<p>Though I'd post a link for those who plan on going to attend UT's engineering school. Quite a lot of companies, I'm impressed. You've got Intel, TI, Apple, AMD, Boeing, and so on and so forth. Believe there were 259 companies recruiting there during the Expo this past September. I'm a bit surprised though that companies like Motorola and Northrop Grunman didn't recruit there though considering they have locations in Austin. Anyways, best of luck to those going to attend Cockrell.</p>
<p>Do keep in mind that in order to get a job at any of the big name companies, you will pretty much have to have a 4.0. I had a pretty good GPA, but not a 4.0, and they all but ignore you if you don’t have experience or a 4.0. At Nvidia, they literally were giving out tests, but there are tons of smaller companies that are really eager to talk with you and that’s where the best opportunities will probably come. They are much more willing to put you in spots with responsibilities, while at AMD you might get stuck doing repetitive tasks because of the sheer scale of their company, they have no reason to necessarily give a student actual work.</p>
<p>So then why will these big companies come over to recruit there if that’s how they’re going to recruit? They’re probably going to take so little. With Austin having numerous emerging tech companies, do they recruit as well? Following is a link of rising tech companies in Austin.</p>
<p>They come because they pull enough weight with their name, that it is acceptable that they won’t take anything less than the best. Nvidia may have been giving a test out at their table, but it didn’t stop the 30 plus people taking the test(on floors, walls, and tables) as I walked by. People are attracted by their name to the company, they don’t really need to do that much recruiting, but they do so they can make sure they are continuing to get the best and the brightest. There are tons of smaller emerging companies, and really are the majority, although the big names draw the big crowds. Apple didn’t even bother setting up their booth, they just had 2 kids from UT who did their internship last year standing at the table for Apple with no decorations or free stuff, and there was a 15 person line to talk to either one. </p>
<p>I am not sure if most students do or not, but its VERY beneficial that you do. I had one internship before I started college, and me and my friend, who hadn’t had any engineering experience, drew less attention when we were talking to the same people. It seemed to me that they were basically looking at your resume and looking for 2 things, and 2 things only. GPA and past experience in the industry, as soon as pretty much everyone I talked to saw that, they become that much more interested(although no interview requests yet haha).</p>
<p>Questions foxshox, so how many people do you know who received a job/internship with those big name companies from UT? I mean, UT has one of the most reputable engineering schools in the nation if not the world. Why do they need to be selective on them? How often do you hear of UT alums doing their own start ups like the link I showed? Also, please tell me companies like Motorola, Freescale Semiconductor, and Northrop Grunman recruit there too. Sorry too many ques, but thanks.</p>
<p>Only a couple, but that’s mostly because I am a sophomore(and don’t know too many upperclassmen), and people only start getting internships this year and the next with the big companies since we really don’t know much until the end of sophomore year. If they needed more people, they would be less selective, but given the state of the market, I am pretty sure their recruiting only the best. I really don’t know too much about the companies, since I didn’t do a whole lot of research before I went, but I really don’t know much about it other than the list you posted. Keep in mind, that many companies who do not come to the EXPO just end up posting job listings on the engineering school job site. They keep a pretty nice job search site for their students, and I get emails whenever a job that matches a certain profile that I created.</p>
<p>During college…I just got one through my dad through his company that works for Exxon. Granted, I did very little beyond office work, but companies still look for it and it gives you a big advantage. Even if you end up doing no relevant work, having a big name company on your resume helps ALOT. Real internships with real work usually don’t become available until after you finish Sophomore or Junior year. During the first year of Electrical, I learned very very little in comparison to what I have done this year already.</p>
<p>There are parts I like and don’t like, and I can see how it can get tedious, but its the only thing I can imagine that would not make me want to bash my head into a wall. It does get quite hard, and I am starting to have a much harder time as a Sophomore. Freshman year went better than I expected, but this year has ramped it up a bit. It’s all about time management, and pretty much changing your high school mentality( or it was for me anyways). Doing homework was joke in high school and you really could get away without doing it, and do fine. Studying never happened other than the night before, but it really changes. I have to plan when to study, and start earlier than I did in high school. I still cram quite a bit, but my “cram time” has gone from like 4 hours to like 10-16 hours. It is a lot easier to study now that you don’t do a whole lot of pointless work. EE starts very early, in that first semester you have 2 EE classes, one which has a lab, so you really feel like your doing stuff towards your degree the whole time.</p>
<p>also, are you in honors? i was thinking about it but I don’t know if it’s worth being apart of if I’m only 75% sure i’ll stick with engineering…</p>
<p>Am i even still able to apply now that they already accepted me into regular engineering school?</p>
<p>Honors EE is kind of pointless, you may take one course as honors, and the followup course is just a regular class, so it doesn’t really give you much advantage from that standpoint. If you want the label on your transcript, then it isn’t too bad, but your GPA is way more important IMO.</p>