2.92 ee gpa

[TigersRock]

<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.

In most state schools avg is around 2.8-3.0. We do take a few soft sciences, business related class here and there and I can tell you that there is a HUGE differences from ECE classes and those type of class. True, it’s not a one point difference, but a big difference nonetheless. In fact engineering within itself varies by level of difficulty. Let me put it to you this way, an engineer can easily become a finance or those soft sciences major, but it won’t usually work the other way around. I am not trying to cook up engineering, it is what it is and thats why I primarily want to switch to finance.</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.

Right, my intention was not that soft sciences don’t add values to society. What I was merely highlighting was that nearly 1/3 of MBA students for those schools have <3.0 and it won’t surprise me if all of those students came from engineering. And this is precisely why I want to change to finance for graduate studies. Sure If I stay focus and actually try to enjoy some of those boring classes I might be able to pull 3.5 in MSEE, but for that same work I can easily pull 3.75+ in MBA, and have higher starting salary.</p>

[cosmicfish]

<p>

Sure If I stay focus and actually try to enjoy some of those boring classes I might be able to pull 3.5 in MSEE, but for that same work I can easily pull 3.75+ in MBA, and have higher starting salary.

There are a ton of variables here that you are not accounting for. </p>

<p>First of all, MSEE salaries are flatter than MBA salaries, so taking a third-tier (or whatever) MSEE is not as big a deal as it is for an MBA. Average MBA salaries are skewed by the handful of people from the top schools who are making ridiculous money.</p>

<p>Second, I think it is a little optimistic to say that you will go from a 2.92 undergrad gpa to a 3.5-3.75 grad gpa - some can, most don’t, and I think planning a career on it at this point is a huge risk.</p>

<p>Third, the kind of jobs you can take with your MBA depend both on the school and the experience you bring - the big, high-paying jobs draw primarily from a handful of schools, because investors want to put their money in the hands of Harvard grads and Sloan grads, not South Central Louisiana State grads (Go MudDogs!). I know people with “third-tier” MBA’s, and they are making very little more than the engineers (if at all) even after years of much greater working hours.</p>

<p>Fourth and finally, MBA’s cost money that have to be figured into the equation. An MSEE can be funded by TA, RA, Fellowship, or employer, but MBA’s are almost always entirely self-funded. This means that accounting for the risk and pay-raise associated with these degrees means including the $40-80k+ you will spend getting it, whether it pays off or not.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck, I just think that you have positioned yourself poorly for your desired educational and career path.</p>

[GLOBALTRAVELER]

<p>Is this one of those “I will get an MBA after my engineering degree and it will make my career soar” threads?</p>

[cosmicfish]

<p>Essentially, yes. The OP wants to take his 2.92 GPA in ECE, get an MBA, and go into finance.</p>

[BanjoHitter]

<p>

Is this one of those “I will get an MBA after my engineering degree and it will make my career soar” threads?

</p>

<p>It’s worse. TigersRock is now proceeding to lecture us about the difficulty of engineering courses and the ease of MBA courses. Of course, he’s never taken an MBA course and knows nothing about how they’re taught differently (creative team problem solving) than undergraduate engineering (application of existing mathematical formulas using first principals). He’s also likely never taken an engineering course outside of his school and has no context for his education vs. others. </p>

<p>Oh well. Some kids thing like they everything.</p>

[Magnetron]

<p>What is your area of interest? Aerospace has been picking up and hiring out here near Seattle.</p>

<p>Large company recruiters have to justify their hiring decisions and would have a hard time picking you over higher GPA, more experienced applicants. My advice is twofold: focus on smaller companies and work on your soft skills. Smaller companies (or small groups within large companies) will hire people that are capable of doing the work and that they want to have around them 10 hours/day. I spend more hours with my co-workers than I do with my wife, so chemistry in a small group is very important.</p>

<p>One of my lab partners had very low grades but was confident, friendly, and socially graceful - he stood out as someone who would make an excellent co-worker. He loaded up on job offers, while many of us more reserved types struggled. Have someone video you in a mock interview. You should be 1 level more energetic than the interviewer, smile 1 level bigger, use the interviewer’s name more than he/she uses yours.</p>

<p>I once hired an engineer with an associates degree and experience over a PhD for these reasons.</p>

[Sleepy3192]

<p>Looking at your posts, it makes me wonder why you even did engineering? It seemed like you only did it for the money or something. You don’t seem like you have any passion in engineering what so ever and now you’re complaining about your gpa…why didn’t you just switch to business before you graduated with your ee degree? It bugs me when people major in things they don’t seem to have interest in but are doing it for the money… I could be wrong assuming that your’e doing it for the money, but why else would you do engineering if you don’t seem to have any passion in it? lol</p>

[TigersRock]

<p>

@comicfish

Second, I think it is a little optimistic to say that you will go from a 2.92 undergrad gpa to a 3.5-3.75 grad gpa - some can, most don’t, and I think planning a career on it at this point is a huge risk.

GPAs fluctuates. It is possible to go from 3.0 to 3.5. Ok I admit it will be tougher for EE but not in finance. I would have had higher grades actually. There were few ECE classes where I had As going into the final, but once the surveys are over they basically grill you on the final. Ergo I dropped to Bs on those classes. Anything is possible, I even met a 2.7ish Boeing engineer. And beside grad level classes are curved differently, avg GPA is like 3.5. </p>

<p>Was a pretty good high school student, am not too thrilled about 2.x grades. I cannot live the rest of my life thinking that I had 2.x grades in college. I have to counter it with 3.5+ in grad level. Parents are Indian, I think you get the picture now? lol.</p>

<p>

@BanjoHitter

It’s worse. TigersRock is now proceeding to lecture us about the difficulty of engineering courses and the ease of MBA courses. Of course, he’s never taken an MBA course and knows nothing about how they’re taught differently (creative team problem solving) than undergraduate engineering (application of existing mathematical formulas using first principals). He’s also likely never taken an engineering course outside of his school and has no context for his education vs. others. </p>

<p>Oh well. Some kids thing like they everything.

Forgive me but I am not trying to lecture. I don’t quite get your last sentence tho.</p>

<p>

@Magnetron

What is your area of interest?..

Electrical Engineering. Transistors! I did go to second round of interview for couple of fortune 100s, but thats about it. But ironically I can’t get the lower level companies to hire me. They actually pay pretty well too.</p>

<p>

@Sleepy3192

Looking at your posts, it makes me wonder why you even did engineering? It seemed like you only did it for the money or something. You don’t seem like you have any passion in engineering what so ever and now you’re complaining about your gpa…why didn’t you just switch to business before you graduated with your ee degree? It bugs me when people major in things they don’t seem to have interest in but are doing it for the money… I could be wrong assuming that your’e doing it for the money, but why else would you do engineering if you don’t seem to have any passion in it? lol

Engineering is OK for undergrad and for some people I think it’s excellent. But I never expected to have 2.X grades lol. There are other majors you can actually pursue that pays a lot more than engineering, also like 10x easier.</p>

[TigersRock]

<p>Anyways, you guys were helpful, a little. If I get a decent paying job and enjoy the work I suppose I can stay in EE. But for now, formula is simple:
Job–> 3 or 4 years of experience—> Decent MBA school—>work for Deloitte or something. Happy Ending :–)</p>

[cosmicfish]

<p>

Anything is possible, I even met a 2.7ish Boeing engineer. And beside grad level classes are curved differently, avg GPA is like 3.5.

No one is saying that you cannot get a decent job with a sub-3.0 GPA, it is just that you seem to be aiming for jobs that have very high expectations that you likely cannot fill.</p>

<p>

There are other majors you can actually pursue that pays a lot more than engineering, also like 10x easier.

Really? Which ones? The list of top paying undergraduate majors is dominated by engineering. While there are majors that have the potential to out-earn engineering, those are unusual achievements - the averages still favor engineering.</p>

[yagottabelieve]

<p>It is possible for people with less than a 3.0 undergrad GPA to get engineering jobs. (I did, granted, nearly 30 years ago.) You may not get the type of job you want; you may be paid less than new grads with higher GPAs; you may not get to work on the types of projects you’d hoped to.</p>

<p>However, more so than your GPA, I’m concerned about the following:</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>Are you sure you want to be an EE? It doesn’t look like it. If you find the classes boring and uninteresting, there is a good chance you will feel likewise about an EE job.</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>Well, to get an EE job, you’re going to have to promote yourself aggressively. People with 4.0 GPAs who are having trouble finding jobs are doing that. But what might set them apart from you is that they have a passion for the subject, or are at least determined to find work in it. If you would really rather enter the legal profession or cross over to the business world, you should consider doing that right away. You don’t need an engineering job to be a success in law or business; you may even be devoting time to an engineering job that could be better spent on studying law or business. Start by looking at those aspects of law or business that you find interesting and see if there are any companies that are willing to hire you with your existing background. Some engineering companies hire people into product or program management jobs to do that sort of thing. Or consider applying to MBA or law schools now.</p>

[yagottabelieve]

<p>TigersRock,</p>

<p>It seems you are focusing more on the (perceived) ease of getting a high GPA in a particular major than on what motivates and drives you to succeed. One thing to keep in mind is that in any competitive graduate school, the GPAs that the students earn are as much a function of their drive and passion as their intellect. Perhaps there are some places that are willing to hand out high grades, but even then, there will be students who really stand out because they want very badly to succeed.</p>

<p>In any event, I think you should spend some time thinking about what you really want to do. You say you like transistors – there are jobs available in that subarea of EE, but it will be competitive. OTOH, you say you don’t like z-transforms, but I understand that some finance jobs use them to model certain market behavior. Whatever it is you wind up doing, try to make sure it’s something you really want to do and are willing to invest a lot of your time on.</p>

[TigersRock]

<p>@yagottabelive, thnx for taking the time to read through my post and put forward some suggestions. But unfortunately, I will have to come back and discuss this at a later time, too busy looking for jobs. In short, I finished my engineering degree and want to show some competency in it for the next three years. You see EE unlike other engineering field is too diverse and has way too many subfields. I do have passion for transistor design, PCB layout design, etc but there is now way I will get jobs in those area. </p>

<p>By the way, do you guys know what is this “sales engineer”? I keep seeing this thing in my searches. How do one actually “engineer” sales? I doubt that would look good on the MBA application.</p>

[ClassicRockerDad]

<p>

By the way, do you guys know what is this “sales engineer”? I keep seeing this thing in my searches. How do one actually “engineer” sales? I doubt that would look good on the MBA application.

</p>

<p>A sales engineer is part of the sales department and may be the perfect opportunity for you. It looks especially good for an MBA application. It can also be quite lucrative and after you get some experience under your belt, it can be commission based. A CEO of a former company of mine said that he expected all of his sale engineering staff to be driving Porches. This is the direction that you want to go in to ultimately be a CEO of a technology company. Understanding sales is the most important part of understanding the enterprise. </p>

<p>When your product is really complicated, it requires a certain amount of technical sophistication just to be able to talk about it. Sales engineers are the people that interact with sophisticated customers to assess their needs and explain how their product can fit into the customers solution. It’s real engineering, it’s just not as academic as design. </p>

<p>When you are a sales engineer, you learn to understand what customer’s needs are and how your companies products can meet those needs. However, you also learn what customer needs are not being met by anybody, and that information is very very valuable, both internally, and as an idea for a possible startup. </p>

<p>IMHO, with your GPA, good people skills, and an interest toward the business end of the profession, this is definitely where you should be looking. You haven’t demonstrated the technical excellence for the most difficult design roles, but you have demonstrated the ability to understand technology at a level sufficient to perform a sales engineering role. The rest of it is all about people skills, so if you have those, you could do really well. </p>

<p>One other thing that turns me off at least, is that you want to work somewhere for 3 years and then bolt. Yeah I know that’s your plan and I know people do it, but when I see people so overtly make that their plan, I know that the investment of my most precious resource, my time, will not pay big dividends. I have no interest in hiring an engineer that plans to go to law school. I want to hire an engineer that wants to be an engineer. I hire people all the time that want to go back and get a PhD in the same field. That’s to me is different, because there is at least some chance of maintaining a mutually beneficial longer term relationship. </p>

<p>Just some food for thought, good luck.</p>