GPA Boost worth the $$ Forum

[Anonymous User]

My class rank is 42 of 241 or about 17%. (at a top 75 school). It should go up after this semester as I got a 3.87.

But I'm wondering whether it is worth the roughly $5,000 to take a 4 credit summer class which will boost my GPA about 0.02 (from 3.682 to 3.701) points if I get an A. I have a summer job with a small firm but really wanted to work at a large or mid size firm doing transactional work, so I think class rank is relatively important for that.

Just wondering if you guys think the small GPA boost (and class rank boost) is worth the money. Or if from experience that is unlikely to have any real effect on my class rank. Thanks.

[Myself]

.

[thesealocust]

But I'm wondering whether it is worth the roughly $5,000 to take a 4 credit summer class which will boost my GPA about 0.02 (from 3.682 to 3.701) points if I get an A.

. . .

[lolwat]

Honestly, I can sort of understand the OP's question. My school's grading scale is odd and not on the 4.000000 scale, but in short, a seemingly-small GPA move can have an appreciable effect on class rank. Also, at 17%, it could matter whether you're able to bump yourself up to top 15%. I mean, you aren't going to say "top 17%" on your resume (you would probably say "top 20%" instead), so moving up to top 15% can matter.

The other thing about the summer class might be that you can take a lighter courseload for your remaining semesters, which might have a positive impact on your GPA just because it's less classes you have to study for (so in theory, you should be able to spend more time on each class, if that's what you wanted to do with your extra time).

[thesealocust]

It's moments like these that I like to remember: No matter how hard I pray for death, God curses me with life.

What have I done to deserve this?

[Judge Philip Banks]

Honestly, I can sort of understand the OP's question. My school's grading scale is odd and not on the 4.000000 scale, but in short, a seemingly-small GPA move can have an appreciable effect on class rank. Also, at 17%, it could matter whether you're able to bump yourself up to top 15%. I mean, you aren't going to say "top 17%" on your resume (you would probably say "top 20%" instead), so moving up to top 15% can matter.

The other thing about the summer class might be that you can take a lighter courseload for your remaining semesters, which might have a positive impact on your GPA just because it's less classes you have to study for (so in theory, you should be able to spend more time on each class, if that's what you wanted to do with your extra time).

I basically agree, and say to OP that that .02 bump is only important if it gets you to be able to say "top 15%" on your resume instead of "top 20%". Otherwise, I don't think it is going to matter much. Also, being able to put a rank in the 30s will look better than 42, obviously.

[Anonymous User]

I did this. Not for the same reason - I needed summer classes in order to graduate on time after transferring from the evening division, but the result was still the same. You should check with your career services office- in my case, my GPA did go up, but summer grades weren't released until late August, and we had to submit resumes for OCI well before that (June/July I think). So, the minor bump I got did nothing for OCI.

When I showed up in the interview, I gave the interviewer my updated resume reflecting my new higher GPA, and it was basically "filed" in the recycle bin. They see so many people, and for the most part their decisions are already made regarding callbacks before you even walk in the door, but that teeny tiny little bump will likely go completely unnoticed.

Please, save your money. For the record, I still did fine at OCI, but the little bump was completely unnoticed.

[Myself]

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[KidStuddi]

I did this. Not for the same reason - I needed summer classes in order to graduate on time after transferring from the evening division, but the result was still the same. You should check with your career services office- in my case, my GPA did go up, but summer grades weren't released until late August, and we had to submit resumes for OCI well before that (June/July I think). So, the minor bump I got did nothing for OCI.

When I showed up in the interview, I gave the interviewer my updated resume reflecting my new higher GPA, and it was basically "filed" in the recycle bin. They see so many people, and for the most part their decisions are already made regarding callbacks before you even walk in the door, but that teeny tiny little bump will likely go completely unnoticed.

Please, save your money. For the record, I still did fine at OCI, but the little bump was completely unnoticed.

This. My school allows students to take a co-req over the summer to get credit for their summer internships. I don't think a single section had a grades before OCI/Job fair bids were in. Also, my school does not recalculate rank except at the end of fall and spring semesters. Summer grades just sit there until the end of the fall.