I didn't finish graduating. I left school with 8 or so credits remaining (I already had a job lined up) and something like a 3.0 GPA.
Hasn't affected me in the slightest. To be fair, I also had multiple top tier internships through college and led a bunch of events on campus. I disregarded GPA entirely while in school and focused on what I felt was impactful and important (internships, community, etc). It doesn’t mean I slacked off in school though - I definitely learned the same material and put a lot of effort into doing so. I just took the tests and assessments less seriously and applied the 80/20 rule aggressively.
Today I have a fantastic career at a Unicorn startup while multiple top tier companies contact me every quarter trying to poach me away. My parents were initially very skeptical and were pushing me to finish school but now that they’ve seen the results, they don’t care anymore either.
The real lesson here is that GPA matters initially because companies have nothing else to frame your experience with. If you give them something else, then you’ll find that they’re more than willing to overlook GPA. If you don’t give them something to anchor your skill on AND your GPA is bad, it will be rough finding a job initially. Once you’ve had quality experience under your belt, GPA should cease to become a factor.
I had a GPA of roughly 2.4, from a top Australian university. Australian scale is very different, where good students would get about 3.0, and 4.0 would be extremely rare, about A+ levels.
My country had a good dose of grade inflation, so no matter how good the university was, the number itself meant that I didn't get pass the grade filter most organizations had.
Interestingly, bosses with ivy league level credentials would recognize the university and offer me jobs. So I got into a good starting job, rather than working for some corpotation like IBM or Sony like my friends.
That starting job gave me a lot of room to learn and it was a small enough company that I managed to get to know the company's clients well.
But if I had a strong GPA, it's possible I could be VP of some moderate sized tech company by 30 instead of being a top rate consultant.
Not on the U.S GPA grade, but I have two top grade degrees in the U.K. - one Undergraduate (1:1) and one Masters (Distinction) - known as Grad school in the U.S.
It comes up quite often in interviews and I think it gives me a strong foundation to get roles that I might not be as qualified for as someone else who doesn’t have the academic qualifications. I believe the reason for this is that the academic qualifications demonstrate that I can adapt to a wide range of disciplines whilst also being able to understand those disciplines on a deep level.
I had a 3.2 in Computer Science which was just enough to let other things shine when I was getting out of undergrad in a lukewarm economy. Later it was enough to not hinder my getting into a name brand grad school, which was a big benefit. (Signaling and networking more than anything else) I was never asked about GPA outside those cases.
I suspect if I got a 2.0 I may not have learned enough along the way.
Basically none. Perhaps it would have been harder to get that first job out of college with a resume listing a GPA below 3.0/4 (in the US, where grade inflation is rampant; I had a 3.7 IIRC).
A point or two makes no difference whatsoever; and especially if you're going into a field other than what you directly studied, it's at best a weak signal that suggests (in the absence of work history) that either you have a good work ethic or you're good at determining minimum viable output.
It's also a weak signal because the factors like whether one had to work to pay for college introduce a lot of noise.
It only matters for your first job because it's your only credential. If you keep it above a 3.0 you should be fine. If you're below that then just make a couple portfolio projects to impress interviewers.
Had a career prior, so my 1.whatever GPA didn’t matter. I pretty much stopped going to class within a month of starting and dropped out before first finals. Everything since has been relationships. Key for me was to define my skill set and evolve accordingly.
makes a noticeable impact here in India, we had CGPA (out of 10).. many companies coming for placements have a cut-off to even be allowed to sit for tests.. some allow to bypass the test if you've got higher CGPA..
I topped my class and got the job I wanted.. however looking back, I could see issues with this - I was good at memorizing stuff and motivated enough to get good grades even for subjects I didn't like.. there's just too many subjects and students that the college life was mostly about mugging up and not oriented towards practical aspects of engineering.. even implementing open-book tests would help to improve our way of thinking..
and during my time, most students got placed in IT despite studying ECE/EEE/Mech/etc
GPA? Zero impact. Building things aside played a huge role though. It's the main reason why I'm where I'm at today. I'd say aim for average score, spend your extra hours building things aside. Your real GPA is the positive impact you have on people.
Not having a good GPA does set you back temporarily, in the form of less access to graduate schools or an initial job. Which in turn lessen chances of some traditional advancements, like fast track management, doctors and lawyers, or finance careers.
Never. Never finished college, left with 1.5 semesters to go (kinda asked to leave really because of poor attendance) and just got straight into working. Connected with good people who cared more about ability than credentials and never looked back.
I can tell you however when we see candidates that list their GPA it's kind of a turn off. Even coming out of school you should have some more interesting stuff to put on there.
[+] [-] askafriend|8 years ago|reply
Hasn't affected me in the slightest. To be fair, I also had multiple top tier internships through college and led a bunch of events on campus. I disregarded GPA entirely while in school and focused on what I felt was impactful and important (internships, community, etc). It doesn’t mean I slacked off in school though - I definitely learned the same material and put a lot of effort into doing so. I just took the tests and assessments less seriously and applied the 80/20 rule aggressively.
Today I have a fantastic career at a Unicorn startup while multiple top tier companies contact me every quarter trying to poach me away. My parents were initially very skeptical and were pushing me to finish school but now that they’ve seen the results, they don’t care anymore either.
The real lesson here is that GPA matters initially because companies have nothing else to frame your experience with. If you give them something else, then you’ll find that they’re more than willing to overlook GPA. If you don’t give them something to anchor your skill on AND your GPA is bad, it will be rough finding a job initially. Once you’ve had quality experience under your belt, GPA should cease to become a factor.
[+] [-] muzani|8 years ago|reply
My country had a good dose of grade inflation, so no matter how good the university was, the number itself meant that I didn't get pass the grade filter most organizations had.
Interestingly, bosses with ivy league level credentials would recognize the university and offer me jobs. So I got into a good starting job, rather than working for some corpotation like IBM or Sony like my friends.
That starting job gave me a lot of room to learn and it was a small enough company that I managed to get to know the company's clients well.
But if I had a strong GPA, it's possible I could be VP of some moderate sized tech company by 30 instead of being a top rate consultant.
[+] [-] ilovecars2|8 years ago|reply
It comes up quite often in interviews and I think it gives me a strong foundation to get roles that I might not be as qualified for as someone else who doesn’t have the academic qualifications. I believe the reason for this is that the academic qualifications demonstrate that I can adapt to a wide range of disciplines whilst also being able to understand those disciplines on a deep level.
[+] [-] mathattack|8 years ago|reply
I had a 3.2 in Computer Science which was just enough to let other things shine when I was getting out of undergrad in a lukewarm economy. Later it was enough to not hinder my getting into a name brand grad school, which was a big benefit. (Signaling and networking more than anything else) I was never asked about GPA outside those cases.
I suspect if I got a 2.0 I may not have learned enough along the way.
[+] [-] cimmanom|8 years ago|reply
A point or two makes no difference whatsoever; and especially if you're going into a field other than what you directly studied, it's at best a weak signal that suggests (in the absence of work history) that either you have a good work ethic or you're good at determining minimum viable output.
It's also a weak signal because the factors like whether one had to work to pay for college introduce a lot of noise.
After that first job I never even listed it.
[+] [-] dyeje|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tdhz77|8 years ago|reply
Blog, Github and highlight your small projects. That is worth more than a high gpa.
I don't hire 4.0 students because I like to have a good social atmosphere.
[+] [-] TaylorGood|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asicsp|8 years ago|reply
I topped my class and got the job I wanted.. however looking back, I could see issues with this - I was good at memorizing stuff and motivated enough to get good grades even for subjects I didn't like.. there's just too many subjects and students that the college life was mostly about mugging up and not oriented towards practical aspects of engineering.. even implementing open-book tests would help to improve our way of thinking..
and during my time, most students got placed in IT despite studying ECE/EEE/Mech/etc
[+] [-] psyc|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bsvalley|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicholas73|8 years ago|reply
Everyone else, zippo.
[+] [-] dchuk|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imauld|8 years ago|reply
I can tell you however when we see candidates that list their GPA it's kind of a turn off. Even coming out of school you should have some more interesting stuff to put on there.
[+] [-] bowlich|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kevin_S|8 years ago|reply
Got a job with Deloitte in consulting.
Now an incoming PhD student.
GPA means nothing if you have an ounce of personal skills.
[+] [-] Raed667|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AnimalMuppet|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshdance|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cm2012|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itsevrgrn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] potta_coffee|8 years ago|reply