<p>Hi,
I have 2.92 EE GPA. So far I've gotten few interviews from fortune 100's but no offer yet. My adviser told me it's about the avg GPA for the program in this top 50 state school and should be competitive(lol). I am confused and don't know what to do anymore. I know of one kid from my dept had 2.73 and an offer of $54k. I hope I just didn't waste my time, money, and degree. </p>
<p>I think I made a mistake by pursuing in engineering especially EE. Average GPA is about 2.9, but companies usually want 3.0. So how would those remaining ~55% student gonna find jobs? And it is usually 3.0 requirement for any type of majors even though engineering is like 10x harder than say business or what not. I would have had much higher GPA than that if it weren't for some boring and uninteresting classes. I was actually pretty decent HS student too. </p>
<p>And EE is like the weirdest engineering field. I mean what is it anyway? Is it about controls? DSP? VLSI? Mixed Signal? Power? Robotics?</p>
<p>Anyway, I was just looking for advice on how to get that first job and move away to something more meaningful like MBA, LAW, etc after some years of experience. After that very first job I can figure things out. I know there is absolutely no way I would want to pursue grad studies in EE since that would be waste of time, money, social life, etc.</p>
<p>If you want to talk about jobs and employment in Engineering field, you should go to the Engineering forum. There are people who are pursing engineering and some are already finished their degrees so they know what they are talking about. link:
[Engineering</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/]Engineering”>Engineering Majors - College Confidential Forums)
Hope this help!</p>
<p>He did post in the engineering forum… I am a junior so I can’t help a whole lot. I know Co-ops at my school usually want around a 3.0. Do you have any experience? Have you had your career center look over your resume for mistakes? Good interview skills? You should be able to find something.</p>
<p>Yeah they all want 3.0 regardless if you are an EE or majoring in psychology. Not much experience but few decent school projects. Although, not many recruiters questioned my GPA. Am a well rounded guy so decent interview skills. I graduated recently so I am looking for full time. I don’t have any problems with $50k-$60k range. Just use the EE experience and move to MBA, LAW, etc. </p>
<p>Had few interviews with top fortune companies but the competition was tough. Just that I am having hard time getting more interviews, or I might be doing something wrong. It’s frustrating to be in the 9% unemployment rate, even though I have an engineering degree. And without my first job I can’t even develop my career. </p>
<p>The career service isn’t much helpful. The lady who had no idea about engineering thought my 2.9 was low even though I specifically told her its in the 50%.</p>
<p>Based on what I know, you should avoid giving your gpa unless they specifically ask for it. </p>
<p>Second, based on what I’ve read on this forum, I don’t think law school is a realistic option, because it seems to be purely a numbers game based on gpa and lsat. What you do outside of school doesn’t seem to have any effect.</p>
<p>First of all, 2.92 is still decent - whatever is keeping you from a job, it isn’t your grades. It is likely that your competition has in some way gone the extra mile (experience, activities… something) or else you have some interview issues.</p>
<p>Second, gpa is FAR more important in law and business school applications - the only programs that are likely to admit you are the same programs that are least likely to launch a real career.</p>
<p>Finally, gpa’s are considered differently for each major or field, based on the distribution. Education majors don’t get jobs with a 3.0, and a philosophy major with a 3.5 is most likely to spend his career washing dishes.</p>
<p>not giving out GPA is even worse. They will assume its low anyway probably like 2.0 or something. Yeah Law is probably unrealistic but MBA is very much doable: GMAT + Experience>>>GPA. But for that I just need that first job. I love business concepts anyway. I think it’s much more meaningful than ECE.</p>
<p>I think only in engineering especially ECE do you hear a lot of complaints about <3.0.</p>
<p>@cosmicfish, GPA isn’t that important for MBA. A lot of top programs have their bottom admitted students at 2.6, 2.7, something like that. Experience + good GMAT + demographics, I know I can get into decent MBA programs. </p>
<p>But I just need that very first job otherwise engineering pretty much will ruin my life.</p>
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Sure, but that is the exception, not the rule. Harvard’s MBA program has a historical average admitted gpa of 3.67, and those who entered below this needed not just experience but EXPERIENCE - something truly exceptional above and beyond having a good job. I do not think other “top” MBA programs are likely to admit many sub-3.5 students who are not truly exceptional in some other way. </p>
<p>And remember that at top programs, demographics won’t help that much - even if you are a disabled black lesbian veteran, there are probably a hundred others still applying…</p>
<p>Business school is like three-four years later. I have all the stats, I know I have a good chance. I am not talking about getting into Harvard, that I probably won’t get in even if I had 4.0. </p>
<p>But I am trying to figure out how I am going to get that first job. IEEE says only 4% of EEs are unemployed, but I call that BS.</p>
<p>^ Unemployment means actively looking for work within the past 4 weeks, so maybe people with super low GPAs aren’t actually looking for work. Maybe it’s only people on the borderline that are actively searching (like you).</p>
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<p>The issue is that an MBA program doesn’t want just any experience. They want to see specific experience, such as private equity, investment banking, MBB consulting, etc (experience that requires a great GPA from a great school). Working 3 years at the Joe Blow Co. then doing well on the GMAT isn’t going to get you far. Especially with a sub 3.0 GPA from a non-top school (despite what you might think or what “stats” you have, that does matter). So don’t just try for “any job” with the expectation that it will automatically get you in to a good MBA program. You might get into an decent MBA program, but that’s not really going to get you very far or earn you any extra salary.</p>
<p>As far as your current situation, if you’re interviewing with Fortune 100 companies and it isn’t turning into a second round interview, then you need to evaluate your interviewing skills. You should be converting 50% or more of your 1st round interviews into 2nd round interviews and 50% or more of your 2nd round interviews into offers. If you’re not hitting those targets, then it’s an interview issue.</p>
<p>@ktran13, I did post in the right forum.</p>
<p>@Banjo If that was the case then everyone would come from the same industry. Yeah, just decent MBA program so I can change my profession five years down the road. </p>
<p>Actually, my current situation and frustration toward engineering is forcing me to pursue in business schools later on. Whatever interviews I got was surprisingly from top companies, but its just that I can’t figure out a way to get more interviews from lower level companies and get me an offer. Their offers are actually just as good as bigger companies.</p>
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<p>Not the same industry, but from similar firms. The point is, all experience is not the same to business schools. Experience is treated differently even within the same company. If two people both spend 3 years as EE’s for Intel, the one with more authority and with better recommendations has a better chance of admission than the one who was a low-level engineer with no accomplishments. And experience is certainly treated differently depending on the reputation of your company. Working for Exxon for 3 years is treated very differently than working for some small oil company in West Texas for the same amount of time.</p>
<p>So are you saying I don’t have any chance for a decent MBA program, say in finance?</p>
<p>First, that depends on the definition of “decent”. A third tier school is not difficult to get into, but what does that buy you? An MBA from one of those schools doesn’t guarantee a job at graduation, and isn’t going to create a leap in salary. You’ll probably leave a $70,000 / year engineering career and start in a $60,000 / year project management career and Wall Street is out of the question. The Career Services for MBA students usually aren’t that great because at those types of schools, their primary clients are those who already have careers and go to school at night for an MBA to advance the existing career.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for an MBA program that will jump start your earnings and career, then you have to recognize that your current position (not the best GPA from not the best school) puts you at a major disadvantage if you want to play the numbers game (GPA + GMAT + 3 years of typical experience = application). What you’ll need is to have a great GMAT and experience that differentiates you. What would differentiate you? Three years in a plant in West Texas won’t do it. You need to get hired by GE, Intel, or another big name company then work your way to a high visibility position then get a letter of recommendation from a C-level executive in that company. That will differentiate you.</p>
<p>But even those third tier schools has their average starting at nearly $100k, with basically everyone being employed six months after graduation. I was thinking on the line of Indiana, Ohio State, or Penn State. I even seen people majoring in psychology and working for some unknown companies and getting in. </p>
<p>But yeah I see what you mean, I don’t really have much of a choice. If I do any grad level stuff it has to be in MBA/finance. At worst I can always do the part-time MBA at a top school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call those schools “third tier”. When you see people from “psychology” and “unknown companies” getting in, you also have to question their situation. You don’t know 1) their undergrad school, 2) their undergrad GPA, 3) their GMAT score, and 4) their accomplishments (both in school and at work). Also keep in mind that an “unknown company” to you might not actually be all that unknown. I bet you can’t name the top private equity firms in the country off the top of your head.</p>
<p>lol true I wouldn’t be able to. I am sure they were good students in their respective fields, but I still believe that tech schools like CMU, GIT, and Penn State would not look less favorably for a 2.7 engineer vs oh say 3.7 sociology major. </p>
<p>Regardless, at least I have some goals now compare to when I was in high school. I would rather learn about stuff like risk audit than to do z-transform at grad level.</p>
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<p>People give engineers credit for degree of difficulty, but it’s nowhere close to a full GPA point. Despite what people commonly believe, most engineering schools have an average GPA around 3.0 - 3.1. An average soft science major will be 3.2 - 3.3. </p>
<p>And despite the common believe in this forum that soft sciences are a waste of time and add no value to society, that simply isn’t true. MBA programs are all about looking at problems from different perspectives. In fact, that’s the primary goal of an MBA program - to get you to change your view of business. In order to effectively teach that, you need MBA students from all sorts of backgrounds (professional and educational). This makes soft science majors as valuable as engineers.</p>
<p>As an aside, that’s what also makes consulting majors valuable to MBA programs. In 2 years, a consultant might have worked for 8 different clients in 6 different industries doing 4 different types of studies.</p>