<p>Now, I know this has probably been discussed, but I was wondering if there was a general consensus on which strategy was better for a job search post-graduation. Personally, to get into college I felt that taking challenging classes would payoff because admissions officers would recognize it and reward it. However, recently my friend was talking about how nothing matters except the school you go to, your major, and your GPA. So, which is it?</p>
<p>I don’'t think the school matters… It just has to be regionally accredited. niether does GPA as long as it’s over a certain limit.</p>
<p>Higher GPA over challenging classes, you would do most of your learning on the job anyways.</p>
<p>Very few jobs actually care about your GPA.</p>
<p>However, a high GPA is a good way of getting an internship. Of course the internship is a good way of gaining work experience, which is more relevant in getting a job.</p>
<p>I would state that having a degree in a specific field is more important than GPA. After you get your first job, your GPA will never matter again. Your degree and institution you graduate from stays with you…your GPA, not so much. GPA is a good way for people hiring for entry level positions to separate applicants with little to no work experience.</p>
<p>That being said, if you plan to further your education by attending graduate school, GPA does matter.</p>
<p>GPA does matter when it comes to getting a spot in grad school, internships, and work experience. But, as someone said earlier, what your major is is more important than your GPA.</p>
<p>don’t Federal government jobs not care alout what shool you went to?</p>
<p>Many Fed jobs care about the courses you took, degree you have, and to an extent your GPA. You are often eligible for a higher pay grade if you “exhibited high academic achievement”, which I think is either above a 3.0 or 3.25 by their standards.</p>
<p>If you go to usajobs.gov and click on some job descriptions it will give you better details. Fed jobs are all about “GS” levels. Entry level jobs are GS-5, I believe. If you graduate with a Masters, entry level (with no work experience) is a GS-7. It goes up from there depending on education and work experience.</p>
<p>Very knowledgable. I am probably setting myself up for a government or civil service job (not sure). Although, I would prefer to live in the Seattle area over DC. I have not totally decided, but I want a BS in resourse conservation and also a certificate in GIS. I’m thinking about just going straight into graduate school… with just internships or maybe Peace Corps in between</p>
<p>I just graduated with honors and got a job immediately after my graduation. In the interviews guess how much time was spent asking about my GPA or a grade in a single one of my classes…zero seconds. The GPA only matters to specific careers and schools(Graduate school - GPA + GMAT or GRE), Law School(GPA + LSAT), Med School (GPA + MCAT), Investment Banking (GPA + prestigious internships + luck), and so forth. If you don’t plan on going to graduate school or medical school then it simply does not make any logical sense to study to the point in which you will get a 4.0. Having a personality, internships, work experience, and other things are equally as important in the real world outside of the college bubble in the classroom. Most employers want a 3.0+ GPA, you should do fine with a 3.3 GPA + other things of your resume. It would be useful to note that having a good gpa does have its benefits if you get free tuition for being “a good student.” Because after you graduate and get out you GPA will be very unimportant and you will be faced with the responsibility of paying back your student loans for X amount of years.</p>
<p>If you want to become a Professor than you should be spending huge amounts of your time in personal study. The same for entrance into competitive graduate programs. What you major in is more important than your GPA(Example - 2.4 GPA BS in Mechanical Engineering versus 3.7 GPA BA in Psychology. The one with the BS gets paid $50,000/year and the one with the BA gets $34,000/year). It is sad how important money becomes after you graduate.</p>