Grade Inflation at Top Schools and Its Impact on Campus Recruiting?

[Anonymous]

I also saw people who got shut out at target schools or missed on campus interviews in one year reapply a year or two after graduation and get accepted as first year analysts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also saw people who got shut out at target schools or missed on campus interviews in one year reapply a year or two after graduation and get accepted as first year analysts.

Yes, this is what some of my son's friends have done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here who posted about exec functioning skills and about how high school doesn't matter. I worked in recruiting for IB and also for consulting (after actually being a consultant myself). Happy to answer questions.

Thank you for the kind and detailed information. I spoke with my child’s school counselor, and they mentioned that some tech companies—at least here on the West Coast—look at applicants’ high schools in addition to the the academic competition to get a sense of their background, since they don’t rely solely on college names anymore. I found that interesting and was wondering whether a similar trend exists in the financial industries in the East Coast.

Me again. No big banking or consulting employer "relies solely on college names." Even if we are looking at a candidate from a target school, we are going to be looking at the relevant coursework. We're familiar with the course catalog at the target schools.

This cannot be overstated. Kid is at an ivy (and target school of IB, MBB, etc), plenty with average grades (3.7+) in SEAS, math, physics get hired over 3.95 with the wrong classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family member worked at a hedge fund in his twenties had to provide his SAT scores. This was about ten years ago. Assume this common in some fields where prestige matters a lot, especially now with even more grade inflation.

Not common these day in hedge fund trading - an 800 is not at all impressive in that context. Hence, AMC/AIME scores.

still, many other stem internships have added SAT score back to the application after the first TO cycles. They could no longer rely on ivy/+ admissions as a marker of selectivity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here who posted about exec functioning skills and about how high school doesn't matter. I worked in recruiting for IB and also for consulting (after actually being a consultant myself). Happy to answer questions.

Thank you for the kind and detailed information. I spoke with my child’s school counselor, and they mentioned that some tech companies—at least here on the West Coast—look at applicants’ high schools in addition to the the academic competition to get a sense of their background, since they don’t rely solely on college names anymore. I found that interesting and was wondering whether a similar trend exists in the financial industries in the East Coast.

Me again. No big banking or consulting employer "relies solely on college names." Even if we are looking at a candidate from a target school, we are going to be looking at the relevant coursework. We're familiar with the course catalog at the target schools.

What “relevant” coursework? Kids with English and History and all kinds of humanities degrees from top schools get hired in banking or consulting.

The days of art history majors getting hired in banking and trading are gone.

Not entirely true: we know classics and history majors hired in 2025. They had math and/or stem minors though. They had the coursework.

[Anonymous]

^from an ivy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family member worked at a hedge fund in his twenties had to provide his SAT scores. This was about ten years ago. Assume this common in some fields where prestige matters a lot, especially now with even more grade inflation.

Not common these day in hedge fund trading - an 800 is not at all impressive in that context. Hence, AMC/AIME scores.

still, many other stem internships have added SAT score back to the application after the first TO cycles. They could no longer rely on ivy/+ admissions as a marker of selectivity

No they haven’t, more copium

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also saw people who got shut out at target schools or missed on campus interviews in one year reapply a year or two after graduation and get accepted as first year analysts.

Yes, this is what some of my son's friends have done.

Some of the best hires actually came into the firms I worked at that way--as slightly older first-year analysts who had worked elsewhere for a bit or had a master's degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here who posted about exec functioning skills and about how high school doesn't matter. I worked in recruiting for IB and also for consulting (after actually being a consultant myself). Happy to answer questions.

Thank you for the kind and detailed information. I spoke with my child’s school counselor, and they mentioned that some tech companies—at least here on the West Coast—look at applicants’ high schools in addition to the the academic competition to get a sense of their background, since they don’t rely solely on college names anymore. I found that interesting and was wondering whether a similar trend exists in the financial industries in the East Coast.

I hired engineers at a FAANG for years, that sounds like Paly family copium after Larla didn’t get into a top UC. It literally never happens. Nobody cares where you went to school. If you can code you can code.

Is that why SJSU CS is popular?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here who posted about exec functioning skills and about how high school doesn't matter. I worked in recruiting for IB and also for consulting (after actually being a consultant myself). Happy to answer questions.

Thank you for the kind and detailed information. I spoke with my child’s school counselor, and they mentioned that some tech companies—at least here on the West Coast—look at applicants’ high schools in addition to the the academic competition to get a sense of their background, since they don’t rely solely on college names anymore. I found that interesting and was wondering whether a similar trend exists in the financial industries in the East Coast.

Me again. No big banking or consulting employer "relies solely on college names." Even if we are looking at a candidate from a target school, we are going to be looking at the relevant coursework. We're familiar with the course catalog at the target schools.

What “relevant” coursework? Kids with English and History and all kinds of humanities degrees from top schools get hired in banking or consulting.

The days of art history majors getting hired in banking and trading are gone.

It is also important to know what kind of family connection this person brings in
Not entirely true: we know classics and history majors hired in 2025. They had math and/or stem minors though. They had the coursework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here who posted about exec functioning skills and about how high school doesn't matter. I worked in recruiting for IB and also for consulting (after actually being a consultant myself). Happy to answer questions.

Thank you for the kind and detailed information. I spoke with my child’s school counselor, and they mentioned that some tech companies—at least here on the West Coast—look at applicants’ high schools in addition to the the academic competition to get a sense of their background, since they don’t rely solely on college names anymore. I found that interesting and was wondering whether a similar trend exists in the financial industries in the East Coast.

I hired engineers at a FAANG for years, that sounds like Paly family copium after Larla didn’t get into a top UC. It literally never happens. Nobody cares where you went to school. If you can code you can code.

Is that why SJSU CS is popular?

Go to SJSU and you can spend your time rubbing elbows with the people making it happen. Great place for learning and exposure.