Buffalo77: Not some top flight Architecture or Engineering firm but maybe some guy on his own looking to hire someone cheap to do his CAD work.

I've only been asked one time what my GPA was. I said, "2.1" Hiring guy say "Good, I was wondering if you were going to lie to me, there is no way you could have this much work experience and have a good GPA in something as hard as Eng Physics." Most other engineering places I've worked, if they want a new fresh from school engineer the just hire you and let you sink or swim in the first 6 months. Of course that was 10 years ago, things may have changed now.

By setting a price and then making everything fit into that "box", that gives administrations cart blanche to gut programs, decline to hire qualified professors, rely on adjuncts that do not have the financial wherewithal to advance their skills, skimp on security, maintenance and upgrades to equipment and technology.

Currently I'm teaching with poorly maintained equipment that is well over ten years old in an area that is moving forward at an astounding rate. I've moved away from teaching specifics and into generalities just so that my students can catch up to current day on their own when necessary.

I fully agree that changes to this hidebound industry (higher education) must be made and I think that this is a fine idea and a great start but it needs more in the way of refinement.

I have taught in a for-profit college, a state university, a private university and a community college.
I know what of I speak.

University of Walmart?

I'd hate to see how stupid someone with a $10K college degree would be. Maybe a bachelor's degree will only require 16 semester hours.

CujoQuarrel: vard- or Yale or some such. They you're %1 and all of this is irreverent cause Daddy will pay for skool

GPA's matter. Trust me.

this is true (for those of you who don't know). I was a recruiter for one of the largest companies in the world about 8 years ago (as a side part of my main job).

The short is this... *Just* to get an interview with us, you had to have the following...

3.5 or higher if you didn't have a job while in college
3.0 or higher if you did have a job while in college (the job had to relate to your degree, you couldn't flip burgers and expect that to help much)

Those numbers changed based on the University... crappier Universities had a 3.8/3.25 requirement, but *no* University had lower than these numbers.

It makes sense if you think about it... a 3.0 means you do B work, but if you had to hold a full time job while you were going to school, it's like you were working an 80 hour week and still producing B work.

Deep Contact: Rostin: ChipNASA: Employers for the most part don't give a flying FARK what your GPA was, What Frat or Sorority you were in, what clubs you were in, DO YOU HAVE A PIECE OF PAPER??
Good, check, move on.
They also don't care if you spent $5,000 or $150,000 for your piece of parchment. THAT, my friends is YOUR problem.
LEARN THIS, KNOW THIS, LIVE THIS.
Unless you're from Duke, Hah-vard- or Yale or some such. They you're %1 and all of this is irreverent cause Daddy will pay for skool

Almost every entry level job I've applied to has had a minimum GPA requirement. Back before I returned to school and I was on the other side of the interviewing table, I certainly cared, and my boss cared even more. The advice you are giving is dangerous and wrong, at least for engineering students.

So just put down 3.84, no one checks.

I've also been asked to provide copies of both my undergrad and grad transcripts to several companies. And this, btw, is for PhD level gigs, where you might expect my publication record and awards to far outweigh whether I got an A or a B in freshman calculus 14 years ago. It's true that I could create a set of forged transcripts, but I doubt that many people, even in this age of rampant cheating, would be that brazen.

As an aside, and further demonstration of how seriously some companies take this, I was told by someone in our uni's career center that if I have a 3.837 on my transcript, it is NOT acceptable to round up to 3.84. I'm sure most recruiters wouldn't care, but some apparently have complained about students reducing the precision of their reported GPA to inflate it that tiny extra amount.

Rallo said, adding that students must have an ACT score of 27 or above to enter the program and maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average to continue.

Well, yes. A score of 27 is roughly 90th percentile of HS grads and 95th percentile of the general population. They're mostly going to do fine wherever. Let me select out only students with a top-10% test score, hire a few halfway decent teachers, encourage the use of open-source/public-domain textbooks, jettison the whole grad school and research and grant-admins side, and self-select for students who want to live in basic old-fashioned dorms, you should be able to do it real damned cheap. Honestly, that would have sounded pretty appealing to me at 18.

Doesn't solve the whole problem where 35% of the population gets a 4-year degree, and there's endless hand-wringing that it should be more than 35%.

ChipNASA: Employers for the most part don't give a flying FARK what your GPA was, What Frat or Sorority you were in, what clubs you were in, DO YOU HAVE A PIECE OF PAPER??
Good, check, move on.
They also don't care if you spent $5,000 or $150,000 for your piece of parchment. THAT, my friends is YOUR problem.
LEARN THIS, KNOW THIS, LIVE THIS.
Unless you're from Duke, Hah-vard- or Yale or some such. They you're %1 and all of this is irreverent cause Daddy will pay for skool

Almost every entry level job I've applied to has had a minimum GPA requirement. Back before I returned to school and I was on the other side of the interviewing table, I certainly cared, and my boss cared even more. The advice you are giving is dangerous and wrong, at least for engineering students.

ChipNASA: Employers for the most part don't give a flying FARK what your GPA was, What Frat or Sorority you were in, what clubs you were in, DO YOU HAVE A PIECE OF PAPER??
Good, check, move on.

This isn't true "for the most part", and it is a major factor in rising costs. Students keeping paying exorbitant costs to get into the "right" schools because a lot of employers won't even consider you if you did go to a school on their list. This is especially true for early career workers who don't much experience or accomplishments to demonstrate their worth.