<p>someone was arguing with me, in another thread, that a GPA is not that important cause it mainly measures your test taking ability. </p>
<p>I was wondering: Do you thing being evaluated by your GPA is fair? If not, what would be fairer?</p>
<p>Clearly there are some problems with measuring someone solely on their GPA. A GPA does not measure the students current understanding of the material (only their understanding of the material at the time they were tested), communication or leadership skills, dedication or time commitment to activities or organizations outside of school,...etc One could even argue that a students GPA is going to have an inverse relationship to many of these other things that employers look for. </p>
<p>Personally, I agree with the current system because it measures alot of important things too, however it is NOT perfect. but was wondering what you all thought?</p>
does not really matter unless you accomplished something of significance.</p>
<p>And, as a professor for over 20 years, I have to disagree with
Almost without exception, when I speak with a student who insists they knew the material but did poorly on the exam, they actually did not understand the material.</p>
<p>The majority of professors do not try to make exams that trick or in some way trip up the student. The majority actually try to test the students knowledge of the material as taught by the professor and book. Lately, tests and professors are being charged with being too easy, not hard. </p>
<p>So I would say a GPA is not a good measure because it is probably OVER RATING the student.</p>
<p>^^i think you misunderstand what I was trying to say. I was trying to say that just because a student has a strong GPA does NOT mean they have a good understanding material. At most, it means they had a good understanding of the material at the time they were tested (which is usually months to years before they actually start interviewing for jobs), hence why a GPA may be considered not all that important (by some).</p>
<p>With that said, the only way to test your current knowledge would be to have some sort of test (which some employers do). Ive gotten so many good grades in classes that I couldnt tell you anything about just weeks later, is pathetic. Then employers hire these 4.0 students that dont know **** lol.</p>
<p>Yeah GPA is usually not that great some of my friends have barely over 2.0 gpa and get jobs at great companies making boot loads of money because they know the right people in college. I regret not going to those parties and network more often.</p>
<p>^^that is another failing of the GPA. A student who got a 3.2 in a class 6 months ago could very well have a better understanding of the material now than a student who got a 4.0 in that same class 6 months ago. GPA measures your past performance/understanding not your present. Some 4.0 students are really good at studying for the test, learning just what is most likely to be on the test, study cramms the night before,…etc instead of studying and fully understanding all topics fully…The former student is gonna forget much of the material…the later will remember more of it. But according to GPAs the former is “better.” Plus, some students have much better memories than others anyways, and that is nor really reflected in your gpa either. </p>
<p>Like I said earlier, I think GPA is the best measure, for now, but it def is not perfect.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect people to remember everything. That is not really the point.</p>
<p>If you understood the material before, you can easily understand it again. That is really the point.</p>
<p>A person with a low GPA probably never understood the material. A person with a high GPA did understand the material. </p>
<p>If the material was required to be re-learned then the person with the high GPA would probably be able to do so while the person with a low GPA wouldn’t.</p>
<p>“If the material was required to be re-learned then the person with the high GPA would probably be able to do so while the person with a low GPA wouldn’t.”</p>
<p>I’m not so sure about this. The student with the best memory would probably be able recall/relearn the materieal easiest.</p>
<p>I don’t think GPA is absolute over everything else, but I do think a student with a high GPA has proven something over the student with a low GPA. I don’t want to hear none of the “its not the best guage” nonsense. The facts are 90% of the time my smart, more dependent, more realistic and more capable friends have GPAs above 3.4 and 3.5s. My friends that are smart and capable, but lazier in their work habits hover around 3.0s. Others below that, even after the gpa inflation, are just not the ones I would want to be in business with. </p>
<p>Just to say this, a GPA of 3.67 to me is no different than a 3.72. Other factors would have to put one over the other…</p>
<p>Here is what the GPA really measures:
Dedication.</p>
<p>GPAs do not measure and cannot measure:
Intelligence.
Total understanding of material.
How capable you are.
How talented you are.
Your passions.
Your creativity.
etc.</p>
<p>The average student (excluding a gifted savant) if dedicated enough can make good grades no matter how difficult the course is, a side effect of this dedication is better understanding of the material.
This ‘dedication’ is the time you put into the course(s). It’s a very linear relationship…
the more time you put into the course, the better you will do, the more difficult the course the more time it requires…etc. thus your final grade(s) or total GPA reflects this ‘dedication’. Therefore, if you don’t put the time for whatever reason… having two jobs… long commutes… not visiting the professor after class for questions…working nights…missed home works…parties…girls (boys)…etc, this will automatically reflect in your class or GPA (again…unless you are extremely gifted somehow).</p>
<p>When a doctor takes the United States Medical Licensing Examination, they either pass or fail. Same with an engineer, etc. Do you go to your dentist and ask? “Hey Doc, just checking you competency… what’s your United States Medical Licensing Examination score?” or before you have an operation, do you ask such a question?.. etc.</p>
<p>For an employer, a high GPA means a dedicated employee that will put time into the job rather than someone that just knows ‘the stuff’ but likes a more ‘relaxed’ or ‘laid back’ way of getting the job done. Employers look for people that can be loyal and dedicated to their jobs, no matter the circumstances. Employer do not want a genius that will rather not take the job seriously or be totally committed. Everyone needs to have some fundamental knowledge to compete, but a high GPA shows how much ‘effort/time/work/dedication/etc’ you put into things… a key determinant that employers love!</p>
<p>What was Steve Jobs’ GPA? Bill Gates? Sam Walton? Einstein’s?<br>
Actually Einstein was low performing student at one point in time … etc… </p>
<p>I have worked in the industry for many years, and all I can say is… watch out for employers that demand a high GPA…typically those jobs are hell on earth, for the reason described above.</p>
<p>GPA is an indicator of work ethic. Within a graduating class at a university I would say that 90% of the students fall in the fat part of the intelligence bell curve and essentially possess the same level of innate intelligence/aptitude. What differentiates a 2.9 GPA from a 3.8 is usually that the 3.9 student works and prepares 10 times as hard as the 2.9.</p>
<p>GPA is a composite number and trying to determine what GPA means in the singular sense is futile because what it measures is all over the board. For example, most people will immediately associate high GPA with such things as high aptitude or good scholastic ethics. However, negative factors can also result in high GPA such as ability to cheat (eg frat and sor test banks, lot of friends to grab/check hw anwsers), ability to bs on reports or exams, ability to identify ‘easy’ professors, easy classes, classmates, or school. Further GPA can go down from potentially positive scholastic aspects such as an engineering student significantly envolved in an engineering team. A GPA can also go down due to non academic reasons outside of the students control such as rasism or sexism problems at a particular school, if a student is unfortunate and experiences hardships while in college (family deaths, poor health both physical or mental)). It’s all over the place. Not shockingly, college GPA has been found to be a weak predictor of future success (outside of near term classes at the same school) which is why companies will almost always ignore GPA if you have had past experience. Even having 6 months of successful internship will usually mean far more than GPA right out of college.</p>