UC-Berkeley student with low GPA seeking IB/finance position,do I have a shot?

<p>Recently I diverted career paths from the sciences and decided to do economics as my major. I am currently a senior at UC-Berkeley. GPA is roughly 3.1. I am going to be a senior and I am looking into Investment Banking or Finance as my career options. I haven't taken alot of math courses. I scored 5 on AP CALC BC and I took a calculus course at a community college and got an A. At Berkeley, I took a few business/economics courses, Financial Accounting (B+), Intro To Organization Behavior (B+), Microeconomics (B+), Macroeconomics (B), Modern Industrial Organization (A+), International Trade (B-). I also took a statistics courses and got a C+ </p>

<p>I know my GPA is pretty terrible (primarily because I had to take care of some family issues my first 2 years in school, my 3rd year I got straigt A's/A-s) and I don't really have any experience in Finance nor IB. In my first 3 years in college I worked as a lab assistant in the hospital, a tutor at a school, and several insignificant small jobs here and there. I was a straight A student in highschool and I feel my gpa is not at all reflective of my capabilities. </p>

<p>So I got one year left in school and I was wondering what courses I should take to boost my chances for getting a IB or Finance internship/full-time job? How can I make myself a more competitive applicant? And is there any resources I can study to learn more about finance and IB?</p>

<p>thanks for all your help in advance :)</p>

<p>based SOLELY on ur GPA and work ex things dont look good.</p>

<p>Although there is a wealth of info on this forum MOST of the ppl here are hs seniors or college grads who themselves have very little to no experience in IB or finance so maybe a better place to ask would be some1 whos graduated from UCB and working in finance/IB atm. thats my 2 cents. However u can always read the replies ur gonna get now and be amused at how much ppl will fight over their opinions rofl</p>

<p>Just base on my own research of some firms you may have to either go BB for a few years or get a masters degree. Now I know JPM accepts applicants at 3.4 so you may have to work your ass off with some A’s to get even their appeal.</p>

<p>what does BB stand for? And i do plan on staying a fifth year in school to take more finance courses to boost my GPA</p>

<p>No offense, but if you plan on going into IB and you don’t know what BB stands for…then you definitely need to do a lot more research. BB stands for Bulge Bracket, and it is commonly used to refer to the largest investment banks. </p>

<p>A good forum for IB: is [WallStreetOasis.com</a> | Wall Street Community, Career Advice, and Business News](<a href=“http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/]WallStreetOasis.com”>http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/)
A good website for reference is: [Understanding</a> Investment Banking | Mergers & Inquisitions](<a href=“http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/]Understanding”>http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/)</p>

<p>Secondly, make sure what your getting into when you’re interested in IB. Expect long work weeks, little job security, boring and monotonous work (as an analyst at least), and insane competition for jobs. From what I’ve read, it seems that every business/finance/economics major wants to get into IB (a bit of an over-exaggeration, but relatively true) for the sake of prestige.</p>

<p>And being at a semi-target, you should contact some alumni of Berkeley working in IB.</p>

<p>thanks for the links, i have been surveying the mergers and acquisitions website, from what i have read it does indeed sound like a tough field, but i really believe I can make it in this field</p>

<p>I wouldnt say berkley is a semi target. But yeah contact alumni</p>

<p>Dude, Ganthor is kinda right. BB’s are not in ur interest. Try some smaller stuff, like Farallon (where my bro’s workin’, but its kinda super competitive), or McGladrey Capital Markets LLC (where my cousin works, and got in with a 3.6 gpa…from Marquette University), or Macquarie Group (which my bro said is great, but easy for Americans since its Australian).</p>