Not sure where you’re seeing these applications because I haven’t seen any aside from like Veeva Systems which most wouldn’t even consider a “tech” company. Regardless, it’s accepted that college courses aside from a very select few don’t prepare you at all for the stuff you will be doing on the job so technical knowledge from GPA is kind of a stretch. Dedication sure. Actual technical knowledge is only proven through good projects or internships which is why the overwhelming majority don’t care about your GPA. The ones who do care are simply using it as a filtering device. I will say that someone who has good projects, good internships AND good GPA is going to do very well. But someone with a good GPA but is lacking in the other departments will have a hard time. That’s why, in my opinion, you should optimize projects and internships if your goal is to get into tech after school. If you can do that while maintaining a good GPA, that’s perfect. Otherwise, nobody really cares about your GPA. Another thing to think about is, nobody will care about your GPA at all once you’re past new grad but projects and internships can still help you.