Let me rebuke both parts of your statement. I both got a google internship with a well sub 3.5 GPA; and have since then gotten both accepted and rejected at eq

Let me rebuke both parts of your statement. I both got a google internship with a well sub 3.5 GPA; and have since then gotten both accepted and rejected at equivilent tier bigCos with that (and other "prestigious" establishments) on my resume and nonetheless saw a good mix of clean and chaotic hiring processes. What I'm trying to say is there is NO silver bullet; as other sister comments say, it's a crapshoot even with your cards all in order. I believe the aspects you list of the "normal" level of chaos are quite accurate, my tailoring to your statement is merely one that the leg up helps less than you seem to imply. (from both my and peers in similar situations's anecdotes.) I make this statement not to be pessimistic but to be optimistic. Someone without G on their resume shouldn't feel helpless, they are not alone, and they are not in an impossible or insurmountable situation. The only "real" path I've found, regardless of who or what background you have, is to just keep bullheadedly driving towards your goals and building the skills required to do this more effectively. Everything else for me has been ephemeral and less impactful. (I would note, you're right re: network, but I bucket that more under a skill you can build than something implicit, since for better or worse, networking is a skill one must practice in modern professional life as one mechanism to support ones stability)