Search of Guidance, to become Ibanker

Pretty tough, I'm afraid. Your GPA won't get you past initial screening at most, if not all, places. And tutoring really doesn't help with finance at all--why didn't you try a finance internship instead of tutoring English?

I think if you show resilience, determination and if you're also keen on turning your resume lines somehow into appropriate IB strengths, you should have a shot. Especially if you come from a minority, and if you got significant ECs.

After that, it would all depend on who you know at the firms you're targetting, on how efficient and persuasive you are when you approach them, and of course on how well you'd do at interviews.

But go for it! If you show appropriate strengths and a great deal of motivation, I really don't see why you couldn't make it. Good luck!

what do you mean by minority though? if by that you mean korean (which, i am asking bc you said you studied in korea) that's not gonna help very much. banks don't really give special preference to asian-americans.

from my experience, nor do they really care if you're poor- unless you're being recruited through something like SEO or a program specifically for poor people.

i would definitely suggest getting something at least tangentially related for this summer and pulling definitely pulling some really good grades.

it's still a long-shot to get into banking at the big names but perhaps you'll be able to find a boutique, get some exp/mba and then move on.

best of luck.

You have one more summer to demonstrate your interest in finance. Try to make the most out of it and start building your network.

You have nothing to loose if you try.

I'd agree with higher_energy, it is key to get a finance and ideally banking experience on the resume this summer. I'm not sure how feasible it is to work for free, but that is always a good way to track down a job.

Keep chugging on the GPA, SEO is another alternative for a junior summer job.

Yeah, Im aware that my chances are pretty far off, but I think thats 1/2 the appeal :) thanks for all the helpful advice.

I don't know how mid markets and tier2-3 bulges recruit, but as a tier 1 on campus interviewer for my alma mater (wharton), 3.5 is the cut off with a sport/frat pres/some other non bullshit extra curric, with roughly the average candidate with a 3.7

you are still a sophmore and your grades are good. You dont have to transfer to an ivy but u can still try other targets like penn state,rutgers,UVA(one of the best), and Georgetown.

would the gpa cut off be different, because I attend a non-target school?

It's gonna be pretty hard for you but not impossible by any means. I recommend emailing Alumni in Banking, I did that with some success. It's pretty easy to access your school's alumni directory.

You should try to email/contact firms like William Blair & Co., and other boutiques like it.

If they don't respond to your emails, get on the phone and try asking them for advice. I think that's the only route through which you can enter Banking, since these people are very anal about GPA.