If you attend a top-50 liberal arts college or university (outside of HYPS) and have a GPA below 3.0, what is a typical outcome in terms of jobs and graduate school admissions?
I would think that on-campus interviews for jobs, and graduate school admissions, would be difficult, but the school name would surely help nonetheless, and people in these situations do find jobs and surely go on to happy lives and careers.
I’d be curious to hear people’s real-like stories of what happened in these situations.
No, they couldn’t possibly go on to happy lives and careers. Neither can anyone who attended a school below the top 50. They are all flipping burgers and mopping floors. If you hear one of them is happy and doing well, you’re being lied to.
Seriously, you’re a Harvard Law graduate and can’t figure this one out on your own?
Grad school admissions would be difficult unless it’s at a low/unranked school that just needs warm paying bodies.
Jobs? I’m sure gazillions of 3.0 GPA grads get jobs…so do those with sub 3.0 GPAs.
I don’t know if many jobs really care about GPA…some just want someone with a degree. I’m guessing that some applicants don’t put their GPA on their resumes…they’ll just list school name, graduation year, major, and any relevant activities.
Anyone attending a top school should be smart enough to know how t change their transcript.
Jk. But this thread seems to be another thinly veiled attempt to data mine for examples to justify why one should spend $$$ on top schools. But really, how many will post that they had poor GPA’s unless perhaps they have a hail Mary story to counterbalance it. I know several people who attended my top LAC (sorry, OP, I graduated with honors so don’t qualify to share my GPA in this scenario) who dropped out because they couldn’t hack it. Don’t know what happened to them, but I’ll bet many if not most are just fine. Then there are those who graduated with probably a fine GPA (we weren’t crass enough to compare them) who have taken a life path that you would probably look down your nose at.
And, the op will proudly announce that he has a few of the posters here on ignore. Nothing could please is more.
If you’re in an engineering major and located within 500 miles of Silicon Valley - you could be welcomed to a company without even completing your sub-top-50 college degree with 2.x GPA. You need to show that you have skills and drive.
The vast majority of the college-educated workforce had a B-or-lower average in college, irrespective of where you went to UG. I guess you could say it worked out for them…
Plenty of people went to no name colleges with sub 3.0 GPA and end up making 6 figure salaries. It depends on individual drive and ingenuity. Book smarts is not the same as street smarts.
My nephew graduated from a non-flagship northeastern state university with just under a 3.0 (he has some learning differences) and has a really good Navy civilian job.
Happyalumnus- I really don’t get your agenda. I have a state university undergrad degree and I’m quite happy with it. It’s served me almost as well as my law degree from a school just a hair behind yours in the rankings. I’m glad I’m not obsessed about it all the way you are!
My husband graduated from a TTT (old timers will remember what that means). If his GPA was above 3.0, I’d be surprised. He was a co-op student with a great company who offered him a full time job after his first co-op term (for after his graduation). They knew DH knew his stuff, and could do the job.
He has had an extremely successful career despite his less than perfect GPA, and his less than top 50 college.
I got my bachelors, masters and post masters degrees at public universities…most of it fully funded. I had a fabulous career, and am still called on to work (which I’m actually doing this fall). My GPA was near perfect…I graduated summa cum laude…but really, my schools don’t even show up on the rankings…well…my undergrad does now.
I think the hoopla over college rankings, and grades is just that…hoopla.
I should add…I can’t remember the last time anyone asked me about my GPA or where I got my degrees. In my field it’s all about licensure, and that’s what they want to see.
Some people must become weather men and they are always wrong. Forecast for today is sunny in Southern Cal and it’s raining right now. Raining in July, unbelievable.
It varies depending on specific field or type of grad school. Experience is typically much more important than GPA or school name for employment. For example, in the survey at http://www.maguireassoc.com/resource-items/employer-survey-results/ employers rated college GPA and college reputation as the 2 least important factors in evaluating resumes of new grads. Internships and employment during college were rated most important. However, a good portion of employers do screen resumes of new grads by GPA. often with a 3.0 bound. After you’ve been out of college for a few years and have relevant work experience, GPA becomes far less important often insignificant. The first survey that came up in a Google search for new grad employment outcome by GPA is for Auburn at https://web.auburn.edu/ir/factbook/survey/seniorexit/Exit_Survey0809_final.pdf . It found that 66.2% of graduates with the minimum GPA range of 2.0-2.5 who interviewed for jobs received an offer, while 64.5% of graduates with the maximum GPA range of 3.5-4.0 who interviewed received an offer. All GPA ranges appeared to have a similar rate of receiving a job offer. Of course there are also fields where GPA is much more important. For example, having a GPA of below 3.0 is going to really hurt chances of getting accepted to med school.
You can attend a lower tier grad school, that is grateful to have an alumnus from your college, enough to offer you a work stipend & merit aid, and you can go on to a great career.
@HappyAlumnus -one of my nephews attended a state university that doesn’t even fall within your parameters. It is “ranked” well below 100 on US News. (It is absolutely a TTT. ) If he graduated with over a 3.0, I’d be beyond stunned. However, it turns out that he has incredible people skills and has lined up a multitude of sponsorships with well-known national corporations for his employer. These sponsorships have generated millions of dollars. As a result, before age 30, you could say that my nephew was quite successful, earning well into six figures annually and is/was constantly being recruited by other employers. Imagine that!
@momof3sons, that’s wonderful. This question was simply out of curiosity. It looks like jobs are not impacted whatsoever by GPAs. That’s great. I did not know that. Now I do, so I’m certainly happy for such good outcomes for so many people.
My son graduated from public flagship ranked outside of top 50 with <3.0 GPA. Career services at his University told him not to put his GPA on his resume. He ended up having many job offers that included desirable training programs sponsored by employers that usually have 3.0 GPA cut off (3.2 or 3.4 at some places).
Some other factors can compensate for lousy GPA from not top-50 school. Imagine that.
) If he graduated with over a 3.0, I’d be beyond stunned. However, it turns out that he has incredible people skills and has lined up a multitude of sponsorships with well-known national corporations for his employer. These sponsorships have generated millions of dollars. As a result, before age 30, you could say that my nephew was quite successful, earning well into six figures annually and is/was constantly being recruited by other employers. Imagine that!