<p>I think the question is whether it is ok to round a “3.76” up to “3.8”. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with it, as long as you don’t say it is
“3.80”.</p>
<p>If you are currently a college student, you don’t need to include your GPA. </p>
<p>The career services at my school says feel free to include your GPA if it’s above a 3.0. Mine is, and I decided not to include it.</p>
<p>About the rounding, if you feel you need to ask if it’s OK, then don’t do it.</p>
<p>WD, but much of the world is obsessed. And putting a 4.0 when you have, say, a 3.96 can look like a “cheat,” implying something that’s not quite true.</p>
<p>CO, that’s not quite right. Many internship applications want to see your GPA. And, has been pointed out, some firms/fields want to see your GPA.</p>
<p>If I had two applicants, one who indicated a 2.86 and the other a 3.0 who I found really had a 2.96, I’d hire the 2.86 person for their integrity.</p>
<p>If I had two applicants, one with a 2.96 and the other with a 3.00, I’d consider them virtually equal on the GPA factor. That’s just me though and I suppose some companies might have a hard 3.00 cutoff. If I had a 2.96 I’d go ahead and apply anyway.</p>
<p>I like jmmom’s suggestions.</p>
<p>In my school’s career handbook, it says you always truncate the number 2.96 = 2.9, but you usually go to the hundredths place unless specified otherwise (e.g., in an online application).</p>
<p>A 3.0 is the same as a 2.96. A 3.00 is not the same as a 2.96. Should someone write that their GPA is 2.964 or 2.959?</p>
<p>I did not know that there was a protocol from career centers about this. I was using the method of rounding used for work with scientific data.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Would you feel the same about someone with a 3.02 who rounded down to 3.0? How about a 3.099 who rounded up to 3.10? I guess I just don’t get it. </p>
<p>At my college it took 180 units to graduate. Most classes were 4 units, so this would be 45 classes. Let’s say that 2.96 student did exactly that – 45 classes of 4 units each. This would be 45 x 2.96 = 133.2 grade points. Someone with a 3.00 gpa would have 135 grade points, or a difference of 1.8 grade points. Student A would have, for example, one B instead of an A and one B+ instead of an A (actually, that would be 1.7 grade points, but let’s just lose the .1 points, OK?). Over the course of four years in college and 45 courses the only difference between the two students is a blown final exam and a little trouble understanding Introduction to Political Philosophy. Over the other 43 courses the two students had identical academic records.</p>
<p>I don’t see any difference between a 2.96 and 3.00. I think I was born without a grade microtome.</p>
<p>washdad:</p>
<p>As I indicated, I think a 2.96 and a 3.00 are essentially the same GPA. The point I was raising was that it would appear to me that representing a 2.96 as a 3.0 when it’s very common to use a GPA to the hundredths could indicate someone trying to be less than forthright about their true GPA and even though the GPA difference itself is insignificant, the fact that they wouldn’t represent it as accurately as most people would have some siginificance.</p>
<p>So what fields require GPAs? Do you count on career offices to know which ones they are? Architecture grad school was all pass/fail, so I didn’t even have a GPA at Columbia. I don’t know what my undergrad GPA was, though it must have been a 3 point something.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I recently finished my second year of college. My first year GPA was bad (significantly below 3.0), however my GPA was significantly better during my second year. My cumulative GPA is currently a 2.96, which makes me somewhat disappointed because many of the employers at my school’s September career fair have a cutoff of 3.0. I am confident that I will bring my GPA above a 3.0 in my junior year, but unfortunately that will be after the September career fair. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>If there is a 3.0 cutoff, list your first and second year GPAs, if you can. Then talk to the people at the career fair. Personality matters.</p>
<p>“which makes me somewhat disappointed because many of the employers at my school’s September career fair have a cutoff of 3.0. I am confident that I will bring my GPA above a 3.0 in my junior year, but unfortunately that will be after the September career fair. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.”</p>
<p>Go and attend those career fairs and talk to recruiters and say you had bad first year, but you are moving ahead. Also, if your GPA in major is higher point that out too.</p>
<p>
It’s simply a matter of reporting it the way your University reports it. Then you will never be subject to criticism of embellishing/fudging or whatever.</p>
<p>Yes, imho and that of many others, two decimal points is overkill. But it is what it is. To many folks 3.0 is a “magic number”, which is exactly why the OP would like to round up and I don’t blame him (her?). It’s just too risky in today’s environment.</p>
<p>Variation on corranged suggestion is pretty much what I suggested earlier. I wouldn’t list each of your GPA’s, because the first year one isn’t going to be pretty ;).</p>
<p>So, list your second year GPA and your cum GPA and you’ll get the benefit of them seeing how you’re trending.</p>
<p>When it <em>really</em> matters, after your senior year, I’m betting your cum GPA will be quite pretty. Good for you.</p>
<p>
Definitely a good idea. I was going to mention you in my post, but I couldn’t remember who made that suggestion!</p>
<p>It’s standard for GPA to be expressed to one decimal place. So you’ve got your 3.0, congratulations. If you had a 3.0 and wrote down 3.3, that would be dishonest. Rounding to the standard number of significant digits is not dishonest. I’ve never heard of anyone talking about GPA to two decimal places outside of CC. How many graduate schools and organizations ask for require a minimum CGPA of 3.00? lol</p>
<p>numba1. First, as a rule of thumb, don’t put GPA on resume unless it shows significant accomplishment, e.g. > 3.75 (or > 3.5 for engineering). Second, when you interview, be confidence and just go in as if you have a “3.04” GPA. Don’t make that an issue (unless being questioned) and just focus on selling yourself.</p>
<p>Few companies are very strict about the 3.0 cutoff but most will interview you especially if you leave them a strong first impression.</p>
<p>naura, you haven’t been listening/reading. Although I would like you to be right, you aren’t. Times have changed in many fields. Read the Engineering boards, check several college Career Services offices. You will find that (1) GPA is required for many job applications (and transcripts are required for many job interviews) and (2) many firms have GPA cut-offs as well as specified salary ranges based on GPA ranges.</p>
<p>In that world, an applicant would be unwise to report the GPA in any way other than precisely how it is reported by his school. CC talks about GPA to two decimal places because that is how many Universities are now calculating and reporting it.</p>
<p>Not a baseball fan here, but don’t they talk in 3 decimal places?</p>
<p>In addition on many campuses, the campany recruiter won’t even see your name as a potential candidate. Companies specify the requirements, the career service software does the initial screening, the recruiter picks the names and only those candidates are invited for an interview sign up.</p>