LOW GPA = NO JOB?

[Rudee]

One fellow from my Engineering class of 94 - whom had one of the lowest GPA's - was the first to get a job. He was just lucky as he had sent out Resume's months before graduating. My GPA was a respectable 3.58.

 

[torpid]

I don't know what college you can go to where smarts is enough to get a 3.7 but it's not any college I know. More like 2.5 or lower. The rest you get by studying and doing homework.

 

[puffff]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: shinerburke
I have interviewed a lot of people over the last two years and I have never asked for their GPA. That's doesn't tell you jack squat really. So someone made a 4.0 and someone else made a 2.3 whop de friggen do. All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying, and occasionally taking a break to play his Cleric in the ongoing Dungeons & Dragons game his dorm floor had going, while the other guy was going to class but also found time to REALLY experience college. I get so sick of people thinking that college is just all about the classes and how you do in them. College is so much more than that. It is about experiencing life, discovering who you really are, knocking boots with every hottie you can find, learning/hearing opposing views, finding out how much you really can drink before you pass out in a pool of your own vomit, etc, etc, etc..... Bah!! What was my point? Oh yeah.....GPA shouldn't matter for sh1t if you ask me.

By the way......in case you were wondering I have multiple degrees and my overall GPA was 3.63.

that's really fair.. let's lump all 4.0 students into the loser group, cuz we all KNOW it's impossible to maintain good grades and enjoy college at the same time. god forbid there are actually smart AND outgoing people in this world.:disgust:

I'm guessing you aren't a 4.0 student since you missed my saying "All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying"

you're right, i didnt have a 4.0.
your 3.63 must've come from some questionable program though, if you've still got the high school mentality that good grades = no social life.

B.A. in History
M.A. in History with specialization in Native American Cultures & Religion
BS in Political Science
BS in Geography

Again....go back and read what I said....I said

"All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying"

Get it....PROBABLY....I didn't say definitely or always.......how the hell did you ever get a 3.8 with no reading comprehension skills?

when you said 'probably', you're making a correlation between good grades and social life. good grades are affected more by how hard you study and how smart you are, not by how many parties you attend.

i'm going to infer from your interviewing people that you hold some sort of HR position? let me ask you this, when you're hiring, dont you want to hire the people with the good grades AND social skills? you get an idea of their personality from the interview. why not ask his gpa to get an idea of his intelligence and work ethic?

 

[torpid]

IMO people who have a very solid social life tend to actually do better in college. They often take classes with friends, study together, go to the library with friends, etc.

 

[Slappy00]

If you can somehow get into graduate school you can take the focus off of your undergradute education. I didnt have a stellar GPA either but it was enough to get me into graduate school and here i am pushing a 4/4 (not that anyone cares at this level) but you still have time to turn yourself around. In graduate school you have much more "applied learning" where you are doing research that can be directly applied to your future job. Employers will (hopefully) be more inclined to ask about your reserach and maybe general background rather than your GPA in your time as an undergraduate.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: shinerburke
I have interviewed a lot of people over the last two years and I have never asked for their GPA. That's doesn't tell you jack squat really. So someone made a 4.0 and someone else made a 2.3 whop de friggen do. All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying, and occasionally taking a break to play his Cleric in the ongoing Dungeons & Dragons game his dorm floor had going, while the other guy was going to class but also found time to REALLY experience college. I get so sick of people thinking that college is just all about the classes and how you do in them. College is so much more than that. It is about experiencing life, discovering who you really are, knocking boots with every hottie you can find, learning/hearing opposing views, finding out how much you really can drink before you pass out in a pool of your own vomit, etc, etc, etc..... Bah!! What was my point? Oh yeah.....GPA shouldn't matter for sh1t if you ask me.

By the way......in case you were wondering I have multiple degrees and my overall GPA was 3.63.

that's really fair.. let's lump all 4.0 students into the loser group, cuz we all KNOW it's impossible to maintain good grades and enjoy college at the same time. god forbid there are actually smart AND outgoing people in this world.:disgust:

I'm guessing you aren't a 4.0 student since you missed my saying "All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying"

you're right, i didnt have a 4.0.
your 3.63 must've come from some questionable program though, if you've still got the high school mentality that good grades = no social life.

B.A. in History
M.A. in History with specialization in Native American Cultures & Religion
BS in Political Science
BS in Geography

Again....go back and read what I said....I said

"All that tells me is that the 4.0 person was probably stuck in their dorm room every weekend studying"

Get it....PROBABLY....I didn't say definitely or always.......how the hell did you ever get a 3.8 with no reading comprehension skills?

when you said 'probably', you're making a correlation between good grades and social life. good grades are affected more by how hard you study and how smart you are, not by how many parties you attend.

i'm going to infer from your interviewing people that you hold some sort of HR position? let me ask you this, when you're hiring, dont you want to hire the people with the good grades AND social skills? you get an idea of their personality from the interview. why not ask his gpa to get an idea of his intelligence and work ethic?

Eh....I know plenty of smart people who studied all the time and also partied all the time. Their grades reflected that. Most never got above a 3.0 Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part the folks that end up with 4.0's have no life outside of their books.

Not an HR person. I manage the Server Engineering Group where I work. Honestly I don't care about grades, I care about who can do the job. Don't really care if they have a personality either. Luckily I have managed to find people who are both technically able and have good personalities. Would hate to work with a bunch of uber geeks. I also don't give a rat's ass about what kind of technical certifications as person has, too many paper tigers out there. What matters to me is how technically capable someone is and that is easy to find out in an interview.

 

[Savij]

Didn't read the thread, but I just got a job with a low GPA...the companies never asked about it or mentioned it as a problem. In addition I've had interviews where I know that the guy saw my GPA before he called and it wasn't ever mentioned as a problem (the company not getting a big gov. contract was a problem).

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
RIT is top 5. Bwa hahahahahaha. Not even close Off the top of my head:

GMI
Cal Tech
MIT

wtf is GMI?

top 4 (in no particular order):
mit
caltech
stanford
berkeley

but of course Johns Hopkins is #1 in biomedical engineering

if you really do go to one of the top ranked schools of engineering, just the name should get you some kind of "in"

 

[amoeba]

The OP seems extremely arrogant. Bottom line is, no matter how tough the course load is (MIT, Caltech, etc....) , you shouldn't have a 1.0GPA if you applied yourself at all. You really have to try to fail to get a 1.0 GPA.

Also, based upon how the OP evades the "what college are you going to ? " question, I don't think he actually goes to one of these top schools. Perhaps a top 5 regional school.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Well, my high school gpa was .012. That didn't stop me from getting any jobs and they usually asked for gpa on the application. Since going to college it's been normal (2.8-3.4) but now no one asks for it. I'd have to surmise that it means exactly dick.

 

[rh71]

why didn't you just give us your GPA instead of "60%" if you knew 85% was a 4.0 ? How are we supposed to know that ? So what's your GPA ? I ain't got time for this Mickey Mouse Bulllllllshieeeet.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: SONYFX
60s.

Maybe if you understood what a GPA was, you'd be doing better in school.

 

[cressida]

ATOT is usually bias towards the high GPA. Kind of similar to applying for colleges, yeah some schools look at your SAT scores and GPA. But some also look at volunteer experience, college essays, and interviews. It depends, some compaines want to hire 3.5+, others hire who they feel is right from interviews and experience. Low GPA doesn't mean you don't have a chance but the higher GPA may have an easier time. Just keep up your work and see what the future holds.

 

[nageov3t]

Well, my high school gpa was .012.

isn't passing classes a requirement of graduation?

wtf is wrong with public schools? :Q

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: cessna152
My GPA just slipped below a 3.0 to a 2.96 because of one humanities class I had to take this year... I'm finding it very hard to apply and getting rather depressed about it. As was states before, many companies won't even look at me now that my GPA is below a 3.0. I'll revise that. None of the companies so far will even look at my resume because of the GPA. The first question has always been, "What is your GPA?". I say 2.96 and I see their whole expression change and the tone of the conversation goes way south. My resume isn't that shabby looking either. I've had two research internships on campus and hold two jobs. Both of them related to systems management and customer service. At this point, I've definitely lost any sense of direction and question my choice of doing EE.

I've no clue why I typed this out...

I haven't graduated yet, but I'm afraid I'll be in the same boat.
It's a bitch when the curve makes the average in most of your classes a C...

 

[amoeba]

I work with somebody who went to UW- Madison.

Wisconsin is actually pretty good for EE/ Comp E, but its not very nationally recognized.

But yes, a C average is not so good.

 

[Albis]

well i can tell the OP didn't go to U of Michigan (grades on a 4.0 scale) or MIT (grades on a 5.0 scale) nor UC Berkely (4.0 scale as well)

I'm not sure what Cal Tech grades on though.

 

[MaxFusion16]

any college with some merit will not let you pass with anything lower than a C, hell most community colleges even require a C, and you won't last more than a year with those grades, colleges will just kick you out for lowering their standard.

 

[5ayle]

maybe you should consider retaking some of your "lower graded" classes

 

[MithShrike]

Hmmm... people you are aware of the practice of grading on a curve, no?

 

[amoeba]

Even if you are graded on a curve, being in the bottom 10% of your class is due only to your own ability.

You can say " I was in the top 25% of my class instead of the top 10% because everything was graded on a curve and unfortunately a couple of simple mistakes screwed me"

If you are in the bottom 10%, you can't blame the curve, only yourself.

 

[eLiu]

lol some of you guys are funny...getting a high gpa != staying in your room 24/7. At the top schools, doing well often means coming out and working with other people b/c frankly unless you're really freaking smart you can't do everything by yourself. And then for those who are really freaking smart, doing 'everything' doesn't take very long.

A lot of the folks with the highest marks are also among the more social/fun people... it's all about balancing your work with your recreation. There's no point in suffering through 4 years of pain. There's also no point in wasting 40,000 on a private education and getting Cs and Ds.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Mith
Hmmm... people you are aware of the practice of grading on a curve, no?

I always hated the whole curve thing.....

 

[ingenuiti]

Top tier companies usually require a 3.5+ GPA before they will even look at your resume during college recruitment. A cream of the crop firm will look for a 3.75+ GPA.

BTW, top tier universities have plenty of students with a gpa of 3.5+ that are well rounded.

 

[hans007]

i think the whole 3.5 GPA or 3.0 GPA thing is bull anyway. i mean a lot of companies treat it like a 3.0 at chico state is better than a 2.9 at MIT.


anyhow.... GPA has never meant anything. I guess I really didn't apply myself in college.

How i solved this , was I never put my GPA on my resume. I got interviews, and well the job market was REALLY slow at the time. i'd say about 2/3 never even asked about my GPA. like they say 3.0 is noteable enough or not gonna hurt you. If its less dont put it.


Sometimes you can get an interview, and just wow them during it with your knowledge that they will never question your gpa or the fact that you decided to sleep through college / do nothing.


Also i dont believe its possible to get a 4.0 without going to a lot of class . you have to go just to see the way the professor is and get a feel of his "style" i'd say 1/3 of your grade is just knowledge of the style just so that when you take a test you can "present" your knowledge a certain way.


Also at ucla, where i went. y ou could pass a class with D- if it wasnt a prerequisite for anything and if you graduated with a cumulative 2.0. I believe its basically like this all through the University of california system.