I have a pretty low GPA at a top ten school. I was wondering if I should avoid sending my transcript out to firms that are not coming to campus in the fall. I understand I need to for on campus interviews, but do I need to for other firms? Has anyone ever tried this? My resume is pretty decent looking and i’m thinking I can maybe get interviews with my resume and school solely. Is this a good idea?
Thanks for the help
anyone know this?
You’ll need your GPA on your resume. You can start by sending just your resume/cover letter and hope they don’t ask for a transcript, but you DO need your GPA on the resume.
Never heard of putting a GPA on a resume if it isnt high. Point is I dont want them to know my GPA, otherwise i might as well send the transcript, I dont have any C’s or anything on it, just an extremely shitty straight B semester.
Ahh yeah, I guess I didn’t think that through. Try it! The worst that happens is they ask for a transcript, which you’ll send them. Hopefully you’ll get a few firms to bite without it.
My GPA is below median and my CDO rep advised me to include it. She said that you don’t want someone assuming it’s worse than it is. She also used to hire for Jones Day. So there’s that.
She said to include a below median GPA on your resume?
Yup - my school doesn’t provide specific percentiles past 33% though, so it’s sort of a crapshoot.
And admittedly my UG GPA was pretty high, so it’s possible she was trying to find a way to include that without it looking awkward by being included by itself.
According to some recruiters I’ve talked to (not law firm recruiters, but I’d assume the principal still holds), it’s not absolutely necessary to put your GPA on your resume, but you can be assured that they’ll ask you about it during the course of the interview.
My school specifically discourages putting your GPA on your resume. I’ve also heard anectodally that you may as well submit it because they will assume the worst if you don’t since its common practice and they will ask about it anyhow.
It discourages everyone from putting GPA. That sounds retarded.
At lease for OCI though theyr recommend for all. For OCI firms can’t preselect and all firms get transcripts of interviewees so it doesn’t make much difference. Wouldn’t everyone send a transcript anyhow if they had a high GPA?
Ok, for OCI only is a lot different. But for mass mailing and outside recruiting events, you need to. People will assume it’s bad otherwise.
If your GPA is below median how would it be any worse to let them assume? Like some employers have a top two-thirds GPA cutoff or something. Ask your rep how many times she hired a kid who put a 3.05 on his resume when she was at Jones Day.
I disagree. I’d leave it off if you’re below median. They’ll assume you’re below median, and ask you for grades if they care.
If you are only a bit below median, I’d still list it. 3.2’s on a 3.3 curve still have a chance at a lot of firms, and you don’t want to be dinged because they think it’s a 3.0.
This makes sense.
There seriously are firms that will take top 60% but not top 80%, based on GPA? I just can’t see a firm being like “well why didn’t you tell us you had a 3.2? that makes all the difference!”
Many firms will actually take top 60% and won’t take 80%. Though at my school 3.0 is probably more like bottom 10%.
Why would I include it if I’m always including my transcript anyway?