My SL blunder

[davewill]

The way COSC does it is typical- almost every college uses your incoming GPA to make sure you meet admissions requirements, but they'll only use the classes you take with them for your GPA.

Still, if you think big picture, ALL GRADES from EVERY CLASS make up your "real" GPA in a cumulative way.  As an example, say you attend a CC and your classes total 2.0 GPA.  Now, say you apply to COSC and graduate with a 4.0
Your GPA is 4.0, and you can say that on a resume for example, however, if you apply to grad school, they will recalculate all of it to see if you meet their admissions requirements because in that case, your GPA isn't 4.0, it's cumulative of all your classes.

I would actually consider listing a 4.0 GPA on your resume in that case as fraudulent. You could list your CC GPA as 2.0, then COSC as 4.0, but implying you simply got a 4.0 while earning your degree is purposefully misleading.

[cookderosa]

The way COSC does it is typical- almost every college uses your incoming GPA to make sure you meet admissions requirements, but they'll only use the classes you take with them for your GPA.

Still, if you think big picture, ALL GRADES from EVERY CLASS make up your "real" GPA in a cumulative way.  As an example, say you attend a CC and your classes total 2.0 GPA.  Now, say you apply to COSC and graduate with a 4.0
Your GPA is 4.0, and you can say that on a resume for example, however, if you apply to grad school, they will recalculate all of it to see if you meet their admissions requirements because in that case, your GPA isn't 4.0, it's cumulative of all your classes.

I would actually consider listing a 4.0 GPA on your resume in that case as fraudulent. You could list your CC GPA as 2.0, then COSC as 4.0, but implying you simply got a 4.0 while earning your degree is purposefully misleading.

No way- what my transcript says my GPA is IS my GPA the end.

To challenge the ethics/morality of the situation, flip it. Say I earned a 4.0 GPA for my time at the community college, and then earned a bachelor's at TESU. My only class was their Capstone, and I earned a B (3.0) so my TESU transcript would say 3.0 GPA. It is not "ok" to recalculate my GPA to bump it up and argue that I did so based on my own computation that the CC GPA + TESU GPA should be X. The one granting the degree will state a GPA, and that's what you should use. It's fraudulent to recalculate your GPA based on a home-made method.

Now, we are talking resume- but grad school applications are probably an exception because they (sometimes) will pull out certain things like Science GPA or prereq GPA, but that's THEIR OWN system- and again, it isn't for us to initiate on our own. It is right to submit EVERYTHING requested and let them figure it out.

[davewill]

No way- what my transcript says my GPA is IS my GPA the end.  

To challenge the ethics/morality of the situation, flip it.  Say I earned a 4.0 GPA for my time at the community college, and then earned a bachelor's at TESU. My only class was their Capstone, and I earned a B (3.0) so my TESU transcript would say 3.0 GPA.  It is not "ok" to recalculate my GPA to bump it up and argue that I did so based on my own computation that the CC GPA + TESU GPA should be X.  The one granting the degree will state a GPA, and that's what you should use.  It's fraudulent to recalculate your GPA based on a home-made method.
...

Not persuasive. Quoting the TESU GPA without taking the rest into account is wrong in either case...especially if it only has one course. Nowhere did I suggest to do a home-made GPA. But to try and represent a single course 4.0 as your GPA for the entire degree...well I'd bounce that resume as hard as I could.

[Old Guy]

Nowhere did I suggest to do a home-made GPA. But to try and represent a single course 4.0 as your GPA for the entire degree...well I'd bounce that resume as hard as I could.

I could be wrong but I don't think I have ever put my GPA on anything.  Whoever cares picks it up off the transcript.  They're big people - they can figure it out.

[jsd]

I would definitely feel uncomfortable putting my TESU 4.0 GPA on my resume. It's clearly intentionally misleading.

[MNomadic]

I've never heard of putting gpas on resumes. Seems like it may be pretentious. I agree with old guy, if they want to know they can ask me or get my transcripts.

[jsd]

I've never heard of putting gpas on resumes. Seems like it may be pretentious. I agree with old guy, if they want to know they can ask me or get my transcripts.

If I had a legitimate 4.0 I would do it. Whatever little bit to set yourself apart helps.

[homeschoolmom1]

So if I never take any transfer courses at another university, just the cornerstone and capstone at COSC, complete them both with an A and therefore have a "legitimate" GPA of 4.0 on my COSC transcript, would you bounce that CV, too, Dave? Just playing devil's advocate. I guess, at the end, I like the idea of not even putting the GPA on the CV. If it is being asked on an HR form or elsewhere, it would be fine to enter it there (as it appears on the transcript of the degree granting institution).

[Merlin]

For new college graduates who have little-to-no career experience in the real world, I recommend that they list graduation dates and include things like GPA and academic achievements such as being on the dean's list, etc. However, for anyone with legitimate job experience, I recommend that they only list the schools, degrees, and any specializations.

As a hiring manager, unless I'm looking for interns or hiring for entry-level positions, it is rare that college currency or GPA even enters the equation. And for those in that category, it is crucial as a distinguishing factor between competing candidates. In those cases, we'd also expect to see a college transcript. If the GPA listed on their resume or application doesn't match the one provided by the transcript, then they would likely be bounced without investigation; unless the candidate gave us a heads up to explain why beforehand, of course.

For people with established careers, we'd never ask for a transcript or generally care about the GPA since on-the-job experience almost always outweighs academic performance. Particularly given most people that I have hired have been out of college for at least 5-10 years. For most applicants, a degree is often used as a checkbox to screen candidates at the door or distinguish between competing candidates that are equal in other areas. When hiring for my teams, I generally don't care whether a candidate has a degree at all; my focus is on what they have done in their professional career.

[davewill]

So if I never take any transfer courses at another university, just the cornerstone and capstone at COSC, complete them both with an A and therefore have a "legitimate" GPA of 4.0 on my COSC transcript, would you bounce that CV, too, Dave? Just playing devil's advocate. I guess, at the end, I like the idea of not even putting the GPA on the CV. If it is being asked on an HR form or elsewhere, it would be fine to enter it there (as it appears on the transcript of the degree granting institution).

I'd be put off by your motive in listing such a meaningless number, certainly...which probably means yes. If a form requires a GPA, then you obviously have to put down whatever the number is. However, the scenario described originally was intentionally misleading, and I wouldn't want to work with that person.

I really don't get it. Who wants to put stuff on their resume that could come back to embarrass them?