How does one compete with dean's list students, honor roll students, etc in the work force?

[theNEOone]

it depends on where you want to work. investment banking and management consulting only recruit highly motivated, intelligent undergrads for entry level jobs. that means name brand schools with a minimum GPA of 3.0, the avg. being 3.5. it's a tough world out there....crossing my fingers.


=|

 

[Bekker]

LOL: ) Yes you will! I just checked your profile and think I have found the problem! Your username suggests that you stay up all night and, given that you have posted an average of 13 plus times a day for about 1 3/4 years now, I would guess that most of that time is spent on the computer! You are a true junkie! Are you a gamer too? When it comes time to actually be employed, try to find something that will let you work in some computer related area. If you can get an internship at someplace like that, you could really excel! But, DO NOT get a job where you work alone and have access to the Internet You are obviously intelligent or you wouldn't be posting here!


BTW, Cliffs work in some areas (goodness gracious, even back when I was in school, they saved me from English Literature ... Beowolf, go chase Hamlet with your sword held high, and if Othello should your path cross, off with his arse you should chop!). Won't work well enough to get a 4.0 or close thereto. In my area, they don't.

I'll quit soon, but first I have to tell you about a fellow I was in unsdergrad with. I am positive he was the person they patterned John B on. He was a Sigma Nu, I think, but that's been about 40 years ago. He and I were majoring in economics. He had a lazy eye and reveled in screwing up profs by making them guess which eye they should look into. His only noisy contribution to class came from gas from both ends, which his fellow frat friends loved. He drove a Packard hearse he had converted to a rolling bedroom. Chose it because the bed could be leveled. He and his frat bros stole a cow and did about what was done in Animal House with the animal, except they did it in our chapel. Started the first pizza place in all of mid Missouri in a three room shack, sold it to my uncle for $2,400 and then bought it back from him for twice that. We graduated and went our different ways. I eventuall began teaching adverttising and decided to preview a video I wanted to use in class. It featured top ad executives talking about their work ... then the person who was instrumental in creating the "Where's the beeF!" campaign, an all-time great, turned to the camera. It was him. He was a vice-pres of a major ad agency in Chicago. He was a C student at best if I recall, and his studying consisted of using old exams from frat files. He lovged what he did and was a winner! It's not the grade, it's the effort, heart, and luck. Again, good luck!

 

[wyvrn]

I am an honor roll student because I work harder than any of my classmates. I am not the smartest, probably just above average. Most of my friends put off homework, or bitch and moan about their workload. Of course I am 6 years older than most of my classmates and have work experience. So I tend not to take my schooling for granted like I think younger kids do. I work my ass off precisely because I want the pick of jobs when I graduate. I have done the work full time and school full time thing to, so I definately understand where working students have lower grades. But I have seen to many kids on a full ride by their parents who are spoiled and lazy and deserve not to have good job offers when they graduate.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
With all those qualifications on your resume I'm sure it's an added plus to the employer. Comparing side by side someone who has the same qualifications but does not have honor roll or dean's list recommendations or something similar, what does one do? How do you make yourself stand out?

I'm a B-C student grade wise. I'm sure by the time I graduate my GPA will be somewhere along the lines of 3.0 or less but not less than 2.0 for sure.

No one I have ever interviewed with gave a damn about that stuff.

that's because the people that did care never even considered you for an interview.

 

[Bekker]

_________________________________________________________________________

I am an honor roll student because I work harder than any of my classmates. I am not the smartest, probably just above average. Most of my friends put off homework, or bitch and moan about their workload. Of course I am 6 years older than most of my classmates and have work experience. So I tend not to take my schooling for granted like I think younger kids do. I work my ass off precisely because I want the pick of jobs when I graduate. I have done the work full time and school full time thing to, so I definately understand where working students have lower grades. But I have seen to many kids on a full ride by their parents who are spoiled and lazy and deserve not to have good job offers when they graduate.
__________________________________________________________________________

You are correct and sound like many of my best students. I wish you the best of careers!

 

[T2T III]

I was working 40+ hours a week while I was getting my degree in addition to some out of state and out of country classes. I was still able to maintain a GPA of 3.75 and up. It was tough, but achievable. However, it did take a lot of sacrifices.

 

[milagro]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
With all those qualifications on your resume I'm sure it's an added plus to the employer. Comparing side by side someone who has the same qualifications but does not have honor roll or dean's list recommendations or something similar, what does one do? How do you make yourself stand out?

I'm a B-C student grade wise. I'm sure by the time I graduate my GPA will be somewhere along the lines of 3.0 or less but not less than 2.0 for sure.

I'll let the secret out...no one gives a sh1t...

I've had 4 jobs since college and none of them have asked for/seen my transcripts..

 

[wyvrn]

That's impressive. My grades were not that high when I was working full time. Of course I was much younger then and didn't take my education as seriously.

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
I was working 40+ hours a week while I was getting my degree in addition to some out of state and out of country classes. I was still able to maintain a GPA of 3.75 and up. It was tough, but achievable. However, it did take a lot of sacrifices.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: milagro

I've had 4 jobs since college and none of them have asked for/seen my transcripts..

Were any of those companies Fortune 10 companies ???

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
With all those qualifications on your resume I'm sure it's an added plus to the employer. Comparing side by side someone who has the same qualifications but does not have honor roll or dean's list recommendations or something similar, what does one do? How do you make yourself stand out?

I'm a B-C student grade wise. I'm sure by the time I graduate my GPA will be somewhere along the lines of 3.0 or less but not less than 2.0 for sure.

No one I have ever interviewed with gave a damn about that stuff.

exactly.

 

[milagro]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: milagro

I've had 4 jobs since college and none of them have asked for/seen my transcripts..

Were any of those companies Fortune 10 companies ???

One was Siemens

 

[yhelothar]

hmmm interesting topic.
I am currently starting to seek for a job.. I'm currently a senior in high school.. so I haven't graduated yet. I have made the deans list and about to make the cum laude(4.0). Though my freshmen and sophomore years, I slacked off A LOT! My freshman year I had like a 2.2GPA, and my sophomore year I ended up with a 1.5GPA!!! But last year, I got my act together and gotten 3.8 and 4.0 this year...
So would they still look at my overall, or would they just see I made the cum laude?

I also don't have any work experience. I was planning on getting A+ Cert, and getting a tech support job at compusa.. On top of that, I look like I'm 13(pic)What's the chance they'll hire me?
What am I likely to expect as my first job?

 

[GoingUp]

get the experience through internships then you can kill them in the real jobs

 

[yhelothar]

so how do I get internships? Do I just request it?

 

[LS20]

well, dont place value on what i say, but i imagine if i were an employer... i wouldnt give a CRAP. like they say, experience counts more than anything... if 2 IDEntical people were to apply--1 with deans list--i still wouldnt place much worth on it. if it was a big 5 investing firm, for example, they would probably scrutinize the shtt out of an applicant.... ie Ivy, top graduate, etc... but otherwise, i dont think anybody would care

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Triumph
that's because the people that did care never even considered you for an interview.

 

[gopunk]

nocturnal - even graduate schools don't really care that much about grades, honors, etc... of course most people that get in have good grades anyways, but every admissions board commitee member i talk to says that the most important thing is the letters of recommendation. a student with mediocre grades and great letters will get in to a good school easier than a student with great grades and mediocre letters. just thought i'd throw that in here... i presume that most employers will care less about grades than grad schools.

 

[Slammy1]

Originally posted by: Bekker

The kind of person who will be least employable is the student who seldom if ever comes to class, and when he does, sleeps.

Heh. A little removed from reality. I missed a lot of classes but maintained a high GPA, and rather than play sports like the rich kids I worked. I had no problem finding a job from a major employer when I graduated, but didn't much like the large company politics. You're providing a position based on a purely academic environment. I'd think in my field (science research) you'd be at a disadvantage playing sports in college, wouldn't fit in with the rest of the nerds.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Triumph
that's because the people that did care never even considered you for an interview.

Why are you insulted? What was your GPA? It IS common practice for employers to screen through resumes by GPA. When they go to a career fair and collect 300 resumes a day, you think they're going to read through all of them?

I don't want to give this guy the wrong impression, that GPA's don't matter to employers, because they do. The fact that the few people you interviewed with didn't care only means that there are some people out there who don't care as much. To imply that nobody cares about it is just plain ignorant. That's a fact. Everything that needs to be said about it has already been said in this thread:

High GPA, extracurricular/experience = lots of jobs, with any company.
High GPA, no extracurricular/experience = jobs, but little to no chance at GM, Boeing, Ford, Intel, etc.
Low GPA, lots of extracurricular/experience = jobs, but little to no chance at GM, Boeing, Ford, Intel, etc..
Low GPA, no extracurricular/experience = no job.

I'm strictly speaking of straight out of college. If your 45 years old, nobody looks at that.

 

[Triumph]

Oh, and if you have any grammatical or spelling mistakes on your resume, it goes in the trash. No questions asked there.

 

[crystal]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
so how do I get internships? Do I just request it?

You usually applied for them through your school. Anyhow, back to the gpa thingie. When I was in college, how do you get to choose for a lot of those internships (at least get an interview anyway)? One of the criteria is gpa. After you have some experience then it becomes less important when you applied for work.
If you think about it, that first job is really catch 22. Nobody will hire you if you don't have work experience, and you cannot get work experience if nobody hires you. To get some work experience, you apply for those internship positions before you graduate. And those internship positions require a good gpa. There you have it, gpa is good for something after all.

 

When you enter the real world, you will understand very quickly that grades and academic qualifications and achievements mean very little.

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: SammySon
When you enter the real world, you will understand very quickly that grades and academic qualifications and achievements mean very little.

as has been said before... getting your first job can depend a lot on your gpa when you graduated. Some say "experience" is more important, which it may be, but you are going to get experience unless you can get a first job (which, again, depends on gpa).

Not having a good gpa doesn't meen you won't get a first job; it just means you won't get a good first job. When trying to switch into a better job later in life, your gpa might not matter, but where you worked before and what you did there will matter a lot. So, it's like a never-ending cycle that begins with your gpa in college (which actually, sadly enough, probably begins with your gpa in h.s. and how you did on your SATs and such).