<p>"when they hire entry-level engineers at the Hewlett Packard … , they almost always end up hiring grads with over a 3.5 GPA… " </p>
<p>This is so true.
Google, MS, Intel, Apple almost always hire EECS grads with over a 3.5 gpa.
They certainly verify authenticity of documents (such as transcripts) submitted.
And your starting salary is about $80000/year.</p>