<p>I'm a junior at a top 10 school and I have a 3.1 GPA. My major is Economics, and a minor in Computer Science. I originally planned on pursuing ibanking, but that route is probably way too rigorous for me. I attend a highly ranked school. My question is, how heavily will this affect me? What should I do, apply to grad school/do a masters?</p>
<p>Anybody in this forum that share a similar experience.</p>
<p>I was in the same situation (Penn, 3.1 cumulative, 3.48 major GPA). I was determined to get a job in the private sector because further school at this stage would have just added letters to my name without doing anything productive. The economy is better now than it was two years ago, when I was looking for jobs… it took me 52 applications, seven first round interviews and four second round interviews to get any offers, but I’ve been happily and gainfully employed for more than a year and a half now.</p>
<p>My advice to you is to make your resume as good as possible; practice your interview skills; figure out what industry you want to go into (by industry, I mean industry in the very broad sense - banking vs. consulting vs. marketing, etc), apply to all of the companies you can first, and if you have no luck, look outside of that industry; do not write a stock cover letter (it’s obvious and not helpful). Be ready for a lot of frustration. And, most importantly, start early… by that I mean, you should start doing your research in June, and you should be ready to hit the ground running when recruiting season starts in September.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what is your school?</p>
<p>the poster’s info under their name says Duke '14</p>
<p>Just because your grades aren’t superior, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be unemployable. Especially when coming from Duke.</p>
<p>Many employers will look at the Duke name and never even ask what your grades were (not that 3.1 is anything to be embarrassed about). I went to Princeton and knew a guy with low grades (2.2, perhaps 2.4) who applied to a major company and was granted an interview (this was during the early 1980’s recession – unemployment was as high as it is now). The interviewer told him that he received 100 resumes a day, but pulled his out of the pile because of the Princeton name. They didn’t ask to see his transcript until after they offered him a job, and that was only to confirm that he had actually gone to Princeton and was on track to graduate. He was very successful there, by the way.</p>
<p>Perhaps one or two potential employers in my career have asked what my grades were, although I didn’t really do after big companies.</p>
<p>I also know someone else with a 2.7 average who performed well on the job after graduation, later went to a top 5 business school, and ended up in investment banking.</p>
<p>Investment banking isn’t the only way to make a living, by the way. Many people find the hours and the mindset brutal, and the analyst jobs that recent college grads get to be mind-numbingly boring.</p>
<p>Companies hire people, not transcripts. Although some companies may rule you out because your GPA isn’t 3.8, most won’t. Do your best to make a good impression. Use the Duke alumni network heavily – many will go out of their way to help you. Rather than solely try to bust into Goldman (which isn’t impossible for you, but is hard for anyone), consider the smaller shops, too. Consider other industries. Don’t depend on the traditional job hunting methods, such as on-campus interviews and posted ads. Use networking, the alumni network, as I already mentioned, and direct mail.</p>
<p>Launch an all-fronts job hunting campaign and you’ll find a good job.</p>
<p>PS: ChrisW’s advice above is all very good.</p>
<p>PSS: When my friend was running a department for Goldman, he did much of his own entry-level recruitment. His main criteria was not GPA by any means. When I asked him what it was, he was looking for a certain je ne sais quoi that he couldn’t himself describe, but he knew it when he saw it.</p>
<p>People hire people. People who fit, people with whom they connect, people who will fill a certain gap personally and professionally within their organization.</p>