FAQ Blog: Does GPA Not Matter?

Arslan-Azad
5 min readJan 26, 2021

The answer to this question should be a straight forward one-liner, shouldn’t it?

Well, it is not. But, guess what?

There’s good news in it, for everyone

GPA Matters and It Doesn’t Matter

If you were in a committee, how would you be sure if the person you’re assessing has been true to his goals?

There has to be something, right? You’d certainly look at what they have been doing in the past and how efficiently they’ve been handling the goals at hand.

As it turns out, there isn’t much to determine a person’s ability to perform the given task through his past achievements; and of those metrics that exist, GPA turns out to be the most prominent.

I’ve listed two scenarios below:

  • When Does GPA Matter?
  • GPA Does Not Matter, When?

◊ When Does GPA Matter?

Higher Studies

High GPA finds its best use when you’re applying for a Master’s degree program at a foreign university. ­

What benefits does it give?

The peace of mind is the first thing you’d experience if you have a GPA equivalent to more than 80%, which usually is more than 3.3.

While the MS applications scenario depends heavily on the country you’re applying, a high GPA is monetarily very rewarding in terms of generous scholarships available to high achieving students. You can find out more on this subject in the blog General: MS Scenario in Different Countries.

The other prominent benefit that comes for people with good GPAs is a greater number of options, which appears to be a not-so-important reward but you realize later that it truly is important.

In essence, if you have a GPA of 3.3 (+ -) 0.2, you’ll find MS applications really easy both on mind as well as on your budget; without any doubt, a higher GPA than this becomes +90% which even qualifies you for 100% scholarship in some of the most sought out countries and degree programs too, but again, it may be subjective to many factors, hence we’ll discuss this in blogs related to MS applications.

Job Scenario

A company usually doesn’t care about the GPA held by a person but about the VALUE that an employee adds, unless in certain circumstances. Generally, a company would care about GPA if it is the reason for the value the person adds.

How does that happen?

For instance, if your theoretical knowledge of algebra or control systems was useful to a company in dealing with an engineering problem, there comes your GPA into play. The companies looking for such individuals are mostly looking for candidates for research and development roles, and they’d generally look for higher GPAs. Not necessarily would every R&D role demand a very good GPA. If only your knowledge in the given subject is very good, that might be the only thing required.

But, as I stated, it may be the case that you did not have a very good GPA but you were hired for an R&D role. Mostly, this happens when you demonstrate your knowledge on the subject required during your interview. There is one REAL case amongst my friends, where a friend with GPA between 2.4 and 2.6 was given an R&D role at a decent R&D firm, based on his knowledge from the Final Year project as well as the communication skills (coming from extra-curricular participation).

◊ When Does GPA not Matter?

Higher Studies

It may come to you as a surprise, but really, there are cases where you can make progress in terms of higher studies even with a lower GPA. Certainly, the scholarships may not be as easy to achieve. But some scholarships like Chinese Government Scholarships were secured by people with GPAs as low as 2.2, hence a ray of hope for people who couldn’t perform very well in UG due to various reasons.

While admission to the prestigious universities in the US is certainly very challenging with a low GPA, but you get a second chance in the form of GRE score to make up for the low GPA; one more thing that is important with MS applications is Statement of Purpose (SOP). More on this in relevant blogs.

However, people have thrived by studying at not-so-well ranked universities too, because of the overall quality of education in the US. This definitely is not for the sake of just saying, but there are real-life examples of my seniors who made it to the dream companies with a degree from a decent (not prestigious/top ranked) university.

Job Scenario

If your goal is to land a job soon after you complete your degree, GPA doesn’t matter that much. There are some companies that put this condition on GPA to be at least 3 and some companies would even set the minimum GPA limit to be 3.3, while most companies would either have a minimum limit of 2.3–2.5 or no limit at all; but before you give away your hopes on the jobs where high GPA is required, just try and apply to these jobs too, even if your GPA doesn’t qualify you. There is a real case of a very good friend of mine, who made it to the final interview even without fulfilling the GPA requirement.

Why do companies not care much about GPA, and what do they actually care about?

As said earlier, the only thing important to a company is the VALUE an employee adds to it. A company gains nothing with your high GPA. What really is of prestige to the companies is the knowledge you possess as an interviewee or a test-taker.

YOUR TAKEAWAY

GPA might or might not matter, depending on your goals. But it surely gives an extra advantage, even to those to whom it doesn’t matter. So, stop complaining and start acting toward your targets by improving your score. If it is not possible for you, do not give up, because there’s an entirely new arena for you to explore, as explained above in the ‘GPA Doesn’t Matter’ heading.

If you are a freshman, sophomore, or a junior, you still have some time to readjust your sails and start working on your GPA. Improve your GPA, with whatever strategy you use so you may have scholarship opportunities and more options for MS applications, as well as a better chance at job opportunities.

If you are a senior, then you can still work on your GPA, but you’d have to go another extra mile. Just be sure that you must not give up and you shall not limit opportunities for yourself. If you think big, only then would you be able to achieve big. Identify opportunities for yourself starting from now, be it a master’s degree or training for a certain kind of job, so you’d not waste time doing that after your degree.

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Arslan-Azad

An electrical engineer turned hobbyist content marketer turned data scientist in the making, I embrace the diverse background that builds my knowledge base.