[yolovoe]

Not true. Most FAANGs don't care about grades or even your major. All that matters is the interview which you can get via referrals. The interview is all leetcode for interns and new grads. I have interviewed at FAANGS and work at one.

[probablynish]

Speaking from very recent experience, referrals are by no means enough to get an interview. I found they helped but I think school name (if you go to a top 5 or so) + quality of projects/past experience are also very important.

[qbasic_forever]

Everything changed last year, those companies are in layoffs and have greatly tightened hiring practices. HR is much more strictly filtering and dialing back where they recruit.