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I go to a school ranked 20-40 which puts between 20-30% of the class into larger law firms. The school does not rank us by number but does provide a rough grade distribution. My GPA is 3.60x. The top 10% is 3.61x and the top 15% is around 3.54x. This puts me just outside the top 10%.

I understand this is a somewhat petty question, but should I put top 15% on my resume or just leave the GPA without a class percentage? I only ask because I want to be marked off as little as possible for not being top 10%. I want to emphasize that although I am not top 10%, I am about as close to top 10% as possible. Is there any way of emphasizing this?

Perhaps most appropriately, does it really just not matter whether I do or do not put top 15% on my resume?

Put something like "GPA: 3.60x; top 10%: 3.61".

What about putting:

Culmulative GPA: 3.60 (Top 10% is 3.61)

Seems simple enough, and is not misleading in any way.

GPA: 3.61 (approx. Top 10%)

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brotherdarkness wrote:

encore1101 wrote:GPA: 3.61 (approx. Top 10%)

Don't do this.

BD is right, totally don't do this.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Put something like "GPA: 3.60x; top 10%: 3.61".

Being that close to the top 10% is a good thing, even if you're not within it.

brotherdarkness wrote:

encore1101 wrote:GPA: 3.61 (approx. Top 10%)

Don't do this.

Are you telling OP to lie about his GPA? Don't do this.

OP HERE:

So the consensus here is to NOT put top 15%, and instead to put something like:

GPA: 3.60x; top 10%: 3.61

OR

GPA: 3.60 (Top 10% is 3.61)

Am I reading you all correctly?

.

Yes, I should add I was suggesting more content than format, so whatever looks cleanest on your resume.

OP HERE:

Full disclosure, my GPA is on the high end of 3.60x and top 10% is also on the high end of 3.61x. Would including only two decimal places rather than three be considered dishonest?

brotherdarkness wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:OP HERE:

So the consensus here is to NOT put top 15%, and instead to put something like:

GPA: 3.60x; top 10%: 3.61

OR

GPA: 3.60 (Top 10% is 3.61)

Am I reading you all correctly?

Yep.

ETA - Alternatively, you could do something like:

GPA: 3.60, Top 15% (Top 10%: 3.61)

That looks cluttered, though, so I'll let others weigh in on that.

Don't do that. You want someone who looks at your resume to think top 10%. Putting top 15% on there is only going to hurt you. You're so close to the top 10% that they should know you're in the top 15%.

Also, before you round off to the hundredth I would suggest checking with your CSO to see if they have an official policy on rounding. Whatever you do should be consistent, though (ie both cutoff and your gpa should be rounded to the same decimal point).

Yeah, check with your school about rounding - but if they give you your GPA to the 3rd decimal point and they list the top 10% to the third decimal point, I would say no, you can't round. Besides, if you round, you'd have to round both numbers, and it sounds like your GPA ends up 3.61 and top 10% ends up 3.62. Your grades are still going to look good.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Put something like "GPA: 3.60x; top 10%: 3.61".

This. As for rounding, definitely check with your school (I know my school has a strict rule about it, as do many others.)

OP HERE:

Thank you for the responses. This was immensely helpful. Here's to hoping these grades + CS degree bring some good luck come PLIP/OCI Thanks all.