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Right outside T14, won't have grades for another week. Sent out several SA apps, PI, gov, etc.

For places that have a clear GPA or rank cutoff: what do you do if your transcript is below? I assume if it's right below or close you'd send it in any way and hope for the best.

But what if you're significantly below the cut off or god forbid your grades are abhorrent? Withdraw your app so they don't see your first semester grades and be so turned off they don't look at you during OCI (assuming you can significantly improve second semester)?

Apply no matter what - make the employer be the one to say no; don't do it for them. Plenty of people (especially at firms) get turned down for a 1L job but are later hired during OCI for their 2L summer, and you wouldn't get dinged at OCI just because your first semester was awful. Now, if you're in a situation where your fall grades were below average and your spring grades aren't any better, then yeah, you're going to get dinged because there will be plenty of people to pick from that have better grades and comparable experience.

Just send the transcripts if they asked for them. If you miss their cutoff, c'est la vie. They likely won't remember you when OCI rolls around, and more importantly, if you significantly improve second semester and get above their GPA cutoff, they won't care that you were below the cutoff when you applied previously. Besides, when you provide your transcript for OCI, they'll still see that your grades weren't good enough after one semester, and it doesn't change anything that you did better second semester and improved your GPA to the point where they'd consider you.

Don't self-select out of jobs. Do what the employer asks, and let them rule you out.

Edit: scooped by floatie