<p>Top jobs like Google, Goldman, Microsoft, etc.</p>
<p>No personal experience, but it makes sense to me:</p>
<p>Absolutely. For your first job, especially for big places, your GPA is extremely important. For the past few years, in school, your primary responsibility has been going to class. Your GPA is theoretically the quantitative measure of your success in that endeavor.</p>
<p>That's not to say, of course, that work experience is not also very important. But in the beginning, for the first few jobs at least, your GPA is a big part of your application package.</p>
<p>for your first job, maybe. but it's not like a 3.8 will make you and a 3.5 will break you.</p>
<p>Yeah, it does, but if you get experience while in college by doing meaningful internships in your field, it will even the playing field. I think firms would be more inclined to hire a person with a 3.0 gpa with two summers worth of experience over someone with just a 3.8 gpa to their name.</p>
<p>how about the SATs? do they matter?</p>
<p>No, SATs don't matter, unless your boss is an elitist himself.</p>
<p>But GPA matters, for example if you want to work for the CIA you have to have a 3.0</p>
<p>It doesn't matter if you want to be the president of the United States though. we have got a living proof.</p>
<p>Blackrock asks for SATs, you must have a 1500+.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It doesn't matter if you want to be the president of the United States though. we have got a living proof.
[/quote]
By that logic, Harvard Business School doesn't look at GPA either.</p>
<p>It really depends on what field you want to go into. If you want to be a journalist, for example, your ability and skill matters far more than your GPA. However, if you want to be an investment banker, or go into a field that requires grad school, your GPA will be very important.</p>
<p>previous work experience is much more important than gpa in certain fields. but it really depends on what kinda job. for example i-banking (so i hear) jobs look a great deal at gpa and major.</p>
<p>I think SAT does matter and can definitely help. Several firms DO ask for SAT scores as stated above. Furthermore, SEVERAL interviewers have commented on my scores (2400 and 1600) as helping my candidacy despite my attending a poor school and having little real job experience.</p>
<p>^hmm. i always hear that SAT scores and high school gpa don't matter once you get into college. did you get this job after/during high school or once you were enrolled in college?</p>
<p>Once enrolled in college. Internships earned:</p>
<p>-Oracle Corp.
-Two D.C. Thinktanks
-SEO (placement TBD)
-2 others I don't really want to disclose</p>
<p>GPA is probably the most important thing you can have coming out of college.</p>
<p>Regardless of all the "growing" you do at college, employers want to see that, given work, you can succeed in doing it well. Who cares if you are president of the student body and 5000 clubs if you're running around with a 2.0 GPA? Work obviously isn't your priority.</p>
<p>Just some anecdotel evidence... My aunt works for a record company. She interviews a lot of people. She has told me that if a person just coming out of college is applying for a job, and doesn't have his GPA on his resume, thats the first thing she asks for. If the GPA is under 3.0 she doesn't even consider hiring them--regardless of internship experience.</p>
<p>I'm thinking it does and doesn't. People probably won't want to hire a guy that's two points away from academic probation, but at the same time, most people come out of college with around a 2.5-3.5 anyway. I think it's more important to have a respectful GPA...not a great one.</p>
<p>Over 3.5 a plus. 3.0-3.5 average, under 3.0 major negative</p>
<p>I think GPA matters a great deal if you want to go to graduate school or work in the academia. And if you are looking for a job, GPA weights significantly more if you are in engineering, sciences or math than if you are business, journalism....</p>
<p>I think better question would be if GPA matters beyond a 3.0, because the whole point of a job is having practical skills since anyone can be a robot with a 4.0 gpa and be a complete idiot when it comes to something that requires more creativity and good instincts, and isn't just mechanically studying for exams. Even the ivy leagues don't care that much about your SATs as long as they fall within a certain range and would rather admit someone with more creativity.</p>
<p>GPA isn't a huge factor in getting a job unless it's extremely low. Plus, if an engineering student with a 2.7 and english major with a 3.2 were applying for some technical job, the the engineering student would most likely end up on top. There are a lot of small factors you have to take into account.</p>