Comments on: Help! My GPA Sucks!

By: SATs, GMATs & LSATs, Oh My! Resume help! | BankonBanking.com | Bank on Banking

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:10:37 +0000

[...] banker resume outside of the usual work experience and [ESPECIALLY] GPA-type questions (check out This and This for more!). Yes, those questions are still very common (and rightly so), but there are a [...]

By: IBanker

IBanker — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:04:55 +0000

There is always a way of turning a summer internship into a FT position – your big points of focus will be on performing your job very well, networking and meeting other groups to increase your chances, and, of course, keeping your eyes open in terms of available opportunities. That said, considering you are an intern who has graduated already, you will definitely want to make a big push to find a FT opp since you will not have the opportunity to go through FT recruiting next year. Additionally, considering you have already graduated, I’m not sure if this internship is different than the standard SA internship (for college juniors) or whether they just made an exception for you.

By: elena

elena — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:37:34 +0000

Hi I just graduated this year and I will be interning with BB. however I just received my results and my degree is just a pass, which I think is worse than a 3.0 (since i’m from non US school, economics degree and top 10 university in the world and in my country). is there any way of turning the summer internship into FT offer?

thanks

By: IBanker

IBanker — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:55:28 +0000

If you’ve been working in banking for over 6 years, you should either be a senior associate or a VP by now. In that case, I would just take your GPA off of your resume as it shouldn’t be a huge issue anymore – the deals you’ve worked on, client relationships, etc is far more important at this stage if you are considering a move to another bank, for example. If you have to disclose your GPA, then absolutely mention the balancing act between work and a FT job in IB (although 40 hrs per week in IB does sound really light – I think a ton of bankers would love to know how to go about getting those types of hours). For your resume, I would either remove the GPA, or just highlight the major GPA.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:21:28 +0000

I have a gpa of 2.87, however I have been working in banking for the past 6 and 1/2 years. While taking 13-15 hours a semester I was working 40 hours a week. Is this something I should point out?

By: IBanker

IBanker — Sat, 22 May 2010 03:25:11 +0000

As a Harvard senior with a SA BB position you are in good shape, especially since, if you perform well, you will have a FT offer come completion. That said, listing your GPA is really a judgment call – honestly, with a 3.3 I’d list the cumulative GPA, but also highlight the major GPA as it is much better. A 3.3, however, is not a bad cumulative at all – in fact, if you don’t list it, some people will think your cumulative is more like a 3.0. I would list both in your position and, of course, highlight your SA position to further take the attention away from your less than outstanding cumulative.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:34:22 +0000

I was wondering a bit about target schools. Let’s say you have a 3.3 GPA as a rising senior at Harvard with a BB SA internship. How will this play out in FT recruiting? If your major were like a 3.6 or 3.7 should you simply list that?

By: IBanker

IBanker — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:17:44 +0000

Thanks. Generally speaking, different majors warrant a bit of different consideration – a lower GPA from an engineering major or math major in a top school is often comparable to a higher GPA from a history major or something not as analytically demanding. That said, an honors degree vs. a non-honors degree and choosing difficult coursework or not as difficult coursework generally won’t have much of an impact – in this case your GPA and getting it as high as you can is definitely most important. Difficult courses in fields such as accounting or finance can help since they will definitely be relevant to IB – but difficult courses in general won’t help you as much as keeping your GPA up. You should work on raising your GPA, as much as you can, and highlight your major GPA (if it’s higher than a 3.4) to take the focus off of your CPGA.

By: Warren

Warren — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:38:58 +0000

Great article. Well I currently have 3.25 CGPA (third year), with honors degree in economics. Does IB give any extra credits for being honors and taking harder courses rather than graduating with major degree? Would the consulting company also be evaluating the CGPAs in a smiliar manner?

By: IBanker

IBanker — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:04:54 +0000

It all depends on how many courses you’ve taken and how many you are currently taking accounting for that 3.0. If you have taken 20 courses and are taking 2 to earn that 3.0, then you won’t hit that 2.0 – but if you’ve taken only a handful or courses and are taking a standard course load now, then yes, it is possible.