Jamal walked with his head hung low to his dorm. He threw his bag dejectedly on the floor. Another quiz below the mean. At this rate, my GPA won’t budge, he thought. He clasped his face in his hands and wondered, “Is this it?’, One bad quiz after another.
He was to graduate next year, and there was only so much he could do to improve from here.
Am I doomed to a destiny of mediocrity? he mumbled under his breath.
DO I REALLY NEED MY GPA TO MAKE IT BIG IN LIFE?
If you feel like Jamal, this article is for you. But worry not—in case you’re a super-genius alien who cannot relate, this article isn’t too bad for you either!
While having a good GPA might give you an extra point to flaunt on your résumé, being at the lower end is also fine! GPA is not a dealbreaker, and believe it or not, it won’t follow you for very long. While some employers might ask for it, a lot won’t. Most recruiters are just concerned about you completing your degree.
Don’t undermine the value of having a degree, you have solid evidence that you showed up somewhere for four to five years, ground through that huge plethora of midterms, group projects, and finals, and managed to come out in one piece.
When you’re applying for a job, you are seen holistically, and a bad GPA can be easily outweighed by a little job experience under your belt.
If you think this is wishful thinking, take a look at this.
A girl landed a job as a Microsoft software engineer with a 2.6 GPA. Life changed for her when she joined Target’s Technology Leadership Program, and soon high-end places like Amazon were reaching out to her. After a series of ups and many downs, she was eventually welcomed at Microsoft with open arms.
She was given a chance because of the potential and experience she had.
A wise person once said a job interview is like a sales pitch—selling yourself to recruiters and convincing them that you have the drive and skills needed to ace that job.
The only time your low GPA might mess with your life is when you present your recruiters with a bland sheet of paper.
Level yourself up:
- learn a new skill or a new language
- Ask for help from your friends, faculty advisors, etc.
- Sign up for workshops with places that actually care about you—Career Launchpad has helped many graduates land their dream jobs by polishing skills universities overlook, like communication and product management, and by providing fellows with connections to seasoned professionals to help them climb up.
- Do what you love. If you like filming and you are creative, ace your video-editing skills and start making videos. Maybe one day, you’ll end up as a video editor or on a marketing team.
I hope my fellow academic victims found some solace in this article. I’ll end with a quote from my favorite movie:
Farhan Qureshi: “Rancho was right when he said, ‘Pursue excellence, and success will follow, pants down!'” (3 Idiots)
