QUEZON CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Quezon City Bureau) – This year’s latin honor graduates from the University of the Philippines in Diliman (UPD) are now finding out that weighted average grade (WAG) is not all that matters when it comes to seeking employment.

At the 112th General Commencement Exercises of UPD, 305 students graduated summa cum laude, 1,196 magna cum laude and 742 cum laude. That’s a whopping 60% of all 2023 graduates!

But in a random survey conducted by The Adobo Chronicles, only a handful of the honor graduates have secured jobs in their related field. The Iskolar ng Bayan (taxpayer-funded scholars) said most companies prefer to recruit non-honor graduates because of lower salary rates and benefits.

Even their alma mater couldn’t help much. UPD does not have a lot of vacancies for teaching or administrative positions that they can offer to the honor graduates.

But then again, Call Centers are always recruiting!