<p>i'm a freshmen, civil engineering major, and just got my gpa for first semester, not so good, 2.7 total in 3 GE's</p>
<p>i'm wondering how badly this affects me, as i've been hearing various things about the importance of GPA for engineering majors</p>
<p>also i've been wondering about graduate school for CivE majors
i kind of want to just get a job right after a bachelors, 4 years from berkeley, undergrad, and just skip the extra years for grad school
will it be more difficult to get a well paying job or anything like that</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I'm an ME major, but I know many CE's. First I would say that you need to step it up a bit after the first semester. Perhaps you weren't too interested in your GE courses, which is ok, but try taking them pass/no pass if you can. GPA is quite important for both grad school and potential employers down the road. Some grad schools have an absolute minimum of 3.0, period. GPA often makes a difference for your first job, but the more experience you gain, the less important it is. After 5-10 years, no will give a crap what your GPA was. </p>
<p>That being said, it's probably best, at least nowadays, to work first. It's becoming harder and harder for students to get into grad school without some decent work experience under their belt. I'm only speaking for engineers by the way. For CE's, you probably want to knock out the state PE exam more than anything. To summarize this I will say: Many employer will see a Master's degree with little to no experience as a risky hire for a typical MS/MA position, but no Grad school will see 3-5 years of job experience as anything but a plus.</p>
<p>another question
is grad school absolutely recommended/required to get a job
what i'm hoping to do is to just get a job after a bachelor's and start working until i retire, or will the job be complete sht or what</p>
<p>The majority of engineers go to work after their B.S. rather than working toward their Master's right away. You may want to go back and get your master's after a few years, or you may think "why bother?" It really all depends on how you do at work. If you are taking names at work, you could shoot up in the ranks over time. You could also find that you hit somewhat of a ceiling and want to get a leg up by getting your masters. It totally depends. Career advancement hinges more on your quality of work and schmoozing with superiors, than it does on your academic accomplishments. Don't forget, there are part time M.S. programs as well, which you can do while you work.</p>