A Sea Of Red

This is to everyone who is out of college in corporate America. Really how important is your GPA? The way I see it, most jobs come through networking. Almost every job I have had thus far the application has been a technical afterthought and I was hired before filling it out.
I know a high GPA will be important if I decide to do grad school somewhere other than LU, but as long as it is decent (around 3) is it really that important?

GPA can get your foot in the door;
GPA can be the deciding factor between you and another candidate; and
GPA has shown to have a high correlation with success on professional credentialing exams.

That being said, once you've been out in the work force and somewhat established yourself...it probably does not mean much.

You got it right pretty much----unless you are shooting for grad school, and even then, it would only apply to a top notch grad school, it doesn't mean much.

yeah thats what i figured. I don't know what I'm going to do about grad school, but I will take some easy classes over the next year to boost my gpa probably in case i decide to attend.

zilch. I don't put it on my resume and nobody has ever asked about it at an interview. And I've been to a lot of interviews over the last couple years.

LUconn wrote:zilch. I don't put it on my resume and nobody has ever asked about it at an interview. And I've been to a lot of interviews over the last couple years.

did they ask for transcripts or anything like that? if so, then they wouldnt need to ask about it.

get experience. employers would rather have the experience over the gpa, but for your first job then GPA could be a factor.

My grandfather, who was a VP with State Farm told me he would ALWAYS hire someone with B's and C's over someone with straight A's. It meant the B student had gotten out more and probably experienced life more.
Having said that I was a solid B student, never got more then 1 C or 1 A. Except in grad school where I was all A's. Yet no one asks me about it

flamesbball84 wrote:

LUconn wrote:zilch. I don't put it on my resume and nobody has ever asked about it at an interview. And I've been to a lot of interviews over the last couple years.

did they ask for transcripts or anything like that? if so, then they wouldnt need to ask about it.

No. They care about what you've done in a professional environment. Whenever I get asked a question where the only example I have of it is something I did in college, I know I'm in trouble.

I've interviewed hundreds of people and never once asked for a GPA.

I asked a VP at Genworth that very question...she said she very RARELY looks at the GPA and even went as far to say she's never not hired anyone b/c of the school they attended (meaning not hiring someone b/c they went to a LU or somewhere else)



Although I personally wish I would have paid a little more attention to my GPA by doing things like retaking a class that I may not have done well in

GPA applies to grad school. Otherwise nobody cares. Frankly where you goes to school really has very little to do with the hiring process unless there is an accreditation factor in licensing.

Purple Haize wrote:My grandfather, who was a VP with State Farm told me he would ALWAYS hire someone with B's and C's over someone with straight A's. It meant the B student had gotten out more and probably experienced life more.
Having said that I was a solid B student, never got more then 1 C or 1 A. Except in grad school where I was all A's. Yet no one asks me about it

thats what I was thinking. I could make a case any day that I had a much more rounded college life than the next person with all A's

you can still get all A's and get a experience that better sets you up for getting a job out of college. it's called getting internships and volunteer work (if not just a temp. job) in the field you want to go into, going on study abroad trips (which the importance of these depends on your career path), and taking leadership positions in an organization or two. Each of these give you experience to put on the resume and makes networking much easier. People do it all the time at schools across the nation and still leave with a high GPA, shouldn't be any more difficult at LU, and with volunteer hours being required, there's no excuse for not being able to pad the resume just a little. I did it, I know people at LC that did it, and I know a bunch of people at other colleges that did it, none of them had much if any problems finding a job post graduation.

Also, I think the importance of GPA would be dependent on what career the person is pursuing. If the person wants to do something like accounting, I would think an employer would weigh GPA some for a person right out of college if they have little to no experience due to the nature of the job. Now if you are going into like TV Production I would think the importance of GPA would not be nearly the same level as it would be for accounting.

If you're going to grad school, just keep it over a 3.0...unless you know someone in admissions. I had a friend with a 2.8 and she knew someone in Longwood's admissions department and got him to pull some strings so she's almost done with her MA in English there.

networking, experience and a likeable personality will get you anywhere

I kicked my butt around in college and stayed completely 'C' free all four years. (That includes 4 Putney courses for all of you 90's history people out there.)

Terrible mistake. I've never been asked my GPA. I should have had more fun. Oh well.

01LUGrad wrote:I kicked my butt around in college and stayed completely 'C' free all four years. (That includes 4 Putney courses for all of you 90's history people out there.)

Terrible mistake. I've never been asked my GPA. I should have had more fun. Oh well.

Kudos on the Putney grades. I only managed a C in HIUS 222 (although I think it might have been a high C). That was as a first semester freshman.

i had too much fun in college and finished with a 3.0. i spoke with the pastor of my church adn he was like "they just want to see that you can commit to something for a long period of time....it could be a clown school for all they care generally"