Bad grades in College = what in the real world?

So, you aspire to go to an elite school and be average. Actually, a 2.0 would be well below average.

Biggest impact of that slip of paper would be in your initial job. After that, it probably would not matter a ton for most fields. My sense is in engineering or tech jobs it would matter more than other areas. Of course, if you ever wanted to go to grad school it would come into play in a big way.

What would be carried with you is having slacked off for 4 years. You aren't going to go through 4 years of school doing nothing and then suddenly turn it on when you get to the real world.

Plenty of guys go through four years of college doing nothing then turn it on when they get to the real world. But certainly not all. And you limit your options somewhat, certainly won't be hired by any decent consulting firm, probably no investment bank unless you get hired into trading directly, most corporate training programs won't look at you. forget any decent grad school. You might actually get into a decent business school after a few years in the real world if you have some great personal success you can sell.

Lots of successful sales guys have sh*t gpa's, some make a ton of money. many eventually rise to greater things as crony capitalists.

You could be president.

Oh, engineering and tech, you will have trouble getting started with a poor GPA, but if you find someone to take you on it might not matter much if you are a good employee.

Maybe it depends on whether you worked hard and got average grades or are lazy and got average grades. In the first case, if English was your second language or if you had a tragedy then it would be understandable. If it's the second case, then it's too bad that you wasted your time. Try to get meaningful jobs during your summers and make friends. Once you get experience it should be better.

good grades or not, you aren't going to remember most of the crap you learn in your classes anyway... but getting good grades is going to prepare you for working hard in the real world.

unless you are applying to grad school then it's really a moot point. Most employers simply want to see that you have a degree, then it's up to you to sell yourself as qualified for whatever job you are applying for.

on a side does it matter where you go to grad school? obviously the very best consulting firms will look at kids from the best business schools but how different can the curriculum be at different medical school or law schools?

Uh it really applies to all those fields. Want to work at a good law firm, then you have a better shot if you do well at a good law school. Want to work for an ib bank, in pe, consulting, tech, engineering (fields that pay money) then you need good enough grades to at least get your apps looked at.

Any top school, law firm, hospital, or company gets thousands upon thousands of applications each year. If you want interviews and a decent chance you need good grades.

They know just like the rest of the world and the genius who pointed it out above that you won't remember what you learned in college, but they need someway to distinguish candidates that is cost effective, i.e. how you look on paper. That's not to say your life is over, but it can make easier once you enter the real world.

You can always work your way up or you can invest in your future and not start at the bottom.

After your inital job they want to see experience, grades become irrelvant very fast.

often it comes down to who you know as well, which is a big factor in most jobs.

even with getting that first job, as stated, it comes down to your personality and bs skills. as long as you weren't a complete f*** up in school, it doesn't matter what your grades are... unless, again as stated, you are looking to go to grad school or something.

I had a 2.3 GPA from college. But, it wasn't mostly straight C's. Some quarters would be a 4.0 then other quarters would be a 0.0 because I would even be too lazy to go drop the classes that I was too lazy to attend. This always happened in winter during ski season. Also, if I was REALLY involved with some new "woman of my dreams" I would forget about school completely.

I took the GRE and got an almost perfect score. Sent grad schools my GRE scores first. Then I called the admissions chair for each department I was interested in, introduced myself, explained honestly what I was doing when I got the bad grades, and ended up talking about some of my research ideas. I got in to the program that was my first choice. Basically, they could tell I had the ability but wanked off a bit. I was an "interesting risk" as one prof put it.

I don't think a company would have taken that risk. But, many grad schools like that sort of thing. Many advisors, like coaches, think that they'll be the one to turn the bright but roguish student around.

What type of graduate program were you applying to? I didn't work hard AT ALL in college and graduated with a measly 3.4 (at an Ivy League). I have great GRE's and am hopeful to get into grad school somewhere, however.

It is all about how motivated you are.

Average at stuff wrote:

Just out of curiosity, what would the repercussions be of going to a college, say a good college (like Princeton or Georgetown, etc.), and getting like a 2.0 gpa over your 4 year stay there. So you pass everything, but...

How does this affect you in the real world with employers, etc? Does it depend on the field? What about say engineering, or other tech jobs?

If it mattered what your GPA was in college, George Bush would've never become President.

Oh I had no intention of slacking off, I was simply curious about what "real world" employers look for, and whether grades were looked at as importantly as they are in the academic world.

John Kerry's GPA? f***ing clown.

If good grades mattered Al Gore wouldn't be king of the junk carbon credit scam.