How Important is Your MBA GPA?
For those who are current MBA students or graduated from MBA programs, how important is your MBA GPA?
If someone has overall 3.4-3.5 or B+ average GPA, should this person be concerned? I know I could've done much better with some extra effort but this is where I stand right now.
Does Your GPA Matter in MBA Recruiting?
When going through an MBA program and recruiting for internships, consulting firms and investment banks typically do their recruitment during the fall of your first year in the program. Therefore, you likely do not have a GPA established for them to look at. That being said, if you are recruiting after that point and you attend a university that does report grades out, firms will look at your MBA GPA.
If you are recruiting while in business school, your GPA doesn't matter when you are recruiting for your summer internship because all the interview invites go out before you even have a GPA. Your undergraduate GPA might come into play but I think with a high GMAT you can offset a low GPA.The only time that MBA GMAT matters is if you want to re-recruit in the fall as an MBA2 to get a better offer full time or if you are recruiting in the spring as an MBA1. Consulting and banking both recruit in the fall. Also, like half of the top 10 MBA programs have grade non-disclosure anyway.
User @John-Doe8", a consultant, shared their experience in MBA recruiting:
The general answer is no, it's not. The EXCEPTION to the rule in my experience is if you are interested in consulting (and I assume IB). Even then, most the of the time your GPA doesn't matter. Only your first semester grades matter for internships, and (hopefully) only your first year grades matter for full time recruiting. Much of the job recruiting wraps in fall.I landed my summer internship with a mid Fortune 500 energy company in OCTOBER of my 1st year. I interviewed after 3 weeks of classes.
However, user @abacab", an investment banking vice president, shared that the GPA will matter to recruiters during the process:
Both IB and MBB recruiting care about your grades. You need to not mess up real bad first semester if you want one of those. Once you got your internship offer, you can do whatever.
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Like almost everything else MBA-related, it depends vastly on what you'd like to do after school. It might matter how you did in a specific course relative to that desired field, but generally I've been told to focus on the following three areas in this exact order: Network, Job/Internship, Class.
One of the reasons for an MBA is so you dont have to explain X or Y things about your resume, or that you'll get the opportunity to explain a shortcoming based on a certain seal of approval. Ford Scholars are unique, Honors are not.
Disclaimer: Currently in 1st year at MBA business schools ">M7 MBA program.
I tried to find info on the Ford Scholars program but all I see is stuff relating to high school seniors. What exactly is a Ford Scholar in relation to an MBA program? What are the requirements? Apologies for what is probably a very stupid question.
The general answer is no, it's not. The EXCEPTION to the rule in my experience is if you are interested in consulting (and I assume IB). Even then, most the of the time your GPA doesn't matter. Only your first semester grades matter for internships, and (hopefully) only your first year grades matter for full time recruiting. Much of the job recruiting wraps in fall.
I landed my summer internship with a mid Fortune 500 energy company in OCTOBER of my 1st year......I interviewed after 3 weeks of classes. Many others land the internships they want (General Mills, Target, Dell, Delta, etc) without even HAVING grades also.
And of course, don't forget that many programs don't even give out GPA information anymore.
Either way, I received internship offers and job offers from companies across a number of industries, and no one except consulting cared about GPA as long as you were above 3.
This guys has been doing an analysis of importance of GPA versus GMAT per school:
http://www.mbadataguru.com/blog/
I'm talking about MBA GPA for recruiting and after MBA, not the GPA for admission
Hey all, I'm the guy writing MBA Data Guru. Saw this cause I got a bunch of traffic from the post. I am an MBA1 at NYU going for consulting. If you are recruiting while in business school, your GPA doesn't matter when you are recruiting for your summer internship because all the interview invites go out before you even have a GPA. Your undergraduate GPA might come into play but I think with a high GMAT you can offset a low GPA. I had a 3.33 GPA undergrad but still got interviews with Bain and McKinsey. I'm sure that a 770 GMAT and working at Barclays before business school helps. The only time that MBA GMAT matters is if you want to re-recruit in the fall as an MBA2 to get a better offer full time or if you are recruiting in the spring as an MBA1. Consulting and banking both recruit in the fall. Also, like half of the top 10 MBA programs have grade non-disclosure anyway.
Both IB and MBB recruiting care about your grades. You need to not mess up real bad first semester if you want one of those. Once you got your internship offer, you can do whatever.
ABCAB, recruiting at business school for your internship happens before you even get your first grade. GPA only matters if you mess up with internship recruiting and need to re-recruit as a second year MBA.
Not in my experience (2Y MBA). MBB internship recruiting (and other consulting firms as well) recruit in January/February. McKinsey's internship application was due Tuesday of this week, so you may have grades depending on your school schedule. Either way, by the time you hit interviews, first semester is on the board.
What is considered messing up your GPA? Lower than 3.5?
Yeah, something like this. Everyone who got offers from my school was 3.6+
I kept a good GPA just in case, but most 2nd years say they got asked their GPA zero or one times during recruiting. Morgan Stanley is the only recruiter who explicitly cares about GPA.
I'm currently a second year MBA student at a top 15 program. I did an internship at a Bulge Bracket bank over the summer and subsequently received a full-time offer. Obviously, its to your advantage to have a high GPA; however, by no means is it a requirement. A lot of schools do not disclose grades so a lot of the New York banks don't even ask. Getting a job/internship is more about networking, having a good story, and presenting yourself well. If you get all the basic quant and behavioral questions down and are likeable, you should be able to land a good job.
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