Should I put my GPA on a résumé?

What to put there instead

Once the GPA stops helping, give the space to the things it was proxying for: a dissertation with a real result, a relevant module, a scholarship or a placement, or simply an extra bullet on your most recent role. A named award is a stronger signal than a number, because it is scarcer and it was awarded by somebody else.

When the usual advice is wrong

Some employers require it and will screen you out for its absence, which overrides every stylistic argument here. Investment banking, consulting, several graduate schemes, and some engineering programmes ask for it explicitly, and a number of application forms make it a required field. When the posting asks, include it whatever it is; omitting a required figure reads as concealment and is worse than a modest number.

A worked example

A specific, externally-judged result replaces a number that was inviting an unfavourable comparison and answering nothing.

Common questions

Should I put my GPA on a résumé?

Early on and strong, include it. Otherwise the space is worth more to something else. Once the GPA stops helping, give the space to the things it was proxying for: a dissertation with a real result, a relevant module, a scholarship or a placement, or simply an extra bullet on your most recent role. A named award is a stronger signal than a number, because it is scarcer and it was awarded by somebody else.

Why does "your gpa" weaken a résumé?

A GPA is one of the few numbers on a résumé an employer can compare directly between candidates, which is exactly why it cuts both ways. Including a strong one early in a career gives a reader something concrete when there is little else; including a middling one invites a comparison you lose, against candidates who simply left it out. Its value also decays fast. Two or three years into working, what you have shipped answers the question a grade was standing in for, and the line starts to read as reaching backwards.

When is it right to keep it?

Some employers require it and will screen you out for its absence, which overrides every stylistic argument here. Investment banking, consulting, several graduate schemes, and some engineering programmes ask for it explicitly, and a number of application forms make it a required field. When the posting asks, include it whatever it is; omitting a required figure reads as concealment and is worse than a modest number.

Where this is corroborated

These career services publish guidance on this section. Each was read and checked to actually address it. They establish that the question is taken seriously; the argument above is ours.

• Harvard UniversityCreate a strong résumé, Harvard FAS Office of Career Services
• Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyRésumés, MIT Career Advising & Professional Development
• Yale UniversityRésumé advice and samples, Yale Law School Career DevelopmentLaw school guidance; legal hiring has conventions of its own.