Exams to compensate low GPA

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Being an actuary is great. Trying to become one is not so great. It's hard work.

Same as: POTUS, billionaire, CEO of a company, Olympian, etc.

[Marianopolis]

Originally Posted by John Doe

OP,

My company gets most of their interns from ULaval. While exams are important, the main criteria we look at is GPA. From what I have observed, for most large companies in Québec, including mine the ideal candidate has 2+ exams and a 4.00+ GPA. While more exams is good, it unfortunately does not make up for a lousy GPA. My managers also mentioned that we would hire a first-year 4.00+ GPA student before hiring a 2nd year student with a GPA below 3.00.

I know it sucks, but that's just how the market is around here. There are way too many candidates with good GPAs and lots of exams for companies to even start considering students with crappy GPAs. I'd definitely recommend retaking some of those classes.

That's the trend I noticed about my classmates and other students who I know in the faculty: people with a better GPA were preferred to people with more exams.

Maybe it's a Canadian or a Québec thing.