Very young with low GPA trying to get into Wall Street.
Hey Fellas,
First off, I am currently a junior at a highly regarded state school and I have a 2.5 GPA. My major is Economics and my minor is Business and Liberal Arts. The thing about me that sets me apart is that I'm only 18 years old.
I am planning on working hard and graduating with a 3.2. I'll be 19 years old next summer before my senior year. Would big banks consider offering me an internship due to my age?
The reason for my low GPA is due to the fact that I enrolled at one of the largest public state schools in the country at the tender age of 16. I let the social scene overwhelm me and I did horrendously my freshman year. I straightened up during my sophomore year after I got more comfortable with my surroundings and such.
Let me know what you guys think. Do you think I can break in on wall street? Or am I the kind of guy who should just try to get a decent job, get my MBA and then attempt to work on Wall Street?
Thanks
MBA then wall street.. you need to be a little older to fit in that culture
Why did you go to college at 16?
@tkid yeah i kinda agree, i feel like i'd be given a hard time by my colleagues & from what i've watched/heard, those wall street guys are ruthless.
@bhollowa I skipped a few grades when I was younger.
go for an MSF and ace it. Then you can at least be 21 by the time you go fulltime lol
Was it hard to get with older girls?
"highly regarded state school" is pretty vague. That could be anything from Berkeley or Mich to UIUC... please be a little more specific.
If you network your ass off I'm sure you could land an internship. Might not be goldman, but it's possible.
So many things to say about this. I know people who've been in almost identical situations and been okay. I'll PM you when I have a bit of time later. Remind me if I forget.
Age doesn't matter, but GPA really does. They don's ask your age so they won't even know unless you tell them. GPA is a big indicator in IB so you really have to work on it now.
I go to penn state and it's actually not hard to get girls here. I dont go around telling people my age so only a few of my close friends know my actual age so there's not a problem and it's not like a chick is gonna ask me for identification if i approach her. I skipped grades in elementary school and high school so I've always been around older kids so I'm very mature for my age. You wouldn't be able to tell.
Retake some classes and get your GPA up. Your young age is not a multiplier for having a 2.5.
First of all, kudos to you for going to college at such an early age. That is super impressive and anyone reading your resume would be impressed. That being said, if you can, retake some classes to get the GPA up. I suggest summer school if you can do that, so that you can still be on track to graduate at a young age. And they can be easy classes! And get a tutor. And if you find yourself struggling, ask your teacher for help. When you retake the classes, you should breeze through them because you have already studied the material before.
@tropos Thanks man but I have a question. If I take summer classes next summer instead of getting an internship, wouldn't that be bad because I'd be going into the field with no prior experience? Everyone gets an internship the summer after their junior year.
Given your scenario, I'd say delay the prospect of an internship and get your grades up. After all, I'm not exactly who'd intern someone with a sub 3.0 GPA. You can afford to delay any internship because of your age, imo.
.
It's really impressive what you've accomplished so young, so kudos for that. Your accomplishments have bought you time, so don't put too much pressure on yourself. Like others have said, get your grades up by retaking some classes (use winter if that's an option) and continuing to work hard. You could also consider the MSF, or continue to build on what makes you unique with an eye towards MBA admissions - maybe consider entrepreneurship if you're up for it. Just some thoughts.
You're young enough that you can forgo the internship. Look, I never did any internships when I was in school and I still made it. But then again I worked year round in order to afford college as a telemarketer (only thing with flexible hours that let me go to college as well) The grades are more important. You're young so that is going to give you a better boost than doing an internship.
People are going to be really impressed when you graduate at age 19/20 with a 3.5 or above average. They will overlook the lack of internship.
Congratulations on finishing high school so early.
If your school is as good as you say, then they should have a decent career center/advising center. These are the types of issues that you should be working with them to answer. A lot of the guys who are responding to your message aren't on Wall Street. They're a little older than you are, but they're in the same position as you. Your advisors will probably have more knowledge and better connections. I've got no interest in working on Wall Street, but I think that's solid advice.
Alright, this post is full of my opinions and you are welcome to take it with a grain of salt. I did go to a target and have perfect test scores though so maybe that made a difference. N.B. I did not want or apply for any IBD interviews so maybe I would have totally failed there.
It's probably not a terrible idea to try and boost yours over 3.0, but monkeys here place way too much emphasis on GPA. My UG GPA was bad. Real bad. My public HS GPA wasn't too great either. My grad GPA was awesome, but they made it pretty hard to fuck up. I got all the McBainGroup/BB/HF/etc interviews I wanted and got the offer I was really gunning for. Point is, I've obviously never gotten anywhere in life based on those numbers and I don't really feel that it's held me back either. I spent a lot of time doing other stuff (research, working, etc) and I was fortunate enough to have friends who thought highly enough of me to vouch for me when I suddenly decided I was interested in finance a month before recruiting season started. These are not the friends that you get by "networking", either. People sometimes overlook the fact that "networking" is what you do every day when you go about interacting with fellow humans while being pleasant, interesting, and not an asshole.
Your age will not hurt you. If you play your cards right, it will in fact help you. It has only ever helped me. Now, obviously, you can't put your age on your cover letter or resume but you can work it into your interviews/networking. GPA/test scores are really just (arguably poor) proxies for conveying intelligence and being young does this. Having less than stellar GPA is fine as long as you have a good story. Saying that you were 16 and needed a couple years to figure your shit out is totally acceptable as long as your story shows that you have indeed actually gotten your shit together.
I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest that you get the best internship you can possibly get next summer. We've already established that your GPA is not going to be opening doors for you and a 0.1 edge taking you to a 3.3 won't help you much. Concentrate on building yourself up in other categories.
This depends on your interests, but if UG recruiting doesn't work out for you, you might want to consider doing a research-based grad program instead of a MSF. It won't cost nearly as much since you might get a stipend, it'll accomplish the same goal of raising your GPA and I'm guessing you might have a better chance of getting into a "target" program and hence access to campus recruiting.
I agree with this.
My GPA was in the 2's and I landed a gig on wall street people would kill form.
No one cares about your GPA after your first job, WSO needs to understand that.
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