Blacked out GPA? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I had a callback today at a competitive, large and well-ranked firm in a secondary market - my interviewers all had a copy of my resume that had my GPA blacked out, like redacted with a sharpie. FWIW, this firm's GPA statistics for my school were notably higher than my GPA (i.e. I'm a solid .15 below the median of people from my school who ended up working there...)

Is this a thing? Is the firm just making sure that interviewers (who likely don't have a great idea of what GPAs from different schools mean) aren't unfairly biased? Or what?

thanks.

[Anonymous User]

I had a callback today at a competitive, large and well-ranked firm in a secondary market - my interviewers all had a copy of my resume that had my GPA blacked out, like redacted with a sharpie. FWIW, this firm's GPA statistics for my school were notably higher than my GPA (i.e. I'm a solid .15 below the median of people from my school who ended up working there...)

Is this a thing? Is the firm just making sure that interviewers (who likely don't have a great idea of what GPAs from different schools mean) aren't unfairly biased? Or what?

thanks.

Had this at a V30 firm in Boston too. I presumed it was to keep their interviewers unbiased as you mentioned.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Never seen it but it's a good idea. The hiring committee will take your grades into account but this would keep interviewers focused on the intangible factors you can only assess by meeting someone.

[Anonymous User]

I think the above posters have hit it - it's to prevent your interviewers' perceptions from being impacted by knowing your GPA. I've gone on a few CBs where interviewers were not given my transcript, presumably for the same reason. (My T14 officially bars students from putting GPA on the resume, so withholding transcript = blacking out GPA.) Of course, such tactics don't always work... I ran into a few interviewers who point blank asked what my GPA was (one even followed up by asking what my specific grades were in Contracts, Property and Torts - fortunately three of my best grades!).

[Johann]

Never seen it but it's a good idea. The hiring committee will take your grades into account but this would keep interviewers focused on the intangible factors you can only assess by meeting someone.

[cron1834]

Good for them.

[Anonymous User]

OP here... FWIW, /for posterity, I ended up getting an offer from this firm, much faster than I guess they generally get back to people, despite being way below their gpa stats from my school.