity's alums. Those that work in finance are also the ones who generally have a love for the school in their heart and will appreciate hearing from you. The worst thing they can do is not respond or be too busy and not be able to get back to you. If you pledged, go straight for the Presidency position, having that on my resume and having real experience was the deciding factor in getting me a job after graduation. Otherwise, get into the Investment Club, actually be engaged (most do not do this), you'll learn a lot and it will be good if you can run for a Club Sector Head next year. That opens up a whole list of Investment Club alums for you to network with. I'd also suggest running for SGA, being on it opens doors for you to get involved in actual leadership projects and initiatives with the administration that you will gain real leadership and budgeting experience from. These are all good ways for you to stack your resume, which is going to be crucial for you.
I've been a member of the investment club since my first semester here, and I'm working on the Bloomberg certification right now, but I will admit, I really could be better about using the CDC, mostly because my experiences with it in the past haven't inspired a whole lot of confidence, however I am coming to understand that I really have to meet them halfway. I'll give it another shot. I am looking at a PWM summer internship with BF&S, apparently, my parents are friends with a guy there who said he could potentially help me out a bit; just gotta find time to really fix my resume, I've been mostly focusing on fixing the GPA. You mentioned the Hall, since I got here I've really wanted to join, it's my understanding that they have a LOT of alum in finance, but between my shit GPA and how awful pledging ostensibly is there, I've put it off for now -- maybe I'll give it a shot next semester. Meantime, I'll work on getting more leadership roles, as you mentioned. And obviously getting my grades up.
What sort of things would you recommend doing to better my chances of becoming a sector head in the Investment Club?
Oh, you actually do go to Camp Trin? I don't remember hearing anything good from the Hall-- just creepy, secret society type shit, and the origin of "coke-butt." I personally think frat culture (especially at Trin) is toxic, and Greek business networks are often overstated.
A quick search on LinkedIn just now revealed that MS, Citi, BAML, JPM, and UBS are some of the most popular employers of Trinity grads. Cold emails can be shameful, but where would any Trinity student be without nepotism? Perhaps also consider BO/MO as an entry point, given your GPA.
If you want to be a sector head, the pretty much surefire equation for success is: go to every weekly meeting and if you aren't already in a sector, ask Lauren after the meeting about getting into one. Once you are, go to every individual sector meeting, be engaged, and show initiative to participate in the research within the sector. Don't just go to the sector meetings and idly stare at the leader while he/she talks at you - ask questions and come with your own opinions and feedback about whatever you 're sector is working on. This can be as simple as an interesting article from the internet about the strength of the company's stock, or as complicated as a full pitch for a new company to research, backed up with all sorts of metrics from Bloomberg. The latter is great but the former is good too and will make you stand out. Once the end of the year rolls around, there will be elections for the Sector Heads for 2018-2019. If you've gone to every meeting and you've participated, then it will be easy for you to run for a position that is opening up. The Sector Heads all meet each week with the Exec Board outside of the club and sector-wide meetings, where they would discuss who in their sector is performing well, and if you're engaged your name would surely come up. When you run, they will remember that.
You don't need tons of financial knowledge to run for a position. You should have it by the time you start next fall, but you can get that through your internship or on your own. The basics you should know to be able to effectively run a sector are the basic value metrics that are used to evaluate a stock (P/E, Price to Book, etc.) and a pretty good working knowledge of the industry your sector is in. If you want to do healthcare, you should know the industry specifics, like the process a company takes to get a drug out to market (the three stages of drug R&D and testing, then FDA approval, then marketing and patent expirations), and how this would affect a company's perception in the markets. If you want to do energy, you should be read up on the changing federal regulations in the energy sector, and know the tech associated with emerging energy sources, and how startup tech firm's acquirement by big energy can affect long term growth of energy companies. That's the type of stuff you should familiarize yourself with; if you can tout your knowledge during elections, that's even better, but if you go to all the meetings and show GENUINE interest then you can always acquire the industry and financial specific knowledge over the summer and still get elected this spring.
If you do this, its really not hard to get elected. Not that many people run because they assume they do not know enough, or they're intimidated. You won't have too many people to compete with, as long as they've seen you contribute before and you can learn the industry specifics and some technical knowledge by the fall, you'll get one of the sectors no problem.
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