Is there such a thing as a GPA that's too high?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>I've been poking around this forum and the engineering one, and I've noticed that many people claim to be skeptical about job applicants with 3.9-4.0 GPAs in the engineering/computing fields. Apparently the theory is that someone with a GPA that high couldn't have social skills, or was good at testing but not at real applications of work, or did nothing but study, etc etc. But from what I've observed at my college, GPA doesn't really correlate with those things at all..</p>

<p>How is it bad to have a high GPA, and how does that imply failure in other areas?</p>

2

<p>I have not heard of this happening. To cut down on your GPA to seem more sociable would be ridiculous.</p>

3

<p>That kind of GPA gets you into the interview; the actual interview will determine if you have social skills and would fit into a given company. As a hiring manager, I have never screened out an applicant because their GPA was too high, but I have screened out a candidate with a high GPA because their in-person interview suggested they had poor communication skills (couldn’t look me in the eye, couldn’t complete a thought, more nervous than the average nervous interviewee…). College is a balance … you need to have strong academics, but you also need to come out well-rounded.</p>

4

<p>If everything else is equal, a high GPA will beat a low GPA. Many companies use GPA as the first criteria to determine whether to grant an interview to an applicant or not. Once you get an interview, many of the other factors will come into play. High GPA is good, not bad.</p>

5

<p>The only time I’ve heard that it’s bad to have a high GPA is if you’re applying for jobs and you don’t have any activities outside of school. In other words, a 3.7 w/ activities, jobs, etc… will be given preference over a 3.9 w/ no activities, jobs, etc…</p>

6

<p>Then why do I see things like this all over the place:</p>

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<p>I see things like this implied all over this site. It’s as if employers assume people with low GPAs have communication/social skills, while people with high GPAs don’t.</p>

7

<p>There are companies where communications skills are needed for engineers but there are many, many companies where it isn’t that much of an issue. We want to know if people can do the engineering work. Being socially awkward doesn’t really hurt you that much.</p>

<p>Companies outsource some of their work to foreign countries where communications skills are usually awful. If you’re in a job where you see customers a lot, then I can see where social skills matter. If you have a buffer (manager, product manager, customer support, consultants, etc.) then it is much less of an issue.</p>

8

<p>I have been in the CC community for quite a while and I have never sensed by reading most of the posts that very high GPA implies anything negative. It is definityely not the ONLY THING but it is in itself a positive factor rather than a negative one. You should concentrate on learning rather than concerning about GPA too high in college.</p>