A Quinnipiac University student created a Student Government Association initiative for a new dean’s list with honors that will be implemented in fall 2022 to give students an edge when applying for jobs in the future.

The upcoming dean’s list with honors recognizes students who achieve a 4.0 GPA, as opposed to the regular list which requires at least a 3.5 GPA.

All full-time students must complete at least 14 credits with at least 12 that have a letter grade of above a C to be eligible. Part-time students must complete at least six credits during a semester.

Hannah Stevens, a junior 3+1 finance major and SGA junior senator, said she was inspired with the idea for the initiative when applying for internships and learning more about graduate schools.

“I think that implementing this dean’s list with honors is an opportunity to provide Quinnipiac students with a competitive edge when applying to jobs and graduate schools, where employers can kind of recognize each student’s achievements during their four years at Quinnipiac,” Stevens said.

Stevens said that a lot of companies use tracking systems where a resume is first reviewed by software, and immediately knocking out hundreds to thousands of resumes before one is even viewed by “human eyes.” In addition, she said many jobs have a minimum GPA requirement.

“I have seen how hard it is and competitive to acquire internships and entry-level jobs upon graduating college,” Stevens said. “Just getting selected for a first round of interviews can be challenging.”

After Stevens came up with the initiative it went through SGA’s Student Advocacy Committee, which plans initiatives. Stevens later met with Annalisa Zinn, vice president for academic innovation and effectiveness, and came up with a proposal to present to the Academic Policy and Programs Committee.

“I presented the proposal to the APPC and just made a PowerPoint going into what my proposal consists of, why this is an initiative, what it looks to implement and just basically gave background about the initiative,” Stevens said.

From there, the APPC brought took the proposal to the faculty senate who is in charge of “approving and implementing” such changes.

The initiative has been announced through SGA’s social media but there has been no communication from the university yet.

“I thank Hannah Stevens and SGA for their vision and dedication in developing the proposal for Dean’s List with Honors, which will serve as additional motivation and recognition for superior academic performance in support of QU’s mission to prepare graduates for 21st-century careers and citizenship,” Zinn said.

However, some students said they have mixed opinions on the new dean’s list with honors initiative.

Lauryn Santos, a finance and marketing graduate student, said that she thinks the dean’s list itself is “pretty fair,” but said some students may interpret it differently.

“I feel like it may be kind of demeaning to other people who are on the dean’s list,” Santos said. “It may be great for people who do have a 4.0, but I think everyone else may be a little uncomfortable by it.”

Andrea Chetirko, a first-year nursing major, said that all students with a GPA over 3.5 should receive equal recognition.

“I find (the dean’s list with honors) very stupid, and I think that we shouldn’t be putting 4.0 students above everyone else even though people are taking different classes,” Chetirko said.

Despite some students disagreeing with the plan, Tim Malone, a junior film, television and media arts major, said that he thinks the initiative is a “cool idea.”

“I’m curious if I put that on my resume if people will even understand what that means,” Malone said. “I feel like they would really have to find a way to differentiate the dean’s list and this new dean’s list. I think any way to just honor students’ good academic performance is a good thing.”