<p>Hi parents. So, I've posted on here before and have mentioned how I'm considering dropping out of college to work for a time and get my act together, and things like that, and how my grades are horrible and all. </p>
<p>I'm posting because people have told me that college isn't the end-all-be-all. If I graduate with a 2.5, it won't be the best thing in the world, but it won't destroy my life. However, I'm having a really hard time believing that as I look at kids with better GPAs and work experience and campus involvement having a tough time finding jobs. I look to my close friends and they are all academic superstars - my boyfriend is in the final round of interviews for a job in NYC that pays close to 100K a year. My other friends are getting into Top 5 grad programs, being accepted to Teach for America, Peace Corps, snagging jobs with engineering firms or the government. </p>
<p>I just don't see where it leaves me. </p>
<p>I would love to hear the stories of some older people (or of their kids) who had a really rough time in college but managed to turn it around professionally and have great successful lives. Sub-3.0 GPAs preferred haha. I just need a pick-me-up and I figure there's a lot of other people in my shoes who could use words of encouragement, too...</p>
<p>Well, first off, no matter what the GPA you’ve compiled thus far, I think in MOST cases once you’ve had your epiphany it is smart to buckle down and get the degree. If you are ready to get higher marks now, then you can show that you got over whatever the issue was.</p>
<p>It is tough to see ‘everybody’ else getting the more prestigious offers, but don’t shoot yourself in the foot by not getting any degree. Once you get your first job, your GPA will never again be so important, except for grad school apps.</p>
<p>Well, I’ll give it to you that I -generally- agree some degree is better than no degree.</p>
<p>But, what if that degree wasn’t all you had hoped for? What if it didn’t show what you were capable of? Then what? Are you stuck forever or is there a way to work yourself back up from failure AFTER college?</p>
<p>Best case scenario here I would still graduate with a sub 3.0 GPA, albeit hopefully with a huge upward trend. The question is where does that leave you?</p>
<p>I am sure it is different for big companies recruiting off of college campuses, however, in my decades long career no employer or prospective employer has ever asked me my GPA or to see my transcript. It is not a brilliant transcript, and I don’t even know my GPA. If you do get asked answer honestly. Say I had a rough start, but pulled it together. Say it was a great learning experience that taught me perserverence and the importance of working hard.</p>
<p>Can you afford to do an internship right now? I don’t think that a college degree is the be all and end all at all. There are other paths to take. You could volunteer or intern, learn a trade or a craft, or take a job and see where it goes, in, for instance, restaurant work or landscaping. Life meanders quite a bit for everyone. Many job postings these days ask for a “BA or equivalent work experience.” If you hate school, maybe there is another way for you to reach your goals. Also, there are many ways to go to school. Only a minority does the 4 or even 6 year degree. Work, take one class, see if you like it better that way. Life experience may also mean you have more academic motivation, direction or even ability in the long run.</p>
<p>Get your first job and work from there. Noone asks for your GPA outside of college on-campus recruiting or in consulting firms. I did alot of college recruiting when I worked (not HR, but representing a division) and the person who got the offers wasn’t always the high GPA, big name school. More often it was the person we liked and who really seemed like they wanted the job. Then we would hit ourselves over the head when they were just another “salesperson” who did a really good job selling themselves in the interview but had no brains to back it up, but that’s another story!</p>
<p>Once you are in the workforce, most employers are not interested in GPA. Get your degree, get a job that may not be your dream job but that gets your foot in the workforce, and then work your way up from there. When it comes time for promotions, employers look to your record on the job rather than your college record.</p>
<p>Get the degree. High GPA’s don’t predict success in the workforce. Work on your interpersonal skills, your dependability, and your speaking and presentation skills. </p>
<p>If you believe nothing else you read in this thread, believe this…the “real” world is easier to succeed in than the academic world. Show up, get along, be likeable, be reliable. The rest is semantics.</p>
<p>The issue here is getting that first job, isn´t it? You will need to figure out how to do that first. As people mentioned here, once you have your first job, then your GPA is not as important. Another way of disclosing your GPA is by your major (if it´s higher).</p>
<p>I have a young lady (25) who is my chief of staff now. When I hired her I didn´t realize she was so young because her resume said she has worked for 8+ years at my firm. It turned out she worked full time while going to college. She started as secretary, but very quickly worked her way up. While most assistants just answered calls and made appointments, she went over and beyond - drafting emails for her manager(s), creating reports, and really learned about the business. She came highly recommended to me. After only a month with me, she is able to represent me at many meetings now - HR, audit, planning…She works longer hours than some of my more senior people, and they can´t hire or go on a business trip without her approval. She didn´t get this job because of her GPA, she got this job because of her intelligence and hard work. This year she will be paid 150K. </p>
<p>OP - how successful you are going to be in career someday is not totally related to your GPA. But you need to ask yourself as to why your GPA is so low. Is it your work ethic? If so, then you may need to take a hard look on how you are going to change that. The reason an employer looks at someone´s GPA is to use it as a first gauge for intelligence and work ethic.</p>
<p>FYI - my GPA wasn´t great when I graduated from college either. All my friends got into bank´s training program, but I couldn´t. I had to take a job at an insurance company (all I did was adding numbers on a calculator), but in few years I talked my way into a job at an IB. I also moved up the ranks by working harder than other people, took assignments that people (white males) didn´t want to do.</p>
<p>A relative of mine was expelled from a not-at-all-selective public university because of his grades. He eventually earned a college degree at a different, not-selective university. Barely. As you requested: definitely a sub-3.0 GPA! </p>
<p>Then he found an industry that interested him. He now owns a business in that industry. His business has been a great success, and he is doing well both professionally and personally.</p>
<p>Think of your time in college not just as the GPA and the degree, but learning and learning to learn. Worthy employers won’t ask you for your GPA, though the might ask you for your degree. But they definately will want to understand if you are a thinking, intelligent, knowledgable, pro-active person.</p>
<p>This vision of college as just getting the degree is disturbing.</p>
<p>I graduated from a recognizable on CC small selective LAC with a 2.7. This GPA meant that options that were open to many of my classmates weren’t open to me. My college debt meant that other options (such as unpaid internships in my major field) weren’t open to me. It was very difficult. I moved home and took a series of odd jobs, tried my luck in unrelated career fields, and ultimately determined that my best future was to be had by returning to college in a different field of studies. When I went back to school, I earned a 3.7 and was admitted to the grad school program that I wanted.</p>
<p>Then of course I married Happydad, moved to a different continent, and had to re-start my life all over again but YMM will almost certainly V!</p>
<p>However, the question that I think you need to address is your present unhappiness. If you don’t like your current program, and you don’t have a sense of purpose for your major, then please, please, please don’t be afraid to take a leave of absence and do something different for a while. My greatest regret about college is that I didn’t take a leave of absence in the middle of my degree program. I was burned out. I didn’t have good grades. I didn’t have a clear goal for my education. I stayed because if I had left I could have lost my financial aid package, and then I would not have been able to return to that particular college. </p>
<p>Looking back, I see that my fears held me captive. Maybe my aid package would have been there and I could have returned to my college re-energized and with a clear sense of purpose. Maybe my aid package would have vanished into thin air, and I would have been freed to re-think my life, and I would have begun my “second career” sooner. In either case, I would almost certainly have graduated with a better GPA, and I definitely would have had a goal for that degree beyond just finishing it.</p>
<p>All best wishes for finding your own best future!</p>
<p>If you are truly unhappy at your current college/university, and you really don’t have a good sense of direction, please don’t be afraid to take the time off that you need.</p>
<p>Not only was my original GPA not even close to a 3.0, I managed a very happy life that actually got me into grad school almost 10 years later! </p>
<p>As so many have said, no one asks your GPA outside of on campus interviews and since I never had an on campus interview, no one - not one person - has ever asked my GPA. It is far more about completing the goal, the perseverance to finish.</p>
<p>While you might not be making 100K out of school, I think that is a rare bird regardless. But the truth about dropping out or taking a leave of absence, makes going back all that much harder, especially if you have bills to pay.</p>
<p>Someone close to me had a 2.5 coming out of college (actually had to change schools half way through because at the first school his grades were too low…and only got his BA after 7 years!). Got a job out of college however, moved his way up in the company, went back and got an Executive MBA part-time (costly but they couldn’t care less about your gpa if you don’t mind paying for it), and has been extremely financially successful and very very happy.</p>
<p>PS: CC is a terrible place to hang out if you feel worried or down on yourself for not following the proscribed singular perfectionistic path…fortunately the ‘real world’ is quite different.</p>
<p>UMCP11 - Does your user name mean that you are supposed to graduate in 2011? Your friends are interviewing for jobs and graduate programs. Are you a senior and thinking of dropping out with only one semester to go? Don’t do it.</p>
<p>I have more than one semester to go due to repeated failing and dropping of courses.</p>
<p>Rest assured, I am not the type that would have trouble going back to school should I take a temporary leave of absence. I have very supportive parents and have always loved school. </p>
<p>If anyone else has any stories of professional success after a poor college experience, that would be great. </p>
<p>Yes, everyone says that after the first job GPA doesn’t matter. But what if you’re worried about getting the FIRST job? With a record like that how do you secure a job that has opportunities for advancement or opportunities for you to show off your skills so that you don’t get stuck in a rut? With this record I see very limited options open to me (maybe waitressing, maybe as a clerk or cashier somewhere). These are the kinds of jobs people get stuck in for life because they don’t look all that impressive on a resume.</p>
<p>I don’t mind taking a low paying job, but I would mind if there was no way out of a career that wasn’t taking full advantage of the skills I had to offer.</p>
<p>BTW, as to the stopping out, I do know a kid who withdrew in his senior year due to crashing and burning, he did finish his degree the next year, but there was a huge amount of family support to get him there</p>
<p>umcp11 - I flunked out of Towson. Towson! I finally got back in and ended up graduating. It ultimately took me 9 semesters and 2 summers. Needless to say, my best grades came AFTER they kicked me out. But they still weren’t awesome. I never finished a course with a final grade of A. That’s right, there’s not a single A on my Towson transcript. Is that pathetic, or what? (I don’t know what my final GPA was. But, obviously it must be <3.)</p>
<p>But my college failures didn’t stop me from finding a good job and making a great living. The best thing I ever did for myself was finish college. Flunking out would cause most kids to give up. For me it was a wake-up call. </p>
<p>If you’ve got the parental support and the budget, then I urge you to stay in school. Don’t compare yourself to other students. Focus on what YOU do, not what they do. </p>