[Anonymous]

I have been focused on a career in the Big Four since high school. My parents were in public accounting, mother was once a director at PwC doing audit under the Consulting wing (left when her division was sold to IBM),and I am absolutely in love with the firm.

Anyhow, I started college at an average university. I was an honor student, got high grades (3.8), excelled, and eventually transferred to UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce. It is ranked as a top 5 undergraduate business school, admission is very tight, and I was blessed to get in as with any applicant.

Prior to the end of my Fall semester in my junior year (the semester I transferred), I went through recruitment and earned an audit internship with PwC. While entering the new school as a transfer, my grades dropped that semester to under a 3.1…

The grades are somewhat deflated given the rigor of the school. Its ranked #2 in the country, recruited by wall street investment banks, has a 12% transfer admit rate (unfortunately a similar % transfer drop out rate), a quarter of the school is from overseas, the classes have a 3.3 gpa curved average, etc, etc.

I genuinely feel like I have what it takes to go far in the Big Four; I was raised seeing what it took, but I am getting fearful about the GPA I have. I am hoping you guys can give me advice. Should I reach out to the partner/recruiter that interviewed me? How does the rigor of the school and act of transferring play into all of this?

[fuzyfro89]

I don't know anything about UVA business school. Since the avg is a 3.3, you are below avg… according to your data.

I went to a large public school in the southeast, and our gpa range was that a minority of people with offers had GPAs below 3.4. Not a knock on anything, but there were simply plenty of students with avg to above avg GPAs who also had the right extracurriculars and were personable. The lower GPA students were cut, unless they excelled in another area. 3.0 was generally seen as a cutoff.

From other schools, “lesser” schools in the state (not to be one of those d*bags, but yes, there were schools they hired many more people from), the colleagues I remember from there were either minorities and/or had fantastic resumes and hit all the right requirements.

In your situation, I imagine UVA business school will help a lot, but it really depends on your competition and how much the firms want to hire from UVA. There's usually a budget, or range, and I imagine UVA has a substantial budget… but I also think there's a lot of qualified candidates. Your GPA won't improve overnight, but you can work on that over time. This semester and fall semester, work on developing the rest of the resume to help out, and start networking with people at the firms when they come to campus. Being very likable and reasonably intelligent will get you far, so long as you meet the bare minimum requirements.

[Anonymous]

1. You are overthinking it, 2. A 3.1 GPA is not bad per say, 3. Talking about you high ranked school and grade deflation makes you appear a d*bag don't do it and 4. Especially don't reach out to the partner that interviewed u and act like a d*bag, 5. You got the internship and as long as u perform you'll get an offer – just try to keep ur GPA above a 3.0, 6. No one should be as obsessed/in love with big 4 as you and no one should be dreaming about it during high school. Your shiny image of it will decrease very quickly after you've been there a year or two. In other words, chill. Relax and try to enjoy your last year of college.:). Everything will work out ok.

[Tripp11]

Unfortunately, some firms have cut-off GPA's and it doesn't matter what school you went to or what other qualifications/attributes you feel you have.

We recruit extensively from a Top 10 National business school, but I never hear any of the candidates talk about how high their business school ranks or how difficult the classes are at that school. I think even the mere mention of those things is simply you feeling insecure about your own GPA.

From my experience, I think it in your best interests to increase your GPA. While a 3.1 GPA isn't an awful GPA, you will be competing with candidates with 3.5 GPA's and greater.

Learn as much as you can from your internship. Bust your ass and get your GPA up. Do not talk to the partner who recruited you about this. If the firm likes what you do during your internship, and you are a hard and smart worker, the GPA stuff will shake it's way out for you.

AUD - 93
BEC - 80
REG - 86
FAR - 83

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys, I guess I just need to buckle down and do what I can to raise my GPA as far as it can go. Its a bummer since I had a lot supporting me at my former school (gpa, leadership positions, accounting-related experience, etc). Anyone else feel like your former work gets pushed aside as a transfer? I wish my school GPAs could just be averaged where it would give me a 3.5+ GPA, but it looks like the 3.1 is what I have now.

[Anonymous]

Unless your grades drop dramatically (which it doesn't sound like they have), an internship with a Big 4 firm pretty much guarantees a full time offer as long as you have a strong work ethic and they feel that your personality is compatible with the firm.

[Anonymous]

I got into EY with a sub 3 GPA. Worked there for 4 years. If they accept your resume they know they will hire you IF you have a personality and will fit as a team member. I feel that the Big 4 selects only resumes from people the will knowingly hire based on merit (i.e.- GPA/experience/etc.). Once you get a foot in the door its about getting rid of people that do NOT meet the firms culture.

Seeing as you have connections. DO not sweat it..

[LongShot]

Here's a pro-tip: as long as your overall GPA meets their floor, then nobody cares. Nobody cared about my perfect 4.0 from grad school and they won't care about yours. You're over 3.0 and that's really all that matters.

FAR - 75
AUD - 72; 87
REG - 64; 74; 84
BEC - 88

Done!!

[Anonymous]

@longshot thank you so much for your advice, and thank you to everyone. Would this be my overall uva gpa or two university gpas combined? The reason I ask is my overall college performance across schools will not fall bellow the gpa cut (3.0), but uva's has the possibility to temporarily graze underneath that as i move through junior year weed-out courses.

Kind Regards to all.

[Anonymous]

Why do you care so much about your undergraduate GPA? You do know you need 150 credits to get CPA and master is a good way out right?

I currently work for PwC (right now I am in my break). My undergraduate GPA is 3.17 (last 2 years because I transferred). Overall is 3.03 (4 years). My master GPA is 3.5 (not high but not low).

You will have your chance. But I understand as an individual who barely experienced all of those big 4 recruiting, interviews, or other close contacts, you may be sensitive and worried about a lot of things, such as your GPA or maybe your working experience.

I will just say “do you best” because it is really something that matters. If you think your best is 3.1, then you have the wrong dream.

[Author]

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