Due to changing his major, DS is planning to graduate in Dec '17 after 4 1/2 years of college. I’m wondering if it would be better for him to spread out his classes over an extra semester to 1) take advantage of better job prospects in Spring, 2) improve his GPA by either taking a lighter load or taking some easier classes since he’s been heavy into the engineering classes to finish as soon as possible. Are the advantages worth the cost of an extra semester?
I would recommend graduating in December. Start looking for a job over the summer and really go hard at it early in the fall term if he hasn’t found anything yet. Depending on the field, January can be a good month to start a job; federal budgets have been out long enough to get sorted out and work started.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a dead time for hiring (which also includes interviewing for the most part) which is why I recommend starting in the late summer as it takes a while for your resume to get circulated and to the hiring manager in the larger companies.
I’d also say graduate in December. The start of the year always seems to be the busiest time for hiring since it’s when budgets for many new projects kick in.
Thanks for the responses! I readily admit my insecurities (often discussed here) of a GPA below 3.0. DS1 managed a 3.3 GPA in ME at a great engineering school and had no trouble finding a job in 2013, at a bigger company that seems to cycle people in (either new employees or movement within the company) in the May-June timeframe. DS2 now as a junior in MatlsE (at a little less well-rated engineering school) is juuuuust under 3.0 so I’ll be holding my breath for another year and a half knowing it’s all up to him. At least for internships, so many have a cutoff of 3.0. Would you still advise him graduating in December with a GPA hovering but not quite at 3.0?
That adds a little different spin on it. IF he can get his GPA above 3.0 by taking an extra semester, then it MIGHT be worth it. Many big companies (like the one I worked at) have HARD 3.0 minimum GPA requirements. There are, however, many smaller companies that don’t have such hard requirements.
He should try to get his GPA above 3.0 in the fall semester.