Why do BB BO roles have higher GPA requirement than Front Office positions?

Im on a BB career website looking at SA roles now and for Back office positions, the min. GPA is a 3.5

For positions such as IB or Investment Management, the Min. GPA is a 3.2

28 Comments
 
jkteconIt's probably harder to get the A at Penn state to be honest, where were you going with that?
Do you actually think so? Having gone to both a "target" and a "non-target", there is an enormous difference in difficulty, and this has been confirmed by everything else I've ever heard.
 
jkteconIt's probably harder to get the A at Penn state to be honest, where were you going with that?
Are you serious?

If you took the an average kid and put him into a finance class and Penn State and the equivalent class at Wharton, you really think that he'd get a better grade at Wharton?

 
timatom90
jkteconIt's probably harder to get the A at Penn state to be honest, where were you going with that?
Are you serious?

If you took the an average kid and put him into a finance class and Penn State and the equivalent class at Wharton, you really think that he'd get a better grade at Wharton?

I think you'd be pretty surprised...

 
15xEBITDAThey did a study that found that private schools had far more grade inflation than public schools
Yeah, but not every private school is a target, nor is every public school a non-target; you can't just use private and public as proxies for good and bad schools either, because there are plenty of crappy private schools and plenty of good public schools.
 

Yes, but students are retarded at a non-target. You need to compare what people accomplish to get an A, not how many get one.

 
bbballerYes, but students are retarded at a non-target. You need to compare what people accomplish to get an A, not how many get one.
Agreed. One of my friends at Princeton articulated this pretty nicely: "imagine if approximately 20% of the students in every class that you take are already world-class in that subject and came to your school to focus on the material the course covered, and imagine if only 20% of the class gets an A." Sorta what the competition is like.
 
ensalada
bbballerYes, but students are retarded at a non-target. You need to compare what people accomplish to get an A, not how many get one.
Agreed. One of my friends at Princeton articulated this pretty nicely: "imagine if approximately 20% of the students in every class that you take are already world-class in that subject and came to your school to focus on the material the course covered, and imagine if only 20% of the class gets an A." Sorta what the competition is like.

this is to some extent true at other target colleges, its just that that last number is like 35%. Still tough if you are completely out of your depth (i.e. taking accelerated Arabic for fun), but more manageable if you are casually interested. Which actually might be a good thing in a liberal arts university.

 

Nah, it's fairly easy to get As at Targets if you're not brain-dead. Most of the professors don't care at all, and tests are pretty easy to game. Essays might get graded harshly depending on the TA, but they tend to be fair. Unless you go to Princeton, a 3.5 at a top target isn't that amazing.

The official cut-off could be 1.5 for all it matters... when associates review your (uh, that is, our...) resumes, they have an unofficial cut-off in mind, usually a 3.5.

 
Best Response

BB BOs get an outrageous amount of resumes. While FO positions at top BBs are recruiting about 10-15 target schools, while BO recruits from 50-60 schools that have much bigger student populations then the FO targets, the result is a pile of resumes, so with a 3.5 cutoff you cut down the amount of resumes you have to go through.

I went to a career fair at a large state university a few years back with my firm (BB) and got 200+ resumes out of which we could only interview 20 or so people.

 
trailmix8BB BOs get an outrageous amount of resumes. While FO positions at top BBs are recruiting about 10-15 target schools, while BO recruits from 50-60 schools that have much bigger student populations then the FO targets, the result is a pile of resumes, so with a 3.5 cutoff you cut down the amount of resumes you have to go through.

I went to a career fair at a large state university a few years back with my firm (BB) and got 200+ resumes out of which we could only interview 20 or so people.

this.

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
 
tlynch5
trailmix8BB BOs get an outrageous amount of resumes. While FO positions at top BBs are recruiting about 10-15 target schools, while BO recruits from 50-60 schools that have much bigger student populations then the FO targets, the result is a pile of resumes, so with a 3.5 cutoff you cut down the amount of resumes you have to go through.

I went to a career fair at a large state university a few years back with my firm (BB) and got 200+ resumes out of which we could only interview 20 or so people.

this.

Wharton has exactly the same grade deflation policy as Princeton, and has had it for decades before Princeton's. Only difference is you can't major in things like english at Wharton and you are competing over the exact same courses for the vast majority of your career, so it really sucks.

 
trailmix8BB BOs get an outrageous amount of resumes. While FO positions at top BBs are recruiting about 10-15 target schools, while BO recruits from 50-60 schools that have much bigger student populations then the FO targets, the result is a pile of resumes, so with a 3.5 cutoff you cut down the amount of resumes you have to go through.

I went to a career fair at a large state university a few years back with my firm (BB) and got 200+ resumes out of which we could only interview 20 or so people.

The only good answer I can see here.

 

For some reason, MO/BO positions have higher GPA requirements. JPM FO requires a 3.2 GPA JPM MO/BO requires a 3.5 GPA This is the case since an A at a state school is not the same as an A in Wharton.

Yes everyone is game when you get an interview since the GPA is what gets you the interview. However, it is ultimately up to the interviewer. They might be biased and prefer "target' students to non-target etc.

 
BernankeyYou have it backwards. FO is 3.5 or more.. MO/BO is usually above 3.0
THIS. I got my start in the BO and they didn't even ask for it. After you work for a little while, the FO assumes your resume is good and you just have to meet the right person/people.
Get busy living
 

GPA's don't matter as much when you Network, Network, Network. Anything above a 3.3 with solid networking should not be a huge problem. I didn't say it won't be hard, but with the right work you'll be ok.

XX
 

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