Every time I see this thread title, I think about responding…so I am.
It is never a disadvantage to have the very best grades possible. What IS a disadvantage is presenting yourself like you know it all because you have a perfect GPA. Employers value lifelong learners, and so much of what you need to be successful as an employee is not based on your GPA, but rather your willingness to learn on the job.
So…get a 4.0, but present yourself as someone who wants to continue to learn.
I will add … if I could find a 4.0 grad who had nothing but by-the-skin-of-their-teeth A- grades … I would be so happy.
Those students who took challenging classes and had to come back after getting a poor mid term or test and fight to get that A.
That is not reflected in a GPA. The 90.01% looks the same as the 97%. I would prefer to hire the 90.01% because they have that grit or fight in them.
@thumper1 totally agree with you. The arrogant 4.0. Yuck.
Yes, by all means, have a 4.0 , particularly in a tough major … but understand you have a lot more to learn and life has a funny way of proving it to you.
Why so many assumptions about 4.0 students? Why assume they don’t have grit? Why assume arrogance? Seems to me that assumptions are the problem, not the 4.0 student.
My kid only has a 3.99 GPA, so I guess she’ll avoid the unwarranted assumptions. 
Put down no gpa and reply when asked. Or state - phi beta kappa and summa cum laud etc with no numbers.
Or class standing like produced like at West Point, it’s important to them.
Or put 3.99. And say no one is really perfect.
Perhaps engineering is its own little ecosystem and it’s can be off putting for certain jobs.
But a 4.0 is never bad in the universe of things. imho.
I have had a resume for many years. My GPA has never been on my resume…at all. I did indicate I graduated with high honors, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, but GPA? Nope. That was on my transcript if anyone wanted to see it…both grad and undergrad.
I just can’t figure out why anyone would put their GPA on their resume. At all.
Is this now a thing to do?
@thumper I believe it is. The psychologist at my place of employment receives resumes all the time, and every one of them has the person’s gpa on it.
@thumper1 - The career center at D’s school tells students that if their GPAs are over 3.0, to put it front and center. Many companies will toss resumes for new grads without GPAs, my H’s included.
NACE surveys indicate that 70% of employers recruiting from college use GPA as a (but not necessarily the only) preliminary screen to determine whom to interview, and about 60% of those use a 3.0 cutoff. So it is not surprising that a college student with a GPA >= 3.0 will put it on the resume (to avoid the assumption that it is bad if not listed).
But GPA tends to be less important or unimportant later, so it is more likely to be left off for experienced people.
Were the students aiming for law or medical school, or similar goals that encourage grade grubbing of this nature?
Nope. Just a real pride in a GPA at not famous colleges. I was baffled, but they were all happy. In the grand scheme of things, small peanuts but it just illustrated clearly to me how I cannot presume that everyone has the same motivation as our family.
edited to add: the 'Not famous" comment was more about choosing colleges where they were already at the top of the student pool and therefore not going to be particularly challenged.
Yes, I know, I still sound like a snob.
High GPA alone will never get you a job, but a 4.0 GPA by itself is never a bad thing to have. The issue is how it’s presented. How challenging are the set of courses you took? What else are on your resume? In any event, never make a 4.0 GPA the central part of your resume.
Both of my kids didn’t have the greatest test scores and that included D2’s LSAT scores, but both of them graduated from Cornell with fairly high GPAs, especially D2. I would say their high GPAs were achieved through a lot of grit and determination.
D1 is in finance. When she was interviewing (10 years ago), 3.5 was the minimum cut off. D2 is still in law school, but her 1st year grades were important to get summer internships/final job offer. That being said, their employers definitely looked beyond their grades.
When D2 was working at an US Attorney’s office, there was a young man who graduated from HYPS and ultimately accepted to all HYS law schools. He was the least desirable paralegal in the office because he was very disorganized, constantly missed deadlines and would never ask for help. There were many nights D2 had to stay late to help him put materials together for a trial.
@homerdog you should be aware that there are definitely some internships and study abroad programs where 3.5 is the minimum GPA required. My younger son missed some opportunities that way. His GPA at the end of sophomore year was brought down by a couple of C’s. He got straight A’s in study abroad, but his college counted all of them as P/F. He ended up putting his senior year GPA (Dean’s List) as the first thing on the resume.
Persons making hiring decisions at small companies often have a lot of control in who they choose to hire and not hire. Many can choose to favor or not favor applicants for a wide variety of biases and stereotypes (assuming they do not explicitly state such biases). And there are potential negative biases and stereotypes about 4.0 GPA applicants, some of which have been mentioned in this thread.
Whether it is likely or not is a separate issue. I think it is highly unlikely that an employer will care whether you have a 4.0 GPA or a 3.high GPA. Instead I’d expect employers to emphasize things like whether your skill set, experience, interview, … suggest that you are going to be successful at the position. If an employer is a rare exception and doesn’t like to hire 4.0 GPA applicants due a negative bias or stereotype, then you might ask yourself if that’s the company you want to work for, especially if the person with that negative bias/stereotype is a direct manager or other person you will frequently work with.
I know more small company employers who show bias (pro and con) regarding college names for all sorts of reasons from rivalry or location to actual past performance of graduates than do so over GPA.
I fully agree that if a small company has a bias against an applicant, I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to work there.
When I saw a young woman’s resume from my alma mater with 3.9 GPA - math major, 1st chair violinist, long list of ECs, I had nothing but respect. I knew at my alma mater that 3.9 included philosophy, literature, music…courses, not just STEM courses.
I think that a 4.0 is something to be proud of, but it is only a piece of the pie…not the entire pie.
Internships, social skills, being a team player, fit, eagerness to learn, willingness to take risks, etc…are all important.
At the college where I work (open access community college), about a decade ago we stopped requiring our Val applicants to have a 4.0 gpa for a lot of these reasons. The valedictory speech is a lot more than just a number, and in the case of a community college, likely includes a windy path with a fair amount of adversity. “Some” perfect gpa students can present as one dimensional and a I would venture that some would interview and conduct themselves similarly in the workplace.
^Same. I’d rather hear from the single mom working two jobs to graduate rather than the perfect GPA student who just studied all the time. And I say this as someone who studied all the time. 
I think the problem comes in when the single mom working two jobs gets a 4.0 and suddenly some folks feel there HAS to be something wrong with her character.