and after graduating a couple years ago I can think of 3 different places that basically said "don't bother applying unless your GPA is greater than X." In all three 'X' was 3.5 or better. I agree that GPA is often a poor indicator of ability and future performance but there are definitely companies that use it as a weeding tool and a 'hard' requirement. Oh, and like others have said, it matters a lot for graduate school too.

When my kids are in high school and college I definitely won't tell them "GPA doesn't matter". I probably won't dwell on it or overly emphasize it but saying "GPA doesn't matter" sends the wrong message IMO.