johnnyx9 wrote:
I think GMAT does come up more often with recruiters in fields like i-banking and consulting. I have a friend who went for an informational interview at Goldman -- which is supposed to be a low-key sort of information gathering interview FOR THE STUDENT -- but right away the Goldman person started grilling my friend, asking about GMAT, undergrad GPA, midterm grade in finance.
I see that as clear indication of the high-turnover (cutthroat) culture at GS. No thanks, I'd rather settle for half the salary and enjoy my work enviornment among peers who actually respect each other.
Incidentally, I had dinner with a group of people last Friday, one of whom scored a 770 on the GMAT, and he was probably the most antisocial person in the program. The guy even has the audacity to undermine our prof's lectures, citing clearly unrelated and overly esoteric BS.
Back to the topic at hand, I've had several informational interviews with the entire gamut of consulting firms; from a boutique start-up to the standard "flesh peddlers" and three out of the "big four." Not once did anybody ask about GMAT scores or undergrad/MBA GPAs. In fact, what they really wanted to know was how familiar I was with their core competencies and frameworks, who their clients were, and if I knew any alumni at the firm. Perhaps the academic questions will arise when I formally begin the interview process this week.