I'm a sophomore at a non-target and I'm looking to get into IB. Believe it or not, we have a few alumni at BB IBs and boutiques haha. Anyways, given the fact that I'm at a non-target ( I have solid internship experience in my freshmen year and in process of getting one for this summer, a leader in schools' IBanking club, TA for finance course), do you think there is a difference between a 3.7 and 3.8 GPA? I know for target school kids, the threshold is somewhat lower around 3.5- 3.6 due to prestige, competition, etc., but do you think there is an impact for me? Reason I'm asking is because I might end up with 3.7, due to me taking on some extracurriculars, which I really want to do this semester, but if I don't do them, I might be able to pull of a 3.8 cumulative
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Honestly it sounds like you're doing the right things to get something moving into your junior summer. Your GPA is high. Non Target does not mean your school is necessarily garbage at all, and a 3.7 is still a solid A- average. The most important things for you are to lock down a job in a relevant field - hopefully at boutique IB - and to build your network by making strong connections with alumni/people you might have degrees of separation with in the industry who take a meaningful interest in your success. You'll need these people by the time late summer and the fall comes around and you're trying to get first rounds/screenings; they can pick you out of the resume pile instead of you just being another name. This is more important than the .1 on your GPA, imo.
Thanks for your input! The extracurricular I want to do does allow me to establish better relationships with alumni and seniors, but in turn, I would have to drop a class with the same time, and take another that I don't have a high chance of not getting an A in.
I would say that it mostly depends on how "non-target" your non-target is. Are we talking Penn State/Syracuse/Lehigh or Western Michigan? If the former, given the right amount of networking you should have at least a shot at some of the BBs and EBs with a 3.7+. If the latter, try to keep your GPA as high as possible. Think hard about the trade off between your ECs and your GPA (or just push yourself to do both), but in the end that's your call.
Non target as in the same tier as UC Santa Barbara. We send maybe 1 or 2 kids in BB or boutique Ib each year. The ec I want to do conflicts with a class, which is an easy A, which means to do it, I would need to take a class that I prob will get a B in, which brings down my gpa.
Are you that not confident in your academic skills that the alternative is a B for an A? Like I get there are easy As out there but still.
Cut Off GPA from a Non-Target (Originally Posted: 05/05/2016)
What is the minimum GPA requirement for someone at a non-target like UW/IOWA/UIUC to be a reasonable canidate for an EB or BB? My GPA may go down by a lot this semester from roughly 3.82 to a 3.69.
It is funny in a sad way that I focused all of my energy this semester on case comps, summer internships, networking (200+ cold-email/calls), leadership programs, modeling, excel and learning about investment banking technical questions and now I might not even get a chance to interview....
No minimum but 3.7 is probably a good spot to keep it at for non-target.
The average G.P.A. for people going into banking at UIUC is 3.75
3.5 is often viewed as the very minimum cutoff. 3.7/4.0 is fine. Maybe a tad on the lower end (3.8+ is the safe space) but I really doubt it will make or break getting an interview.
Know someone a school of similar caliber that recruited with a 3.7 and ended up at an EB in NYC. You might have to network a bit more and really kill the first round, but it really won't hold you back.
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