<p>Yes, since my kids started college, I’ve decided that undergrad is now what high school once was. You need to have it, and you need to think grad school if you want what college used to confer. YMMV</p>
<p>Romani-- Put the GPA on there. You earned it.</p>
<p>GPA is one of the most important considerations in our field. It’s a huge indicator of your work ethic and abilities. It’s understandable to not include it if you’re 10+ years in the field, at which point it’ll be more of a CV they’re looking for, but it’s mandatory for starting out. </p>
<p>I agree most of the stuff we learn in college are useless in practice. But most of these are still things people should to know. In Europe, you can’t really get an engineering job unless you’re either really talented or have a masters degree. In that respect, they’re ahead of the curve than we are. To think that people with college degrees can’t do algebra or write coherently ****es me off. School’s are suppose to teach. Instead, they just take your money and give you a glorified piece of paper. If the government can pitch in and help more with subsidizing education, this sort of thing won’t happen. But no, they have to slash funding every year, causing higher tuition, poor learning environments, and a whole lot of misguided kids believing that a college degree is their salvation. Let’s see some ‘Forward’ progress now…</p>
<p>Just my opinion, romanigypsyeyes, but I think Phi Beta Kappa trumps GPA. If you have Phi Beta Kappa on your resume, it is not really necessary to list your GPA. Anyone who knows what Phi Beta Kappa is will know that your GPA is high. </p>
<p>Will you be applying to places where people might think Phi Beta Kappa is a fraternity/sorority? (As in: I always go to the wild parties the Phi Bete’s give!)</p>
<p>Ok poet, I’ll add it!</p>
<p>Lol, QM, I’m not sure. I don’t think so? I’m applying to primarily public health jobs as backup as my immediate goal is grad school for my MPH.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, do you put overall GPA? Major GPA? What if you’re a dual degree student (I’m graduating with a BA and BS rather than a primary and secondary major)?</p>
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<p>The last sentence should be “Schools are supposed to teach”. Unneeded apostrophes are a common grammatical error nowadays.</p>
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<p>Why is that necessarily “ahead of the curve”? Perhaps that just indicates different levels of supply of engineers versus demand for engineers in the labor market there versus here.</p>
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<p>Okay, so what you’re saying is that while it is important for the 80% of undergrads who seek to either go to grad school, professional school, or studied business or STEM majors, or are looking to get a government job, it’s not important for the other 20% so it’s not an issue?</p>
<p>I don’t recall saying or even implying anything of the sort. It’s quite a stretch to get that out of what I said. </p>
<p>And I disagree.</p>
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<p>Most resumes HR colleagues and I’ve seen usually list their overall GPA. </p>
<p>However, listing one’s major GPA in addition to overall GPA is advisable for grad school or career fields where the major is highly relevant to the job or requested by the employer(extremely rare). </p>
<p>My HR colleagues and I have also seen some resumes where the fresh college grad applicant listed their major GPA in lieu of their overall GPA because the former was higher. While this may work for some firms, HR and hiring managers at that firm tend to view that practice with some suspicion. Consequently, they tend to scrutinize such resumes/applicants more closely and are more inclined to drop them from consideration…especially if the overall GPA is less than a 3.0.</p>
<p>I did the math and my more relevant major has about a .1 higher GPA than my overall so I’ll just stick to overall. Thanks :)</p>
<p>My GPA is just over 3.5 and I’ve worked crazy-hard for that (and yes, I’m a liberal arts student) because it seems as though I’ve never managed to find an “easy class” to take just for fun (everything I’ve taken “just for fun” has been such a challenge). My mother, my uncles and my cousin (and her fiance) are all PBKs (yes, that is everyone up to me. PRESSURE!). I recently showed one uncle my transcripts (he attended the same school I do). The following exchange took place: </p>
<p>Him: That’s wonderful! That’s about what I had at that point in college. I was Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Me: I know that. But the grade standard has changed. Now, I’m barely a future Cum Laude at this rate, and pushing up to Magna would require nothing lower than an A in any class.
Him: Wow. That’s crazy. All I needed to be Magna Cum Laude was a 3.6. And I was a Phi Beta Kappa. </p>
<p>I don’t have my GPA on my resume, mostly because I’ve never been on the hunt for a position where my GPA mattered (my most recent employers didn’t care). Even if I were searching for a job where GPA counted for something, I’m not sure I’d want to put it on there. I feel like my GPA is a poor indicator of my skills (not that I have a bad GPA…not that at all. More that I know that my friends have higher GPAs). Besides that, though, is the fact that a lot of the jobs that interest me put less emphasis on GPA and more on things I know I can do (people skills, networking ability, work ethic, etc.).</p>
<p>victoriaheidi,</p>
<p>Throwing my 2 cents in, I’d list that GPA on your resume. While it’s not a 3.8, a 3.5 is still regarded as a positive by most employers and grad schools. </p>
<p>I certainly hope we’re not in an era where fresh college graduates below a 3.7+ cum in undergrad are regarded by employers as unemployable indolent slackers and some of that grade inflation anxiety I’m picking up on this thread is merely a product of highly dramatic undergrads, parents, and pre-meds. :(</p>
<p>@cobrat: ditto–there’s too much drama floating around with GPAs. My friends drive me nuts with this stuff! It’s hard to maintain perspective when everyone’s freaking out. 
And thanks.</p>
<p>I’ve never had my GPA on my resume and I’ve never been asked what it was or to provide a transcript – for co-op positions and internships during school and my current entry-level job. And I have done a lot of interviewing.</p>
<p>I think that this is really industry-specific. Honestly, for my job, experience matters much more than anything I actually learned in a class, so I think GPA is irrelevant. It might say I’m a hard a conscientious worker and/or that I’m smart, but it doesn’t say that I’m organized, work well with others, am respectful to clients and tactful in delicate situations, prioritize tasks well, take feedback from supervisors well, etc. Unless you’re in certain majors, I don’t think college work translates well enough to real jobs for the GPA to actually mean much.</p>
<p>I think listing a high GPA on your resume can’t hurt, but when our department is hiring interns, the GPA (which some of the applicants do list on their resumes) doesn’t even enter our discussion. If somebody tells us how writing research papers and studying for tests taught them translatable skills, that’s different, but it can be a bit of a different world.</p>
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<p>While I agree this depends on industry, I’m not sure I agree with everything on that list. </p>
<p>IMO, the GPA signifies one is more than a hard conscientious worker or smart. It also says something about one’s organized(projects, papers, exams, assignments), prioritize well*, and even work well with others (group projects/seminars). </p>
<p>Granted, I am of the view that GPA explains this better for students with GPAs below a 3.33 or moreso, 3.0 than it does for those with GPAs above a 3.33. </p>
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<li>I’ve lost count of how many classmates at my urban public magnet HS and LAC undergrad fell by the wayside gradewise because they didn’t know how to prioritize their tasks/schedule well. It’s a factor in my HS incoming class’ approximately 28% attrition rate in our first two years and why many college classmates I knew of floundered to graduation with low-mid 2.x GPAs or worse, ended up with an academic suspension/expulsion on their records. The latter is especially hard to explain to employers as an older college classmate has found even after 15+ years out of undergrad.</li>
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<p>Yeah, I agree with this. Some people with high GPA’s are meticulous workers and some took easy classes where they could ace the tests without studying or do busywork without being smart. And some smart hard workers still won’t work well in some office settings. I also know people who for whatever reason just work better when they’re doing real work – having people depending on them and things hanging on their work is a better motivator for them.</p>
<p>ITA with eireann about people being better at “real” work. I’m a lot like that. I write semi-professionally (I work as an unpaid assistant and I’ve written freelance but, again, unpaid), and my articles have a distinct flair and tone. If you asked me to write a ten-page paper analyzing the current state of gymnastics and McKayla Maroney’s chances at landing a Triple Twisting Yurchenko, I’d probably have a hard time keeping it purely academic and thesis-driven. It’d be much better as an editorial with lots of video clips. My best friend, on the other hand, would be much better at the ten-page paper because she considers it a controlled, logical environment where proper research will net her the most positive result. It’s just a different kind of intelligence.</p>
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<p>perhaps. Or it could be their economy demands their engieners to have a different skill set. but still, their system shows more emphasis on education. Do you want your professionals to have stayed longer in school and learned more, or the other way around?</p>
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<p>If listed, overall GPA should match transcript GPA exactly so that there is no misunderstanding when HR does verification of claimed schooling. If there are courses in progress, the overall GPA should be listed as being through the latest term where grades are posted.</p>
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<p>It depends on whether the extra time in school actually adds value in terms of the ability to do the job. Adding extra requirements that do not add significant value in terms of the ability to do the job just creates a higher barrier to entry for the job – often considered desirable for incumbents who want to minimize competition from new entrants, but usually inefficient in an overall economic sense.</p>