What do these major-GPA combos tell you?

Say you're a MBB recruiter. You're looking at candidates from a target school for interviews. What are your initial thoughts at each one? I just want to see all of your thoughts, all feedback is appreciated.

  1. International Relations major with a 3.8

  2. Comparative Literature major, Economics minor with a 3.45

  3. PPE major with a 3.7

  4. Biology Major with a 3.55

  5. Middle Eastern Studies major with a 3.85

 

Assuming this is at a target school... 1 and 5 can get an interview if they network sufficiently, 3 and 4 are on the fence but can interview if we really like them, 2 will not be getting an interview.

 

Well since this is for MBB we need to organize the majors alphabetically into a chart and apply a different weightings under different scenarios to the major and the GPA components. Once we have our weighting adjusted numbers we can say which is best in a sentence that has a lot of "If then" and "or" statements.

Do y ou mind telling us which one is you so that we can put it on the bottom? There is more to getting an interview than Major and GPA.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

This is a pointless exercise. Major is only a consideration in the sub 3.8 range and even then it would never be something as specific as you want:

3.8+ = Have a good enough cover letter and resume not something stupid like a Comm major and you'll do fine 3.5-3.8 = Major will come into play if its something difficult like Math or Engineering or Physics, but will need to make an impression/network 3.4-3.5 = Better know somebody or be an engineer and even then, again, will need to network.

 

I would argue, as far as I've seen during recruiting/offer stages at McK/BCG, that it's quite common to see non-standard majors (i.e. not Econ or Math from targets, but sociology, history, etc) with high GPAs and some proven competency with quantitative coursework. Then again, also meet Math/Physics double majors with 3.8s from a target - GPA is the most important thing. I remember McK had a specific recruiting event for majors based in the humanities at my campus.

Even if your at a master's program, I think your undergrad GPA will matter to an extent. If you had a poor/mediocre undergrad GPA, your going to need to rock that master's program to have a shot.

 
FOXHOUND:

Even if your at a master's program, I think your undergrad GPA will matter to an extent. If you had a poor/mediocre undergrad GPA, your going to need to rock that master's program to have a shot.

I disagree. If you are in a master's program, your undergrad GPA will not matter. Your graduate GPA will and the program you are in will adequately reflect your undergraduate credentials (if you are in a top 5 graduate program it will be assumed that you did well enough in undergrad to get into the program).

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." Theodore Roosevelt
 

They all have decent GPAs, which shows a good work ethic. Its all about networking, having a compelling story, and discussing the "spark" that got you interested in banking well.

- Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered. - The harder you work, the luckier you become. - I believe in the "Golden Rule": the man with the gold rules.
 

I went all the way to the PhD level in Biochem and had applied to McKinsey through the APD program cold with no networking. They seem to have overlooked my 3.2 undergrad GPA in an engineering discipline from a target school.

In other words, spend five years in grad school hating life and you'll be all set to be a consultant.

 

At my firm:

1, 5 - yes with decent ECs 3 - yes with good ECs 4 - depends on the resume, cover letter, and my knowledge of the school's science program. i 2 - shredder unless recommended by a consultant

this is all for targets; frankly it's so unlikely to be recruiting from a non-target that if your resume shows up in a screen there's a reason for it and it'll probably slide on through (recommended, dad's a partner etc.)

 

Um, SAT scores are almost as important as GPAs.

Also, GPAs don't tell the whole story: - Trend in GPA - Did they have one crap semester - Did they inflate GPA by studying abroad, taking transfer classes, taking lots of language classes, pass/fails, etc. - The courseload. Was it challenging or not? Did the person take the hard or easy versions of classes? - Did the person take a few quant classes and do fine in them?

I hesitate to draw strong conclusions from the information provided.

 

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