Is it better to have a lower gpa from an ivy league or a higher GPA from a non-ivy?

<p>I am wondering how much GPA matters to employers when you graduate from university. Is it better to graduate from an ivy league school with a lower GPA (lets say for example a 2.0-3.0 GPA), or a higher GPA from a highly reputable, non-ivy league university (such as a 3.0 and above or 3.5 and above GPA)? I am majoring in communications, so I am not sure how much this matters for this field, although I will most likely apply to a variety of communications and business related jobs when I graduate.</p>

<p>According to The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2013 survey results, the following factors are considered when hiring a new grad ( in order of importance):</p>

<ol>
<li> Held a leadership position</li>
<li> Major</li>
<li> High GPA</li>
<li> Involvement in extracurriculars</li>
<li> School attended</li>
</ol>

<p>71% of employers are looking for graduates with relevant work experience.</p>

<p>So to answer your question, it would be better to have a higher GPA from a non-Ivy school. Internships and co-ops are most helpful in helping new grads to secure employment after graduation.</p>

<p>I think it’s impossible to offer a reliable, general answer to a question like this.
How big a GPA spread are we really talking about? Which two schools? Which employer?</p>

<p>Even if it’s true that a specific employer would tend to favor even a slightly higher GPA from school X over a slightly lower GPA from Ivy school Y, how do you know you’d wind up with a higher GPA from X? Maybe you’re assuming that Ivy League schools tend to have lower average GPAs than selective non-Ivy schools. That’s not necessarily true. According to gradeinflation.com, the average GPA at Berkeley for the latest year available was 3.27. At Penn, it was 3.44. </p>

<p>Many very selective schools do not offer undergraduate programs in Communications or Business. UPenn has the only Ivy League college of arts & science with a Communications major. I believe it is also the only Ivy League university with a full-blown undergraduate business program (in the Wharton School). Columbia offers a “special concentration” in Business Management.</p>

<p>I would expect some employers to tend to favor a somewhat lower GPA from Penn’s Wharton School over a higher GPA from another business program. Some employers may favor a lower GPA in economics or a STEM field over a higher GPA in Communications or Business. However, I’m not aware of any data that shows such effects.</p>

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<p>An earlier thread has discussed the Wyden-Rubio bill mandating that salary information by college and major be published. I expect that controlling for school and major, there is a positive correlation between GPA and income. It would be nice if colleges studied this, but
even I don’t think they should be mandated to do so. Such studies could answer questions such as “Do engineers with 3.0 GPAs earn more than business majors (at the same school) with 4.0 GPAs on average?”</p>

<p>I interviewed MANY people for positions in my former job. The school they went to was irrelevant as long as they fulfilled the requirements for the degree we required. GPA was not a consideration UNLESS a student had some blip in their grades, and we would ask about that in the interview. Because of the number of applicants, we didn’t need to interview someone with a GPA below 3.0, BUT we would do so if they had relevant and current experience in the field. </p>

<p>We did not care at all about college extra curricular activities UNLESS they were related to the job being sought. Ditto leadership positions.</p>

<p>I agree that there is not pat answer to this question. Even the list provided upstream is not applicable in all job situations.</p>

<p>I think every employer will look at things differently. School matters in some regard for our recruiting. IVY, LAC, certain State Us are all the same to me. A very weak college No. GPA is important in only that I wouldn’t be interested in a 2.8 candidate but don’t really care about the difference between a 3.5 and a 4.0. </p>

<p>I could care less about college ECs. Internships and work experience are most critical.</p>

<p>What is important is which employers recruit at the school. You could have the highest GPA, but if employers you are interested in do not recruit there then your chance of getting hired is not as high. On the other hand, if you go to a local (no name) college which has a good reputation with some employers then you would be better off with high GPA. If you want to be employed nationally or internationally, it is better to go to a school with a more recognizable name.</p>

<p>We never “ask” about GPAs although some young people put them on their resume. I told my kids not to put GPA on their resume. I told them if someone asks, they can share it. Work experience (ANY work experience) and paid internships are the most important factor. Colleges generally don’t matter. We require a college transcript on file within 30 days of starting and no one looks at it other than the admin that puts it in the personnel file. My previous employer did not require a transcript.</p>

<p>We look at GPA. If the GPA is not there then we assume the worst. I tell my kids to put their GPA on the resume.</p>

<p>You only need to look at the answers in this thread, and the other multitude of threads on the same subject to see there is no single answer. It’s better to have a higher GPA if you can get it. Who would argue with that? To some employers and some interviewers it is critical.
But if you don’t have a 3.0 all is not lost. Believe me. I won’t bother to add my own anecdote on the subject. You can probably find it in one of those other threads.</p>

<p>The same thing applies to the school.</p>

<p>“Employers” are not monolithic, so the question is nonsense. The power of the Ivies is higher in some parts of the country than in others. Employers themselves may be people who are into the world of elite colleges, or not.</p>

<p>The same employer might want a high GPA for some positions (analyst) and low GPA for other positions (sales).</p>

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<p>Depends on the employer and job. For example, jobs where major is most relevant prioritize major.</p>

<p>GPA might matter more if it is poor. E.g. an employer may not care too much between a 3.0 and a 4.0 GPA, but may be leery of bringing in a graduating senior with a 2.0 GPA.</p>

<p>Employer may put schools into three buckets: (a) schools employer actively recruits at, (b) schools respectable enough that applicants are considered for interviews, (c) schools not considered respectable (often this means primarily on-line schools, non-selective for-profit schools, non-regionally-accredited schools, etc.).</p>

<p>Note also that more selective universities tend to have higher grade inflation, so it is not necessarily a given that going to a less selective university will result in a higher GPA.</p>

<p>If overall GPA is below 3.0…sometimes even in Engineering/CS, whether a school’s Ivy/elite or non won’t matter. That is, unless one has impressive relevant work/EC experiences or is an experienced employee with a good track record. </p>

<p>Name/type of school is irrelevant as I’ve seen with friends of HS friends attending schools like Harvard and Columbia with 2.x GPAs having a hard time getting hired even in a good economy. </p>

<p>Same with a cousin who attended a well-respected engineering school who needed another six months after graduation in the late '80s to land his first engineering/CS job because his overall GPA was ten-thousandth of a point below 3.0. Upon hearing/seeing that during some campus interviews, some interviewers would abruptly end the interview and were brutally frank about why…the GPA. In contrast, his above 3.0 friends had multiple offers before graduation. Sometimes as early as their second-semester junior year despite the fact some had no relevant EC/industry working experience whereas he had it in spades with strong references. </p>

<p>This experience was one reason why despite his subsequent career successes, he was adamant about telling younger relatives like myself to NEVER ALLOW YOUR CUMULATIVE GPA TO FALL BELOW 3.0.</p>

<p>Obviously you’ve had difficulty developing criteria to evaluate your choices, but starting multiple threads over the past couple months asking basically the same question is of limited value because only you can make the decision.</p>

<p>I agree with this response that you received in January.</p>

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<p>Since we have so few Ivy graduates who ever return here to work, they get no boost whatsoever; maybe 20 seconds of “oh, so you went to…” We think Brown means UPS, and I’d bet that half of the population can’t pronounce “Dartmouth”, no less know where it is or what it is and why it isn’t a university. And a Yalie applying for a job here would be immediately suspect.</p>

<p>If you want a boost out here in employment, go to Brigham Young.</p>

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<p>Not at our company. #1 and #4 are nice-to-haves. Between 2, 3 & 5, depends on the hiring manager.</p>

<p>btw: Comm is looked down upon in our company.</p>

<p>GPA matters most if one is applying to professional graduate schools: business, law, medicine. As for employers, it’s variable depending on the industry and hiring practices. I can imagine, for example, GPA might matter for an employer that hires a “large crop” of graduates each year and has to determine between an “even bigger crop of applicants.” But besides those scenarios above which are the minority, GPA doesn’t matter much.</p>

<p>Additionally, just because one earns an B in an ivy does not translate to earning an A in a non-ivy. Too many factors to consider. There is no way you can make that assumption.</p>

<p>Cobrat-
You better consult one of your many relatives or friends becaise you have no idea what you"re talking about. Plenty of places will hire under 3.0. We don’t look at GPA at all and are continually hiring entry level engineerd at around 60K.</p>