I had a question come in this week that I wanted to address publicly because it’s one of those strange norms we’ve allowed to go on for too long. Here are the details:

• A newly graduated college student has a GPA of 2.95.
• This person’s parents are telling them no one will hire them because their GPA is under 3.0, and they should just round it up to 3.0
• This new grad does not want to get caught in a lie.
• This new grad worked almost full time to pay their living expenses while going to college and has major loans for the vast majority of tuition costs.

What should this person do? My advice:

First, your parents are dumb. You are right. You do not want to get caught in a lie, even one as small as “rounding” 2.95 to 3.0. Second, at 2.95 or 3.0, major brands and companies that are seriously concerned with GPA aren’t going to hire you anyway. They are hiring grads with 4.0 and 3.95s.

The better thing would be to add a few words to your resume directly after your 2.95 GPA. Something like this:

BA Basket Weaving, State College, 2022, GPA 2.95 (I worked 30+ hours per week while holding down a full-time credit load to pay for my own living expenses and took loans out to pay for my tuition).

Yo! I might put that on after my GPA, even if my parents paid for my expenses because it’s so desired by companies! I mean, if you really want to add some lies to your resume!

Most hiring managers will kill to have new grads who have a high work ethic and grinded their way through school. What I find is most new grads don’t want to use this fact to their advantage on their resume.

Who do you think a hiring manager wants to hire? A grad with a 3.3 GPA where Mom and Dad paid for most of their expenses or a grad with a 2,95 GPA where the individual found a way to make it through college on their own? 100% of hiring managers will hire the 2.95 over the 3.3! 100%!

Show the grind! Don’t be embarrassed you couldn’t drink your way through school on your parent’s AMEX card. Be proud you ate Ramen and rode a bike to class! The world needs more people who found a way to do it without a lot of help.