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I suggest using a somewhat different metric, e.g., select a school where your SAT or ACT scores put you in the highest possible ranking to start, ideally top 10% or higher. I'm of the opinion that too much is made about "prestige" in undergraduate education. Delete the world class Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton etc. cohort of colleges from this discussion (which collectively represent a very small slice of the population AND require either legacy status, wealth or extraordinary abilities not common to most of us) and its not terribly important where you go - how well you do is the defining parameter. JMO
If you are looking for a job in a field that is competitive with upper level salaries, those employers know what schools reflect a stronger educational challenge vs. those that are easy. The GPA DOES matter, but that being said....a 3.4,3.5 at Boston University far outweighs the 3.9/4.0 of USF. Of the schools you mentioned, I would suggest you go the BU or BC!!! Personally, BU would be my choice. BC is an outstanding school as well, however.
If you are not looking to challenge yourself in your career options, okay...then I would suppose not challenging yourself in school selection to assure a higher GPA would be fine, if that's what you really prefer. Otherwise, as I said....top level employers who are hiring applicants routinely from those top notch schools...they know what those GPA's from harder schools equate to when comparing to an easier school curriculum and grading scale. Think it through...where do you want to work? Where will you be applying for your final career choices...what do you want out of what you are being educated for? It's really a no-brainer!
Most accredited universities are challenging. There is a difference between research vs non-competitive institutions; which basically means the university itself focuses on research and innovations. Professors at these schools rarely teach lower division courses as they are researching!
You can still get a quality education at a non research, non competitive school; and that school can be very hard. I wouldn't focus on the average GPA at a university because in the end, YOU have to earn the GPA you desire to have, regardless of where you decide to attend.
There is no hardline drawn between "Good" and "easier" when it comes to colleges.
Some good schools are "easy" academically but hard to get into and vice versa.
All that "challenging yourself" sounds good and dandy but at the end of the day getting a job and getting into a grad school is about business. And the bottom line is that many competitive jobs and schools use GPA as a cut off point to review applications.
The "challenge yourself"is complete BS in my opinion. They will not compare the GPA of an engineering major to Enlish majors. You can't tell them that you just went there to "challenge yourself" and that's why your GPA is lower. You're not gonna be in the same pool, obviously. Just because it's Harvard or Standford, the material is gonna change. They all still teach the same thing. Look at how U.S news and others get their rankings. Pretty much nothing of it actually determines how "hard" a school is. BTW, since when is it the entire school? It's the professors.
What do employers prefer?
For example, pretend there are 2 people with similar qualities and the only distinction between them is there GPA.
One received a 2.9 from NYU-Stern (8th in the nation for business)
versus 3.9 from the South Florida University (90th in the nation)
Wow good point.
Now I am confushed. Should I stay at the easy USF and get a high GPA or transfer to Boston College, NYU and get a lower gpa.
hmmmmmm
BC is a great school as USF NYU do not know, also
living in Boston is neat however it does get cold! Think of the job you want
and what beside hard or easy each does offer. I grew up in Boston and
live in Fla however each has the plus and the minus. Maybe chart and
do an excel of the good and bad of each school. Now we also are in bad times so factor that in also. Why would you get a lower GPA at BC just work harder for the job you want!
Really good employers will bypass both types of applicants in favor of one with a high GPA from a good/hard school. There are enough of those.
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There are enough of those.
