<p>If you get a 4.0, you're basically garanteed a job anywhere you want, or go to any grad school you want. a super high paying job will be only hiring ppl who get 4.0 and nothing less.</p>
<p>thats blatantly wrong...are you really this clueless or are you trying to do this and we will have to keep correcting you so someone doesnt come here and read it.</p>
<p>Odds are you wont get a 4.0 (you will get tough professors). Also they look at much more than GPA (and after your first job they dont give a **** about your gpa). </p>
<p>GPA's dont scale the same between schools. A high GPA at Harvard (grade inflation) or a bottom tier state college (too easy) does not relate directly to the same gpa at CalTech or Chicago (deflation). A high GPA is still good but...you just cant make statements like that.</p>
<p>for alot of jobs, you need at least a 3.0 to be considered. for elite jobs, you need at least a 3.5. GPA is very important even after your first job because with a good GPA, you have alot more options.</p>
<p>where on earth do you get this information?</p>
<p>TONS of jobs dont even ask about your GPA. They only care about your degree (and whether or not it was with honors).</p>
<p>And no, a good GPA in itself is not important after your first job because it wont open up any options. They only thing that will work for you after that is cold, hard, job preformance. A GPA might be related to your work ethic and how much you learned but the GPA itself will not get you anything.</p>
<p>GPA can be very important, but often not as important as what the faculty says about you or how you spend the time learning to interact with people better or to know more about who you are. Companies hire as much on mutual chemistry as talent and the best thing for that is learning to be comfortable with yourself.</p>
<p>And in the long run, the friends you make and what they think about you could be even more important. These are often known as contacts, but it's simplier than that. Who do you like, who do you trust, who would you want to work with?</p>
<p>Work hard, but don't forget to play, too.</p>
<p>This person is the same individual anxiety-ridden over urinal-flushing etiquette at "prestigious" highschools (see "college life privacies" thread) . I'm sure he doesn't know what he's talking about.</p>
<p>EDIT: in reference to SSJ2MysticGohanX1000</p>
<p>after your first job, you GPA STILL MATTERS because You CANT even be considered for some elite jobs if your GPA is under 3.0. for super elite jobs, u need at least a 3.5 or even higher to be even CONSIDERED. especially for grad school, they dont give a **** about your work experience, just your GPA.</p>
<p>Hmmm... I guess there are some jobs that consider GPA, especially for job applicants who are straight out of college because employers need to see some evidence of behavior trends, and these applicants have often not established job records at serious jobs (more than minimum-wage hourly positions, that is). </p>
<p>However, I've never heard GPA described as a major factor in employment decisions. Grad school applications is where it really matters.</p>
<p>Like several other posters, my college GPA was better than my high school score (4.0 vs 3.4), and in ways I thought college classes at my university were easier. I was in the social sciences, though, which tend to be award much higher grades than the hard sciences (physics, math, chem, etc.).</p>
<p>There is a lot of variation in a student's GPA potential depending on the school attended. Not only do some universities award higher grades, but the different atmosphere of different schools will affect individual students' level of motivation to secure high grades. Students at some institutions will put more effort into jobs they're working than the classes they take, and being in such an atmosphere that de-emphasizes grades may lead a person to also make grades a second priority as well. On the other hand, certain schools send most of their students on to graduate study, which means many will be obsessed with their grades, and this emphasis shapes campus culture.</p>
<p>I wonder if hes going to get into grad school.</p>
<p>If only I had a resume like that.</p>
<p>SSJGohan</p>
<p>did Mcdonalds consider your gpa when hiring you?</p>
<p>my work place (sorta fine dining restaurant, waitress) asked for my GPA... i said 3.7 instead of 4.0 cuz i didnt wanna look like a smartaleck but i didnt wanna look stupid... i just wanted to look "normal"</p>
<p>Here's the general rule with GPAs and grad school:</p>
<p>A 3.0 and above is more than enough for any job. There are jobs that require a minimum 3.0, but those are usually jobs that get a large volume of applications, such as civil service.</p>
<p>Anything above a 3.5 is generally enough to get into good grad schools. Yes, graduating summa cum laude is better, but a 3.6 isn't going to necessarily keep you out of PhD programs. 3.7 and above, of course, is still the "golden range." A 4.0 with poor letters of rec will get turned down in a heartbeat from top PhD programs. A 4.0 with a terrible statement of purpose will also get turned down. So will a 4.0 with a low GRE/GMAT score. In the end, balance beats GPA.</p>
<p>However, to say that a person with a 3.7 is going to get a job before the 3.5 is absurd. There are no such thing as "super elite jobs" that only take a certain GPA range. After the first job, your GPA is effectively rendered meaningless.</p>
<p>Good summary, UCLAri. I'd add that some professional schools (law, medicine, for example) do use overall GPA in admissions, but many graduate programs are more interested in a student's performance in the particular field. For example, someone who got departmental honors in economics and did a senior honors thesis under a professor who writes a great recommendation, and who was involved in some summer research or other relevant internship, would probably have a better shot at a PhD program in econ than someone who graduated with honors overall but did nothing distinguishing in economics other than grades. Another example: a journalism program might forgive a gpa brought down by a false start in engineering, as long as the writing samples, internships, and recommendations are excellent.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>I just calls them like I sees them. </p>
<p>Interesting factoid I heard today, speaking with a former admissions officer at SAIS (Johns Hopkins.) Apparently, straight out of undergrad admissions are like 2-3% acceptance rates with stellar GPAs. 1-5 years of work experience rates are more like 25-30% with slightly lower GPAs. </p>
<p>Your work experience counts just as much, if not more.</p>
<p>opportunity cost wise.... having a stellar GPA might reduce your time for work experience, but it functions in improving your human capital.. you have a higher chance of going straight to grad school, saving time... the most important resource... and allows you to gather work experience later. its like... consume now less, or work toward production and consume, but more, later</p>
<p>but spending TOO much time studying and TOO little time experiencing life leads you to a point on the production possibility frontier that is not the most allocative effiencient... each person, different mentally and physically, has a different maximum output point on the production possiblity frontier because each person's curve is shaped differently</p>
<p>.... right?</p>
<p>No offense, but at 21, you have no idea what the hell you want. Why go to grad school when you're too young to figure it out?</p>
<p>I know, get your degree sooner and start on the career so you can get rich and famous, but c'mon... most 21-year-olds can't commit to a significant other, let alone a graduate degree.</p>
<p>what kind of job experience are they looking for, and what is cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa? also, do grad schools look into extracurriculars as much as undergrad did? Thanks.</p>
<p>My Dad got a 4.0 for undergrad at IU. He only did three years before optometry school. My mom got a couple B's at Purdue, but she had a 4.0 her freshman year. (No pressure on me :)) It's not impossible, but very difficult.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what kind of job experience are they looking for, and what is cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa? also, do grad schools look into extracurriculars as much as undergrad did? Thanks
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Cum laude is honors, magna cum laude is high honors, summa cum laude is highest honors.</p>
<p>Job experience, I've been told, can be a lot of different things, but most schools what something that's in your field. For example, I want my master's in an East Asian area studies program, so I'm working for a non-profit that focuses on East Asia.</p>
<p>Etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>a 4.0 in college is virtually impossible. i graduated HS with a 4.5 gpa and now i have a ~3.5 in an honors program at UNLV. Grading in college is very different. They use + and - grading which tends to hurt more people than it helps. In HS, they just used As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Fs. For example, my first semester in college i got a B-, B, A-, A- and my gpa ended up being ~3.2. In HS, that woulda been a 3.5.</p>