<p>Hey all, I'm a freshman at NYU Stern and was wondering how important GPA is when looking for a job. Is it true that if your GPA is below 3.0 you shouldn't even list it? I remember seeing that the Stern median is 2.7, so the majority of kids would not want to put down their GPA? I don't think my GPA will be too horrible, probably low 3s or so by the end of this semester, but i have not yet started the "real" Stern stuff. Oh and btw I do not plan on doing grad school or anything directly after school. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>all the interviewnet jobs ask for your gpa, sat scores on your resume. theyll generally ask for major gpas and overall gpas. in addition, when you fill out the online application (theyll ask you to do that too) theyll ask for gpa, grades and often times youll upload an unofficial transcript. If you gpa sucks youre generally out of the running for banking and trading unless you have great internships from during the year to make up for it. From my experience (former Sternie, now in CAS) i interviewed for about 20-30 positions and it was the same 30-40 faces throughout the process interviewing against me. if your gpa isnt great youll most likely get pegged into back office jobs, but never count out luck. not to mention there is a bidding system for full time recruiting, once you get there. youre guaranteed like 4-5 interviews. My roommates good friend from UVA has a 1.9 ( i think its more like 2.5 now) gpa and is work at bear stearns banking. He explained it away and had lots of **** to show beyond it. His major gpa was also a 3.5 (he had a few Fs).</p>
<p>I would say out of Sterns 500 students, seems like 200-300 actually wanna do front office banking jobs, about 50 (maybe some more) do ibanking, 20 or so do trading, 10 or so do big 5 management consulting. some do middle office **** and lower level asset management like jp morgan asset management plus random sorta jobs like blackrock. The vast majority become accountants, controllers or do tier 2 tier 3 consulting.</p>
<p>since youre a freshman, you know what you need to do. get As. you have 4 more semesters to do that before summer analyst recruiting. even for random careernet internships, if its a decent job theyll ask for your gpa. I worked at a hedge fund and we were replacing me and taking resumes from columbia and nyu. i just threw out anyone not putting on their gpa cuz it was either unprofessional to not include it or a terrible gpa. any sort of good internship will get about 100-200 resumes. For summer analyst, the banking and trading jobs got about 300-500 resumes each.</p>
<p>Stupid question, but the same SATs you took in HS?</p>
<p>yea stupid question.</p>
<p>what?!! SATs are needed beyond college admissions?! is it acceptable for people to take their SATs again in college for these resumes?</p>
<p>I don't think SAT's will ever be looked at again. It only is used to get to college. Otherwise, it will never matter. Nothing you do in high school will really matter much.</p>
<p>well it doesnt matter what you think. All standardized test scores are asked for by the bulge brackets. A huge range of kids go to good schools, esp a place like NYU. Notice those SAT ranges you all taut, median 1423 or whatever, well some people are coming in with a 1300 and some with a 1500. I came in with a 1530 and a scholarship while some kids came in with 1200 and nothing. Banks want smart people who are both naturally intelligent and hard working and have been that way for more than just college. Weed out the kids that cant take a multiple choice test. Barclays specifically said they would not take anyone with less than a 1350, McKinsey and BCG no less than 1500, Lehman asked for breakdown, most trading jobs ask for a breakdown or at least your math score. Citadel, De Shaw, and other prestigious hedge funds ask for all standardized test scores.
I do know kids who did not do well on the SATs and worked there way up to banking jobs. Some have cut offs, some dont, just like for gpa.</p>
<p>I dont think the SAT means too much, it definitely doesnt mean youre necessarily smart if you have a high score, but it does mean youre stupid if you have a low score. Its just a way to net out people. Seriouslly if you cant score above a 700 on math, you can't do simple math or at least be accurate and in a set amount of time. Thats basically what trading requires.</p>
<p>'but it does mean youre stupid if you have a low score."</p>
<p>This is offensive and completely untrue. Additionally, the ability to communicate and write well in any field or industry means all the difference. THAT is the truth.
Ocean</p>
<p>you're right. 1/2 of the SATs is verbal or now 1/3. Now writing is another 1/3. You have 3 years to prepare for a multiple choice test where you need like an 80/100 (if it were a normal exam) to get above a 1400 (or 2100). Its not the test in itself but the fact that you have so much time to prepare for 1 standardized unchanged test which has a jillion pieces of preparation material and isnt so hard to begin with. As far as interpersonal skills, youre right, thats stuffs unquantifiable and important, but there are enough harvard/yale/etc grads who have both great general academic ability and interpersonal skills. There is a high correlation between SAT scores and GPAs also (duh). Not to mention SAT score and family income, which says more about the quality of education in america for the low income.</p>
<p>Point is, yes, if you cant hit a certain bar in the SATs its not the end all. But if you took it like 3 times and put 1000 hours into getting 500s, youre prob not the brightest bulb in the ceiling. Not to say one won't succeed in life, but in academics. Cuz college is a series of tests. ANd med school/lawschool/business careers use GPA, SAT, and other non quantifiables to judge someone. I dont know my point, but yea, it doesnt mean youre an idiot if you have a low score, just that youre not good at math/verbal/writing which are pretty important for many careerpaths and general important in determining ones ability to think about things (logic skills, ability to write, ability to understand literature etc). Its interesting how people that say SATs mean nothing generally have low scores themselves. I agree that they dont mean much, but they do weed out a certain group of individuals.</p>
<p>Just think, what did some of your dumbest, most unambitious friends get on their SATs. And what did your bright, hard working friends get? For me and everyone Ive met along the way, it points to one conclusion. But you disagree, thats fine.</p>
<p>And i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings. and if you feel like name calling, feel free, I dont get offended as easily. I mean, if you know you're smart why be insecure about it.</p>
<p>'And i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings. and if you feel like name calling, feel free, I dont get offended as easily. I mean, if you know you're smart why be insecure about it."</p>
<p>LOL! Considering i didn't call anyone a name. I found this amusing. And telling. I simply posted an opinion different from yours, and I'm hardly hurt. However, I suspect you might be. I'm sorry that you are having a hard time with this.
Ocean</p>
<p>its just the norm that people start name calling, swearing and start citing academic journals whenever they disagree with something. its good we're fine with the difference of opinion. its not telling, i was just trying to pre empt the usual nonsense. (ie calling me a pompous egotistical jerk, i wouldnt wanna work in your industry with you anyways)</p>
<p>"its just the norm that people start name calling, swearing and start citing academic journals whenever they disagree with something. its good we're fine with the difference of opinion. its not telling, i was just trying to pre empt the usual nonsense. (ie calling me a pompous egotistical jerk, i wouldnt wanna work in your industry with you anyways)"</p>
<p>So what you're saying is that you're "paranoid"? <grin>
Ocean</grin></p>
<p><grin>!! ;) ;) LOL!!!</grin></p>
<p>grouchomarxist: k, so my scores are math: 800, cr: 650, w: 710(i didnt care aboout this section since my colleges aren't factoring writing for first year)...</p>
<p>so if 1500 is cutoff for some companies i shud probaly retake for 700 verbal then?</p>
<p>you are fine. the management consulting companies generally only go to harvard, princeton, yale, columbia anyways. theyve used it as a cutoff at stern. it would be an idiotic reason to retake the SATs, just to join one possible company that is super competative regardless of SAT score. (McKinsey had a minimum gpa req. of 3.7, min SAT req of 1500. they took one sternie, BCG was similar). I interviewed with 20-30 firms for full time, about 15 for summer analyst, 3 offers in total. With that SAT score youll get into good schools and get good interviews. Its moreso to make sure you didnt slip through the cracks (they generally dont want any one lower than 1300 unless you have something to compensate with like good work experience or a 4.0) and also see if youre more verbal or numerical. firms weigh everything for and on interviews, school, difficulty of majors, classes taken, ECs, work experience (most important), standardized test scores, interests, communication. dont obsess over one but try to do as much as you can and do the things you enjoy well. DO NOT TAKE THE SATs again. My original point is that the SATs do matter for a period, then the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT matter, but really just as a quick means of comparison.</p>
<p>groucho.. what if im a HS sr and i barely missed 1350.. should i retake them this coming january although colleges probably won't see them, at least i can say that i broke 1400s (M & CR) when im getting asked about my SAT scores?</p>
<p>So I guess the SAT is important even after you get into college...</p>
<p>While I can't speak for what is happening at Stern, and I agree with GrouchoMarxist that it is probably foolish to retake your SAT, I would say that if you are really thinking of retaking a test in order to get a job, you may want to think of taking the GMAT. After all, think of it this way. A lot of you will probably want to go to B-school later anyway so you will need to have taken the GMAT. The GMAT is good for 5 years. Even if your GMAT score expires and you have to take it again, it is still good practice to have done it before. Again, I don't know what is happening at Stern, but at other schools, I would argue that a good GMAT score will be more impressive than a good SAT score for getting a business job. </p>
<p>But again, I do not recommend taking any of these tests. What I'm saying is that if you're going to take a test, you might want to consider the GMAT.</p>