Greenie nailed it. While academics like to know how much horsepower you have, high end finance is really turned off by lazy pieces of shit. Including a high GMAT is just proof you are a turd with a sense of entitlement. Some even find it insulting that you turned your nose on the educational opportunity you were given. In fact, you will not change and you will not bust your ass doing eighty hour weeks. Another reason I’m not a BSD on Wall Street. Finance is full of smart people WITH high GPAs. Nobody cares that everybody knew you were the smartest in your little sandbox but just didn’t care.
mentioning you’re of above average intelligence with no acheivements is a negative.
high intelligence + little acheivement = high entitlement = bad news for an employer unless a job requirement is writing the GMAT again or answering jeopardy questions.
yes, but when you have no experience or true credentials, is it not better to atleast seem smart? Smart w/ perhaps a past of laziness that you have learned from and grown to be better than > no experience/no credentials AND no evidence of intelligence. What is the past is the past for OP. He can’t go back and change his grades. All he can do is do his best to move forward
What do you mean by: " turned your nose on the educational opportunity you were given"?
The position i come from is the fear to not find a finance internship in London, even a very basic one. I really do not feel entitle to anything. I just want to show that all is not bad about my profile.
Can i not explain this in a motivation letter? Show them i understood the weaknesses of my profile, so i prepare and took the gmat to show that i have some potential, because i am determined to work in finance.
You all seem to think that CFA 2 alone is better than CFA 2 with gmat 750, because it will somehow show that i didn’t have to work very hard.
Does everybody agree with that?
If the number one priority for me is to find a internship starting january 2015, how should i spend my time?
Learn everything i can about the finance world and theories?
thanks for all your responses
i will spend some time networking but it’s not like i can do that every day.
What do you mean by: “producing samples of analytical work whether it be reports or whatever you want to move into.”?
I should do some financial analysis of my own? How could that help me?
You can’t tell the girl about what is not obvious unless she asks. It is a positive, but she will be turned off if you mention your eight and a half incher. Now if she asks, fair game. If the company cares, they will ask or have a space for it on their application. Just my two cents. I think it is a net negative. Believe it or not, low grades, high scores, is not uncommon and does not separate you. I understand the logic that if you are smart, you want people to know it, but the lack of skills and experience are the biggest complaints, not the lack of aptitude.
By coasting through your studies, you showed a lack of respect for all involved. Now if you worked full time and went to school, a pass may be given for your weak grades.
Is there no truth to this?
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You can’t tell the girl about what is not obvious unless she asks. It is a positive, but she will be turned off if you mention your eight and a half incher. Now if she asks, fair game. If the company cares, they will ask or have a space for it on their application. Just my two cents. I think it is a net negative. Believe it or not, low grades, high scores, is not uncommon and does not separate you. I understand the logic that if you are smart, you want people to know it, but the lack of skills and experience are the biggest complaints, not the lack of aptitude.
By coasting through your studies, you showed a lack of respect for all involved. Now if you worked full time and went to school, a pass may be given for your weak grades.
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Are they really going to ask for my grades for an internship??? If i pass the CFA lvl 2 what do they care about my undergrad grades in economics? Will they ask for all my grades since the high school exam??
Until you a actually do something in the real world, grades are all you’ve got.
If only it could be the same in France, I would have been so much more motivated to study hard.
In France the worst student in HEC Paris (the best business school in europe) will still have a better resume than the best student in a good university. And you can get into HEC Paris with average grades all you life! You just have to rock the exams. Then when you are in the school, this is all you need on your resume, they don’t ask for your grades.
Are they really all going to ask for my grades? Because in this case i may have to change my plans and look for an internship in Paris.
So if you’re capable of a top 1% GMAT, surely the HEC Paris exams would have been a breeze. Honestly you come across as quite naive. Perhaps that’s just language but it is what it is. If you think you can make up for past experience and poor grades by writing one exam, you’re wrong. Welcome to mediocrity. Only those HEC Paris or Harvard boys get to play at the top.
Knakoo, you obviously have your mind made up and are simply looking for affirmation of what you already want to know. So here’s my piece:
Go and put “scored 750 on GMAT and don’t want to go to grad school. Made mostly C’s in my hacksaw undergrad. But don’t think about that, because the 750 proves that I’m incredibly smart.” on your resume. That will scare the hedge fund managers shitless, knowing that you’re about to move into their territory.
For an added bonus, also make sure they know that you did nothing with your life but play poker for three years. That way, they’ll know that they have a real “feel no fear, take no prisoners” risk taker on their hands.
And if the resume isn’t enough to have them shaking in their collective boots, write a “motivation letter”, because nothing says MOTIVATION like a 750 GMAT and C’s in undergrad at a fourth-rate school. (Well, you could get the Chinese symbol for motivation tattooed on your ass or something. That would also, by definition, say “motivation”. In Chinese, no less.)
Move to London. Don’t have any money and don’t have a job? No worries. A guy with your talent won’t be on the streets for long.
Apply at Barclays. They obviously need somebody with your talent to be the CIO.
Become a billionaire. Make Analyst Forum proud. You have my blessing.
if you want to present that you are a smart guy, don’t put the GMAT score on. instead, get a GMAT score of 725 or better (or just take the Mensa application test, which is much cheaper), become a member of Mensa and put that on your resume. putting that on your resume won’t make you look as bad as getting a good GMAT score but not getting your MBA. it is also more likely that they will ask about it and that it will convey you as being smart, versus a good GMAT score, which isn’t always associated with extreme levels of intelligence. few people know what a 750 gmat score translates into in terms of intelligence but everyone knows mensa is a society for geniuses.
^ Would you really put Mensa membership on an application?
Am I the only one reading this guy saying he’s going to be top 1% of worldwide test takers for the GMAT and calling bs? This is like the PHD Finance professor who said he could pass all CFA levels without studying except this guy has nothing to back it up. I don’t think you understand how much of an accomplishment it is to achieve that score.
PS. You can test into MENSA via the GMAT: http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscores/, but I wouldn’t go around saying that. I’d be more proud of the score, but I want to go to B-School.
Well if the only thing needed to get into HEC Paris was a test like the GMAT, maybe i could have gotten in; but of course this is not that simple. You have to take several exams including several dissertations, and then you have an interview when they check what you did with your life. (professionnal and personnal experiences, sports…)
So if you are brilliant but had average/good grades all your life, you can get in.
But i am not brilliant at all. I am just excellent at anything ressembling an IQ test. I don’t think this is even very unusual. Many high IQ people completly fail in their studies. I don’t even believe an aptitude test really show how smart someone is. I don’t have very good expression skills or memory. But they don’t test that on the Gmat.
Finally i don’t want to play at the top, I just want an entry level internship. Then who knows what can happen.
Related note: I was told not to mention that during an interview. They will figure it out that you are smart when they speak with you.
Actually as i said on the other topic, considering the concensus against my idea, i am surely not going to take the gmat.
But if anyone disagree with the concensus please let me know.
So Mensa membership not an option on a resume?
Maybe in the “Other interests” section at the bottom. I wish I could answer better for you. There are other hiring managers here that could answer.