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Do Grades matter after you are invited for an interview?

MBB
New answer on Oct 23, 2020
12 Answers
8.2 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Mar 02, 2018

So I am from a target school and have been invited to MBB for an interview. I was wondering If consultants (the interviewers) really pay close attention to your grades, transcripts and check all your supporting docments and details during or before the interview or its totally HR job to make sure that the documents telly with your resume and mostly your interviewer just have your resume and cover letter and goes on from there? Asking just for curosity - Would appreciate experts opinion. Thanks.

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Gaurav replied on Mar 02, 2018

I've been to a couple of consulting interviews and what I so far found is that your Manager asks you few questions to understand more about your background in your narratives to see whether you had some analytical activities before or your exposure to the business world as well as your specialties.

In general, grades don't have much weight in your evaluation but the scores in competitive exams do such as GMAT GRE.

And then it all about how structured you are in your approach and your natural cognitive thought process to analyze the case while solving the case. In fact, for consulting job interviews some employers do notice on your soft skills, the way of communication, how nicely you dressed etc.

So, mostly, no one bothers you for your average grades and transcript.

Good Luck!

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Francesco
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Mar 02, 2018
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi Anonymous,

as mentioned by Vlad, transcript check is done after an offer is extended, and is done by HR. This is the case as well for previous job experiences in case you are an experienced hire.

The interviewer will definitely skim through the CV and check your grades, but will normally ask questions only in case of poor performance.

Best,

Francesco

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B
Expert
updated an answer on Mar 02, 2018
NOT AVAILABLE

Hey anoymous,

I agree with majority: grades shouldn't be a critical point.

However there might be a big catch, if you have a really poor GPA, you might be asked what are the reasons behind it and how do you think you can no perform much better (especially if you're a fresh graduate) - be careful with your reasonings in these cases, as if it turns obvious for the interviewer that you were being simply lazy or consistently underperformer, then you see your chances of getting in lowering.

Best

Bruno

(edited)

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3
Retired
Expert
replied on Mar 02, 2018
Former BCG interviewer

Generally no, but I’ve seen instances of post internship offer letters asking to maintain a certain GPA and/or graduate in the expected time.

andrea

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Mar 02, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

Several things here:

  1. The grades don't really matter after you are invited
  2. If the GPA is low, some interviewers can notice that in your resume and they may ask you for the reasons. Good reason might be that you were doing some projects / working on something in parallel
  3. HR will check your transcripts after you get the offer

Best

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Mathias replied on Mar 02, 2018
Ex-Diplomat and current MBA at the London Business School. Offers from McKinsey and BCG. Worked for Accenture Strategy

Grades should usually not matter once you have made it to the interview stage.

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Anonymous replied on Oct 23, 2020

Grades are screened before the interview stage. When you get the invitation, they don't matter anymore. Having said that, people will rely on the grades you put into the system at that stage. So if the grades you provided in your docs and the web system do not match the actual academic records, that might come up in the background check when you sign the offer.

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Gaurav
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 23, 2020
#1 MBB Coach(Placed 750+ in MBBs & 1250+ in Tier2)| The Only 360 coach(Ex-McKinsey + Certified Coach + Active recruiter)

Interviewrs might gothrough your grades in CV during the interview. But, they might ask you a questions in case your grades are really low.

Cheers,

GB

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 30, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Nope, nothing to worry

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Anonymous replied on Jul 10, 2020

Totally agree with Vlad here, so no need to repeat it.

Best,

André

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Anonymous A replied on Mar 03, 2018

Great! Thank you all for your feedback. Thats very helpful.

In genereal, Do Consultants in an interview also get a copy of all supporting documents from HR or do they only get your CV and cover letter etc. at MBB?

Cheers,

Klaus

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Anonymous replied on Mar 02, 2018

It depends on whether or not there is something in your grades you want to hide. If they had access to your good/bad grades but STILL called you (I had a 2.7/4.0 in UG), then grades won't matter. If they've never seen your grades / your CV doesn't mention it, then yes it DOES matter and you must disclose it as early as possible so they are not surprised.

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