<p>Hey, considering that all freshmen here managed to get in, I'll assume we all had pretty great GPAs in high school. I'm finding that my grades aren't what they used to be. I have friends who are getting straight As here at Penn and a few friends who have As and Bs. What would you consider a decent GPA for a student here at Penn? If I want to get a decent job once I graduate or think about apply to grad schools, what should I be shooting to maintain?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The hardest and most frustrating part of my freshman year was not knowing what to expect out of myself. Give it some time! It took until the end of my second semester for me to set realistic goals for final GPA. Only you know what you are capable of doing, considering your own workload and the kind of classes you take. Work your hardest, see what comes out of it, and give yourself time to see where you belong in all the mess.</p>
<p>I’m going through the same problem you are. I’ve accepted that in a class or two I’m not going to get an A but I’m going to just try and take different classes.</p>
<p>It’s completely possible to ruin your freshman year and get a good GPA though. Not that anyone’s trying to do that anyway.</p>
<p>If you want all doors wide open to you upon graduation, you want a 3.7+
3.5+ might give you a tougher time but with extra currics, you should be ok
3.2+ is state school grad schools and not-so-great or amazingly connected jobs
below that, you’re in hot water.</p>
<p>Having said that, Freshman and Sophomore years, your GPA tends to tank because of the large, harshly curved classes. At some point, I heard a GPA progression of something like</p>
<p>F: 3.2
S: 3.2
J: 3.5
Senior:3.5</p>
<p>because upper level courses are more generous with % of class getting A’s</p>
<p>Ehhh I’d beg to differ. </p>
<p>GPA only matters if you are looking at high power jobs. OCR jobs do typically rely on GPA to decide who to preselect for interviews, but aside from that, I’ve had interviewers explicitly tell me that they would rather see someone with extensive work experience, a good head on their shoulders and a personality as opposed to a 3.9 with nothing else to offer. </p>
<p>If you want to go to a top graduate or professional school, GPA matters (usually). If you want to work for Goldman, Morgan Stanley or JP in the financial market or Bain, BCG or Cornerstone in the consulting market, yes you need a stellar GPA to have a reasonable shot. But you can still get a powerful position working for a smaller company.</p>
<p>Right now I’m interviewing with four different firms, all relatively small but all growing quickly and looking to hire a very select group, and I have a 3.08 cumulative GPA with a 3.4 major GPA. They aren’t going to be paying six figures in the first two years, but you could pretty much guarantee six figures by 26 years old. There is hope for the people with low GPAs!</p>
<p>Does a high GPA make everything easier? Yes. But is it necessary? No.</p>
<p>Also, upper level courses give out higher grades partly because of more generous teachers but mainly because it is very unlikely that someone will take, say, a highly analytical quantitative 400 level political science course if they are interested in biology. It IS, however, likely that someone will take ECON001 if they are a bio major, just as it is likely that someone will take MATH114 as a philosophy major. Being interested in a subject contributes highly to your ability to succeed in the course!</p>