I don't know if this has been discussed or not. From my perusal of law school related forums, I've observed two things which seem to be general consensus. 1. Law School grades are extremely important in determining job prospects. 2. It is difficult to know how well one will do in Law School. This is because everyone is very academically gifted and law school exams are a different kind of animal than what one encounters as an undergrad. Is this the case with top MBA programs? I've got a 760 GMAT and good grades. While I'm still a few years from B-School, I am wondering if I can reasonably expect that to translate into good grades there. Basically, I'm assuming that wherever I get in I will be there because of academic ability and that others will be there because they've got better work history and whatnot than I do. Also, as someone with a BBA and Masters in Accountancy I'll already have a leg up on a lot of the material. Should I be able to bank on doing significantly above average as long as I apply myself? That leads to the second issue. Even if one does get top grades, does anybody care? I recall reading that some guy wrote a book about HBS after getting his MBA and his assessment was that there was serious grade inflation and it was mostly a networking exercise for the elite. Is that the case everywhere? Do employers care much about your GPA?

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futurestrategist

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13 Oct 2010, 17:22

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Jerz

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so if there's grade non-disclosure, no one talks about it and even if employers ask, you say you can't answer that question? And there's no GMAT non-disclosure policy?

I think recruiters will review your resume for relevant experiences and clubs if they cannot ask you for your MBA GPA. As said earlier, an MBA gpa might be useless, especially early on in 1st semester recruiting.

I have heard that recruiters ask for ugrad GPAs and GMAT scores to provide a complete picture of you.

To be clear, most recruiters (with the exceptions of finance and consulting) don't really care about GPA, GMAT, SAT, etc.. I did recruiting for pharma/biotech, and don't think any of that ever came up in applications or interviews.

So Jerz, if you were a career switcher, how would you break into the pharma/biotech industry? What criteria would recruiters evaluate you on?

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Being interested, showing you have done your research, passion, not being a liability, not being strange.

skaballet

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16 Oct 2010, 10:25

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The only industries I've heard of caring about grades or GMAT score are finance and consulting. Most people who have over 700 on GMAT put it on their resume so companies know. And there is no policy on GMAT anyways.

Companies are very good at skirting around the grade non-disclosure policy. For example, I know a classmate who was asked how he was doing in classes? And of course he said excellent...lol There's no verification, but I guess there's always the chance they might find out later if you lied.

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17 Oct 2010, 09:06

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gkumar

So Jerz, if you were a career switcher, how would you break into the pharma/biotech industry? What criteria would recruiters evaluate you on?

I was a career switcher. Recruiters cared about whether I had the skills to be successful in the position I was interviewing for: collaboration, leadership, general marketing knowledge, etc. They also cared about whether I was serious about working for their company, whether I was serious about wanting to go into the healthcare industry, and whether culturally they thought I was a good fit with the company.

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Great Jerz!

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jordanhendrix

HBS along with many other schools have a non disclosure policy so employers cannot even ask how you did.
Other schools that come to mind, all the top ones, Chi, Ross Etc.

That is incorrect. HBS no longer has grade non-disclosure.

Grade non-disclosure not only means the school doesn't disclose. Students also aren't allowed to disclose and recruiters aren't allowed to ask. For example, I know Chicago Booth takes this very seriously. If a recruiter asks students for their grades, that company will be banned from on-campus recruiting.

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03 Mar 2011, 21:41

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Sorry but the whole grade non-disclosure is BS in a lot of ways. If companies care that much they will find ways to measure you. In someways it is good since schools all have different grading policies and you never know what hiring managers know when comparing across them. Back in the day if you weren't a Baker Scholar you wouldnt be getting hired by McKinsey...though they definitely have expanded their hiring as they grew so I dont think grades are as important as they may have been 20 years ago.

At my job, I was asked by the COO what my GPA was (after starting)...I dont think saying my school has grad non-disclosure would be a wise career move in that situation (Note Kellogg doesnt). He afterwards joked that he wouldnt trust me running a manufacturing plant if i had a 4.0 since he was a 2.7 student. If I was recruiting and wanted to ask what someone's GPA was I would...if the school booted my company I easily could find another school willing to let me ask. Companies may have a minimum of something like 3.2, 3.4...I think they highest I saw was a 3.5. If you get in to an MBA program you are academically capable of a 3.5 if you put in the effort the material can be tough but in the end its not like you are getting a Phd in physics or applied mathematics.

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