<p>I know a dozen people, close friends, who all work in banking. All went to T50 schools and make way more than 90k, all in. </p>
<p>Lol, adjusted for inflation. Dude, unless you are comparing banker salaries in the 80’s to today, inflation has nothing to do with it. Maybe adjusted on a per hour basis, but if you are working in the same time period as someone else, inflation hits you just as hard as it hits them. </p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>This thread is so much fun. The level of misinformation and amateur hour advice is hilarious.</p>
<p>Dude, the info you are giving out is wrong or from a small sample set. Stick to talking about the day in the life of a jr. accountant. You know nothing about banking or finance and trying to tell kids about it is a disservice. </p>
<p>You know one bankers with a Columbia MBA making only 85k hahahahahhhahaha</p>
<p>That is the most BS thing I have ever heard. Street base salary for an analyst is 70K (1st year). MBA’s come in as associates far more than 85-90K for a base salary. </p>
<p>i dunno i think 3.5 is not that high. I had a 4.0 in my undergraduate major, overall 3.8. As a grad student I’ve only had 1 B in the last 5 semesters…</p>
<p>Anyone know what would be a decent GPA at my school? (Boston University)</p>
<p>We have pretty bad grade deflation, there’s several news articles about it but we are ranked pretty well (28 or something close I believe in most rankings)</p>
<p>I’ll be graduating with enough credits for the CPA if that matters (172 in four years)</p>
<p>Clearly you cannot read finance guy I said in one of my prior posts “my friend has a degree in economics”. He has a bachelors in economics from columbia university not an MBA! 90k is not unusually low for investment banking. Right now I am purchasing a 5 bedroom 4 bath brand new home. That is far better than my friend in NY can buy on his 90k package.</p>
<p>"The only person I personally know that got a job at an I Bank graduated from Columbia with a degree in economics. He currently works in M&A. I asked him about this topic the other day and he mentioned his bank only recruits at top ranked schools. He wasn’t even a business major his undergraduate is in math and economics. He had a 3.62 gpa. Which from Columbia is very impressive. </p>
<p>Still he makes less than I do adjusted for inflation. He makes much less than my buddy that works in management consulting. He has an MBA from a top tier business school though. Last year his compensation was 65k salary plus bonus of 25k. He told me that it is possible to make the bonuses that are mentioned but few people hit those types of bonuses. Most hit a bonus between 20-30k. Which is still a lot."</p>
<p>Your just here to promote your stupid site. I don’t believe you ever worked in banking or anything else in the finance field. You cannot read even though you have 2 masters degrees…</p>
<p>EXACTLY what I was thinking. Why would a young professional need 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms? Need gift wrapping rooms do you? Maybe on Mondays and Wednesdays you take a dump in bathroom #2, #3 Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then mix it up with #4 and #1 on the weekend?!</p>
<p>How about you two just have a ****ing contest and call it a day?</p>
<p>End of the day, Valley’s point is simply if you go to a very unknown school with a low GPA, you will have trouble. I still say that you can easily network and that accounting has a lower barrier to entry than most other fields. I am friends with a bunch of LeMoyne grads who got into solid accounting firms. They had 3.5’ish GPA’s.</p>
<p>Here is the thing. If you have a high GPA it is in your benefit to make the GPA seem like a super important thing. If you have a low GPA it is in your benefit to make it seem like GPA is not important. </p>
<p>I am at the point where performance and hunger is much more important than someone who takes tests well. GPA without knowing all the other factors doesn’t tell you anything. Some people work during school, some transfer and lose the prior schools GPA, some find themselves later in their college career, etc. </p>
<p>I tell people to network and fight for what they want. GPA is important, but not an end all be all. </p>
<p>When someone compares an accounting salary and a banking salary and says accountants make more, it isn’t inflation, but a per hour break down. This is a crappy comparison since it assumes everyone can work as many hours as they want. Accountants and bankers are both salaried workers. Accountants make less and work less. Bankers make more, but work more. That is it in a nutshell. The exit opportunities, bonuses, etc are all different. </p>
<p>I personally feel Valley’s tone and demeanor to be insulting. Telling undergrads who are looking for advice that you can’t work in accounting if you have less than a 3.5 is wrong and completely uncalled for. Especially when the person making this statement is a fresh grad with a couple years work experience.</p>
<p>My buddy who I am drinking with tonight went to a lowish ranked school with a 3.4 and is working at a big 4 accounting firm. Just one of many data points I have.</p>
<p>A GPA is just one metric on which candidates are evaluated and doesn’t guarantee or destroy your chances of landing a quality job. If you are above a 3.0 your doing fine, an intelligent employer/recruiter uses a baseline GPA (which varies) to determine your work ethic and capability. Lets face it, if you are below a 3.0 you either won’t be able to handle the work load of a high end job or didn’t make school enough of a priority. If you weren’t willing to put in the time to get acceptable grades in school why would an intelligent employer believe you will put in the time to do quality work?</p>
<p>If you’re above a 3.0, good, keep it there. You should spend the rest of your free time developing skills that are going to differentiate you from other candidates and make you stand out during an interview.</p>
<p>First, there is no reason for “classless posts.” Please show some discretion and diplomacy when posting. I hate seeing uncalled for rudeness. Even if I feel someone is off base with their comments or even outright wrong, It is my policy to try not to demean anyone or be rude.</p>
<p>As for getting jobs in accounting, it will be very hard to get a job with a big 4 if you have under a 3.5 in accounting and overall a 3.4, which is probably where Valley is “coming from.” However, clearly, there are accounting jobs for people with less than these statistics. However, I would suggest that if the GPA falls below a 3.0 then it will be tough finding a job in public accounting. It won’t be impossible,but it will be a lot tougher.</p>