<p>So currently, I have an overall GPA of 3.49 and a major GPA of 3.8, my overall GPA will most likely increase as this is my final semester of college while my major GPA will stay the same as I finished all my major classes prior to this semester.</p>
<p>My question is, for a change between say 3.49 and 3.8 for now, is it wise to use my major GPA? 3.49 I suppose isn't that bad, but certainly 3.8 is better. What about having both my overall and major GPA in my resume? Does that look strange?</p>
<p>While it is acceptable to either (or both), it is absolutely unacceptable to round your GPA unless a computer system forces you to do so. If your transcript reads 3.49, your resume must read 3.49.</p>
<p>If you do use your major GPA, you should include the number of courses that have gone into creating that number.</p>
<p>You never round a GPA. It’s truncated (because a 4.0 and a 3.95 are not the same) and should always match exactly what is on your transcript. While the difference between a 3.50 and a 3.49 might seem trivial to you, if a company hires you, pulls your transcript and sees a 3.49 instead of your self-reported 3.50, you’ll possibly have your job offer rescinded. I’ve seen it more than once, and it would be really unfortunate to graduate, be a week away from starting a new job, then find out that you no longer have that job because of misrepresentation of your qualifications (which is fraud).</p>
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<p>I would list both. If you list the major GPA without the overall GPA, that will look strange and is something people typically do when their overall GPA is really low (like a 3.74 major and a 2.90 overall - which does happen when people perform horribly in one major then change majors). You could list just the overall without the major, but the major is so good that I would list both.</p>
<p>I looked online and saw that different schools list widely different things in terms of whether to round or not, with law schools making the biggest deal about not rounding. I would like to make a note. If you do round, a 3.49 becomes a 3.5, not a 3.50, as a 3.50 implies that the number is accurate to 3 digits.</p>
<p>Additionally, I disagree with the idea that you need to include the number of courses that make up the major GPA. I think a couple of posters are way too over conservative on this issue. I work for an ‘elite’ company and could care less about a hundredth of a point in an applicant’s GPA. It is not material.</p>
<p>Those are both strong GPA’s. I would include them both, of course you don’t have to; you could just include one or the other, just make sure you label it accordingly. </p>
<p>Honestly, no company is going to make a hiring decision based your GPA being 3.49 and not a 3.50. There is no reason to round; just list the gpa out to two decimal places. </p>
<p>Also, no reason to include the number of courses used to calculate your major GPA.</p>
<p>I don’t see a problem with rounding a 3.49 to a 3.5 (not 3.50). Obviously you cannot round a 3.52 to a 4.0. My resume doesn’t have my GPA, but when I do give it out (or edit the resume if a GPA is required), I give it to one decimal place.</p>
<p>That said, most likely, there is no one with a GPA of 3.XY where Y is 1-4 that rounds their GPA, because it would round down.</p>
<p>@CFB53B, I seriously doubt anyone lost an offer simply for rounding their gpa (i.e. listing a 3.359 as a 3.36 or a 3.69 as a 3.7) There’s either more to the story or you’re flat out making it up.</p>
<p>Honestly, it is not worth risking it. Even if most companies will not mind if you round up one tenth of one point, you should not take the risk that they will. The reality is that if a company has a strict GPA requirement and you need to round up to meet it, your chances of getting an interview are slim to begin, assuming it is a competitive field and a competitive applicant pool. </p>
<p>Then again, I am coming from Penn, which, as angryelf mentioned, has a very strict policy regarding GPA. Penn’s overall policies regarding recruitment are very strict, but these policies protect both companies and applicants (companies know their applicants are not embellishing; applicants know they won’t get exploding offers or be expected to interview on site during a midterm week)</p>
<p>Nope. People are hired without checking their transcript. As a condition of employment, their transcript is pulled. If your self-reported GPA does not match your transcript, HR (who have no opinion one way or the other regarding you qualification) automatically revoke the offer. It’s as simple as that: a zero-tolerance rule automatically applied. Personally, I don’t care if you think it’s true or not.</p>
<p>Obviously if the place you are applying says that you shouldn’t round your GPA, then you shouldn’t round your GPA in that instance. And if your school provides specific guidance, then you should follow that as well.</p>
<p>In what industry do you work? This sounds like office hear-say rather than personal experience. The only time I might say rounding is not acceptable is if a company has a hard line of “you must have a 3.5 to apply”. In that case, I can see the problem with rounding. However, if the barrier is a 3.5 and someone has a 3.69, who cares if he or she rounds a hundredth of a point. If any company is that caught up with these types of details then it is really missing the big picture, IMO.</p>
<p>Here’s a question that came up today: SAT scores. Should you list them? I know that was in high school, but when do you not list them? (1500/2210 in 2006, first class to take the current format.) Also would you bother to say, “References Available Upon Request”? I thought that was a ‘given’, but was told otherwise.</p>
<p>No reason to EVER list you SAT scores on your resume, unless it is a resume you are sending to get into college, and even then. </p>
<p>Don’t put references avail.upon request. This is implicit in every job you apply to - if they want to talk to former employers, you will hand over the contact information. Otherwise, it is just a waste of space.</p>
<p>However, if you are very young, and honestly don’t have anything better to put on your resume, I guess you could use it as space filler.</p>
<p>your SAT score is not relevant for anything other than getting into college. I have seen undergraduate intern resumes with SAT scores, but I’m 100% sure they are ignored.</p>
<p>my resume says “WORK EXPERIENCE - References available on request” so it doesn’t take up any extra room, but I agree that it isn’t needed.</p>