Importance of the College GPA

Your counterexamples are literally crap.

Studying abroad to take Organic Chemistry can actually be important to employers because it shows them that you relocated for a whole semester, away from your friends and family. Playing as a flutist really has no relevance and sounds like you just pulled it out of your ass.

Your GPA helps, I won't deny that, but it's not something you should worry incessantly over. I know people with 3.4's getting jobs over those with 4.0's merely because they did something productive and different from their summers.

I don't know how else I should interpret, "Do something to set yourself apart from everyone else." Other than to literally do something different from anyone else, when most people are getting job related experience over the summer in the form of internships ect. I disagree with the purpose of studying abroad and I feel that it removes you from opportunities, panels, and job seekers who come to the school on a frequent basis, not abroad. The GPA you receive is a pH test, if you worry too much about it and it is still lackluster then clearly you are struggling and not someone who employers will look at positively. It is obvious that someone shouldn't be a book worm, especially when it comes to chemistry since it is a highly oriented applied science. But I don't think that any chemist takes it for granted that not getting solid internships and research with a professor isn't going to hurt them in terms of end job prospects. So I don't know what you're implying by "different" and setting yourself apart in a "productive" manner.

Chemists aren't like biologists who are an over saturated fledgling race filled with pre-meds who won't get into medical school. We had 46 Chemistry graduates in our school back when I attended in 2011 and our school had 40,000 students. I assure you that almost all of those 46 students were bright, had moderately high GPAs, and had research/internship experience. Most of the people who wouldn't apply themselves to the program were without a doubt weeded out. The question is if we're talking about payout for the effort, most private sector jobs have starting pay of $15 to $20 which translates roughly to a $35,000 to $50,000 salary at max. Compared to a field like investment banking at Goldman Sachs, you start off as an analyst at around $60,000 or $70,000 as a junior analyst and have the ability to stratify upwards in the first couple of years if you have enough flex to survive, to a moderate six figure salary after three years. For chemists their ceiling is already capped at around $50,000 with only a BS and most companies won't consider a higher pay raise without pursuing more education. On the other hand, if you bring back good returns or even know how to work the right people when it comes to derivative trades or credit default swaps, then you can climb a lot higher without needing to take time off to go back to school. This is perhaps more pertinent to someone with a mathematics major who has a background in investment. And if they are in a hedge fund the return is even higher for doing quantitative risk analysis.