My academic situation

[r3bell]

Ok i am in third year university . Last year i had an operation in the middle of my finals . So i got a doctors note and everything . The thing is i had an option to drop my courses to appear for the exam with the summer ppl . Since I couldnt affod to pay an extra years tution I was forced to take the summer exam options . well the course material was difficult and I had 5 finals in 2 days . I passed everything but it ruined my good gpa. The thing is I talked to my registrar afterwards and he said I could send a letter to my future employees stating this . The thing is I have no idea how companies hire . Ill prob build up my gpa and try to get to the 2.7 3 level in my final 2 years .
I have no idea how employers look at job applications . I was wondering if they would consider my situation or would my application be tossed away .
Anyonw have any idea?

[SergesPlace]

Maybe in your 4th year you'll be able to spell academic ;)

[r3bell]

Maybe in your 4th year you'll be able to spell academic ;)

I never learned how to spell dammed spell check in word :cheesygri

Id fix the spelling but i am too lazy

[SergesPlace]

I never learned how to spell dammed spell check in word :cheesygri

Id fix the spelling but i am too lazy
You should cuz later on today when everyone's back online you'll never here the end of it :lol:

[ynchu]

According our current PM, he's going to give tuition breaks if his party gets re-elected!

So, um, talk to your friends, elect Liberals, um, and you'll be able to afford any education, um, in theory...



Me? He ain't getting my vote unless he returned all my tuition dollars spent over past four years. over 200% increase in the past four years, and now he talks about free tuition for low income people? I worked my butt off at work and school and now this is what he offers?

[devious9191]

According our current PM, he's going to give tuition breaks if his party gets re-elected!

So, um, talk to your friends, elect Liberals, um, and you'll be able to afford any education, um, in theory...



Me? He ain't getting my vote unless he returned all my tuition dollars spent over past four years. over 200% increase in the past four years, and now he talks about free tuition for low income people? I worked my butt off at work and school and now this is what he offers?

Indeed. I'm not sure who this is a solution for. Low income families are able to get student loans to cover their entire education, while many students that come from middle income families are left in the cold. My parents made too much when I went to school, and refused to help me pay for it, so I had to work overnights 4 days a week, just to go to school.

An investment in education might be to cut out the ridiculous amount of interest that is being charged on these student loans, post graduation. I'm paying 7% right now on 3 student loans. Why not just charge the rate of inflation or a flat 3%, instead of profiting off Canada's youth? When you graduate and are put on a $300/month plan for 10 years to pay off the cost of your education, there's a problem.

[danfromwaterloo]

Ok i am in third year university . Last year i had an operation in the middle of my finals . So i got a doctors note and everything . The thing is i had an option to drop my courses to appear for the exam with the summer ppl . Since I couldnt affod to pay an extra years tution I was forced to take the summer exam options . well the course material was difficult and I had 5 finals in 2 days . I passed everything but it ruined my good gpa. The thing is I talked to my registrar afterwards and he said I could send a letter to my future employees stating this . The thing is I have no idea how companies hire . Ill prob build up my gpa and try to get to the 2.7 3 level in my final 2 years .
I have no idea how employers look at job applications . I was wondering if they would consider my situation or would my application be tossed away .
Anyonw have any idea?

1. If you don't have a 3.5+ GPA, don't bother stating it for employers. Just say you graduated with X degree. They don't care, unless its really good. Then, they kinda take extra note. This isn't true with every employer ... usually the high demand employers require it. When I was in co-op at UW in CS, Microsoft required you state your GPA, and it had to be above 3.75 to be considered.

2. Phrase it differently to employers. Say you have a 4.0 GPA with the exception of one semester. People understand sh*t happens. If your GPA was exceptional with the exception of that semester, people will understand. You could put on your resume something like this:

Received Bachelor of Science with 4.0 GPA over 7 terms.

[Sylvestre]

if an employer doesn't ask for your transcript, don't bother volunteering any information.
if they do ask for the transcript & you get and interview & they ask about marks, then mention something otherwise, don't.

keep in mind your gpa only gets you in the door. a few years after you have some experience under your belt, the marks no longer matter whatsoever.

[taro-chan]

1. If you don't have a 3.5+ GPA, don't bother stating it for employers. Just say you graduated with X degree. They don't care, unless its really good. Then, they kinda take extra note. This isn't true with every employer ... usually the high demand employers require it. When I was in co-op at UW in CS, Microsoft required you state your GPA, and it had to be above 3.75 to be considered.

2. Phrase it differently to employers. Say you have a 4.0 GPA with the exception of one semester. People understand sh*t happens. If your GPA was exceptional with the exception of that semester, people will understand. You could put on your resume something like this:

Received Bachelor of Science with 4.0 GPA over 7 terms.
Huh?.. Ya.. Employers will sometimes ask for GPA/Transcript. And yea, after they looked at mine, it was like. Why did you get this mark here, what happened to that course... etc. It was awful when you have to explain why you didn't score so high in a couple of courses.

[danfromwaterloo]

Huh?.. Ya.. Employers will sometimes ask for GPA/Transcript. And yea, after they looked at mine, it was like. Why did you get this mark here, what happened to that course... etc. It was awful when you have to explain why you didn't score so high in a couple of courses.

Depends on the employer. As I've said, some care, most don't.

[teknoluv]

Yes, nobody cares about your GPA, unless you are applying for grad schools. And I agree that unless you get something closer to 4.0, don't bother bragging about it. So don't worry.

[r3bell]

Wait I may ounds extremely niave for asking this again but I need to confirm this ( its good news). Companies dont ask for your GPA when you apply for jobs ? I men then what else do they look at ?

[mrlooneytoon]

Wait I may ounds extremely niave for asking this again but I need to confirm this ( its good news). Companies dont ask for your GPA when you apply for jobs ? I men then what else do they look at ?


Your previous work experience? Your extra curricular involvement? Volunteering? Hobbies? Soft Skills, Ethics, etc?

[masterhapposai]

Wait I may ounds extremely niave for asking this again but I need to confirm this ( its good news). Companies dont ask for your GPA when you apply for jobs ? I men then what else do they look at ?

never heard of such thing as looking at GPAs. I bet the Microsoft ppl that come in do that to create an air of superiority and also because everyone at your Uni was all over them so they had to weed out the crowd

when you apply in real world time, you have to show your real skills.

You think I'd hire you to code PHP if you got a 4.0 GPA and only know C, nothnx. Sure it might mean you could learn a new language quick, but most companies don't want that unless they're specifically bending over for a certain school or you got connections.

and also I've never seen a grad that can spell, even if their life depended on it

[dmdsoftware2]

1. If you don't have a 3.5+ GPA, don't bother stating it for employers. Just say you graduated with X degree. They don't care, unless its really good. Then, they kinda take extra note. This isn't true with every employer ... usually the high demand employers require it. When I was in co-op at UW in CS, Microsoft required you state your GPA, and it had to be above 3.75 to be considered.

2. Phrase it differently to employers. Say you have a 4.0 GPA with the exception of one semester. People understand sh*t happens. If your GPA was exceptional with the exception of that semester, people will understand. You could put on your resume something like this:

Received Bachelor of Science with 4.0 GPA over 7 terms.

Not completely true. Know a friend who went through the hiring process with Microsoft. He had a 3.45 and was not asked what his GPA was. He was taking CSC at UofT. They test what you know in a series of knowledge interviews. He got accepted and is now working for Microsoft in Silicon Valley.

From my own experience, employeers look for experiences, firstly. I know with IBM, they never asked me what my GPA was. They only care about the degree type and your previous experience.

With that said, you should try to aim for at least a 3.00. I know someone in IBM that was going through fulltime interviews at the end of his co-op term. They were all ready to hire him and then out of some casual conversation after the interview, they were talking about school. It somehow came out that he had a 2.70 since he had a rough 3rd year. The manager didn't like the sound of that and began reconsidering hiring him, but he hired him anyways.

So, in summary, keep your mouth shut about your GPA if it is mediocre. Only state what you need to. But a low GPA isn't the end of the world.

[TrevorK]

Where I work we always ask for transcripts - to verify what you've done, not what marks you've received.

[poedua]

never heard of such thing as looking at GPAs. I bet the Microsoft ppl that come in do that to create an air of superiority and also because everyone at your Uni was all over them so they had to weed out the crowd

when you apply in real world time, you have to show your real skills.

You think I'd hire you to code PHP if you got a 4.0 GPA and only know C, nothnx. Sure it might mean you could learn a new language quick, but most companies don't want that unless they're specifically bending over for a certain school or you got connections.

and also I've never seen a grad that can spell, even if their life depended on it

I agree with you. I hired a fair number of people out of school.

I assumed the degree meant they had some smarts...but I was also interested in how they spoke in an interview and if they were able to discuss 'non-academic 'subjects with some degree of knowledge AND what extra stuff they did for hobbies, work, sports while at school. Being a Leaf fan never hurt either ! :)

We ( I ) wanted to know....how's the personality, will he /she fit in, how is their attitude......I found out the hard way.....I'll take character and a great attitude over marks any day....character, interpersonal skills - AND SENSE OF HUNOUR and simple hard work beats out pure talent in 9 /10 cases in my experience... a lot of academic geniuses ( self proclaimed GPA number droppers uring interviews ) came across as ...well.....jerks.

My opinion only , but i think there is NO NEED to over -react and worry about your GPA...it's a minor point for an employer. Just get the degree.

[ElvaSoShexai]

well.. @ uw we have this thing caleld jobmine to send resume packages... and there's this checkbox which asks if you want to send ur transcript or not... since some jobs ask for it and some don't... i'm too lazy to unclick/reclick it and so to just mass apply for jobs... i just leave it checked...

my gpa is about 2.2 (uw grades are out of 100.. so i just kinda converted) and um... i can still find jobs. i don't even bother applying for places like microsoft or ibm... but i still get somewhat decent jobs... last term during interviews, 4 employers asked why my averages were so low and why my marks were all over the place yet 2 offered and the other 2 ranked... so i guess one term's gpa can't matter that much right?