I made a lot of B’s in my general education classes so my cumulative GPA is a 3.6 while my major GPA is a 4.0. Obviously, neither one is “bad” but I know a 4.0 would attract more interviews and get me a better starting salary. My question is though, would an employer look down on this and possibly avoid hiring me or would it be a wise decision?
For the record, I’m not saying lie on my resume by saying my cumulative GPA is a 4.0 but just saying my GPA is a 4.0 under my degree. And if they ask, be honest. If they don’t ask, just avoid bringing it up.
It is unusual and, in my opinion, questionable to not show your overall GPA. My advice would be to show both. If you just show the 4.0 under your degree and don’t give a clear indication that it’s only your GPA within your major, you’re being dishonest and it could come back to bite you.
Your GPA is not going to decide your starting salary!
I have seen both listed. As long as it is appropriately labeled, you could just list the one in your major. Very few employers care about the GPA outside of a few industries.
Once you have worked in your first job, you won’t list it at all.
@Pancaked I didn’t mean my GPA directly, I meant more interviews with better companies (companies that require a 4.0 over a 3.6, typically pay better). Also I know I didnt mention this specifically but I did intend to say that it was my major GPA under my degree name. I’m not trying to lie, just improve my chances of interviews because I know companies don’t give interviews to everyone and without experience, there’s not really much they can distinguish applicants between other than school name, GPA, EC, etc.
At least I dont consider it lying, but that’s why I’ve come here to see if I could get more people’s advice on this issue because I could be wrong and employers would consider it lying.
@gettingschooled I hear mix things. I’ve heard people saying employers asked for companies of a transcript, I’ve heard employers don’t even care about school name, etc. So I figure the best solution is to get a majority opinion.
Are you really running into companies with requirements that high? I have never seen a company require anything higher than a 3.5 and even that seems pretty rare.
I disagree with @gettingschooled, I think employers certainly pay attention to your GPA when you’re applying fresh out of college and they’re screening tons of applications. Once they’ve selected for you a first round interview, the GPA probably becomes irrelevant (and it’s certainly irrelevant after your first job).
I’m sticking to my guns that you should put both, particularly because a 3.6 is not low at all. However I do think that putting “Major GPA: 4.0” without the overall GPA is defensible and not dishonest, but it almost certainly raises questions about your overall GPA. An employer may suspect your overall GPA is much lower than a 3.6 .
Feel free to browse similar posts on this forum, then tend to share my opinion:
If you happen to be in STEM, it doesn’t tend to matter. In fact, many employers will only be looking for your major GPA because they don’t want humanities classes padding your CGPA.
@Pancaked My issue is that my school is an average state school (so it’s not terrible but not great either) and an employer has to screen thousands of applicants like you said. So they favor people from harder/better schools for obvious reasons. For example; an employer would prefer a 3.5 from a school like emory over a 3.8 from a school like university of georgia. At least thats my understanding.
@Courtneythurston See that’s what I dont get, humanity classes are the hard ones. No expectations with humanity professors, while STEM professors least give you expectations.
But for the record, I’m a business student. Started off as an engineering student but prefer the competitiveness of business.
List both. And make sure that your overall GPA matches the one on your transcript exactly (to the same number of places after the decimal point), to avoid any questions of dishonesty if they check (if you are still in school, indicate that GPAs are through whatever term or date).
Just put both and let people think whatever they want. If they don’t care about your cumulative GPA, they will ignore it. If they do care, then they will get to see it and decide what they think from there.
I wouldn’t put both. As long as you list your major GPA then it’s clear. It’s marketing, only show your best. Both of my kids have high GPA but neither listed their GPA on LinkedIn. Kid #1 was advised by her school not to list it because let’s pick a number as high GPA, like 3.5, but for some people 3.5 is not high enough, for some people 3.5 is high.
However, if the HR asks for it then provide it to them. But you can list all the honors come with high GPA and people can have a feel for it. Some companies ask for transcripts before they interview you.
If you fill out an app, and you will eventually, you must list the overall. Otherwise the check will show up as an inaccuracy and you can be discarded for that. It happens. Be honest. Employers are not looking for employees who are trying to be too clever by half. A 3.6 is darn good. Be proud!
Do companies ever ask to see transcripts? If you’re going to list major GPA be sure to list it as such - although that screams to me that you are not happy with your overall. But whatever you do, make sure you don’t inadvertently misrepresent in case they ask for transcripts.
It depends. If you are using on campus recruitment, then you need to look up your university’s policies. For example, my school’s policy was that you could list your major GPA only, but you must state clearly that it is a major GPA and also list the number of courses you have taken in major (this helps prospective employers get some context around the number… a 4.0 after ten classes is much different than a 4.0 after one or two).
There is nothing objectively wrong about listing a major GPA so long as it is noted as such. Definitely don’t list is as just your “GPA” - be specific or risk serious consequences down the line. With that said, if you are applying to any jobs that involve submitting your resume online through a form (versus emailing it), consider using just your cumulative GPA. Some of the automated resume sorters will ignore resumes that list multiple or major GPAs.