<p>how hard would it to get an electrical engineering job in southern california if you have a 2.0 gpa?</p>
<p>Obviously harder than it would be if you had a 4.0.</p>
<p>However, while you probably won't end up working for Intel with a GPA like that, the fact is, after you've been working for a few years, nobody is going to care about your college GPA. All they're going to care about is what you've been doing on your job. So basically, you will have to find an entry-level engineering job with perhaps a non-glamorous company, perhaps making substandard pay (for an EE). However, these aren't all that difficult to find. Lots of non-glamorous organizations are willing to hire EE's.</p>
<p>^ what is considreed "substandard pay" for an EE?</p>
<p>Depends on the location, the job, and what school you come from, but I would say something in the high 30's or low 40's.</p>
<p>^ wow. thats still high as far as im concerned.</p>
<p>Yeah, but it's still below average for an EE nationwide. </p>
<p>proton:</p>
<p>Which school do you go to?</p>
<p>^ ucsd</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yeah, but it's still below average for an EE nationwide. </p>
[/quote]
</a></p>
<p>to tell you the truth, i'll be grateful just getting the damn EE degree! cause im barely just getting by</p>
<p>You can leave your GPA off the resume... some employers may not ask as long as you have the credentials. Of course, they might ask. For them, tell the truth. It's also acceptable to report your in-major GPA (vs. your cumulative) if it's higher... just mention that it's your major GPA. They'll ask if they want the cumulative.</p>
<p>my cumulative gpa is better than my hideous major gpa. in fact i take "easy classes" just to stay out of academic probation. =)</p>
<p>why are even a EE major, if you barely handle the course load?</p>
<p>^ nobody said that EE is an easy major</p>
<p>I would not put any GPA on your resume. If they ask then you'll have to tell them but some may not. Practice as much as you can in your interviewing skills. Often times it's the personal impression during an interview that has the most weight with employers. Be ready to discuss a senior design project or some other group project you did. I've seen students get hired just from those experiences. One guy had a 2.2 GPA.</p>
<p>^ hmmm... but I still have a year and a half or two yearts to raise my gpa</p>
<p>"However, while you probably won't end up working for Intel with a GPA like that, the fact is, after you've been working for a few years, nobody is going to care about your college GPA. "</p>
<p>lol it's ironic, because I had a friend who was hired into Intel development program with a 2.25 gpa from Cornell.....but then again he went hardcore experience route and bagged 6-7 internships from the likes of Cisco, Lockheed Martin and NIST. He is definately an aberration though...</p>
<p>Proton, I'll give you a general recipe to significantly increase your chance of getting job offers in a couple of years. I had a 2.47 gpa a year ago when I was interviewing for full-time jobs. I was able to get to 5 final round interviews, and came out with 5 offers. I owed a lot of what I learned from postings, so I'll share some of the things I learned going through the process...</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Since your gpa is pretty low already, don't really bother trying to get As in the classes. Work hard and make sure you don't fail anymore classes, but don't sweat it either if you get Cs. Instead....</p></li>
<li><p>Use connections around you, or resources from university postings, and secure yourself an internship in EE field. You really have to be a go getter on this. Don't be discouraged if you don't get response, just keep on trying. Internships are easier to secure, because employers don't care as much about interns, and also usually there's only 1 quick round of interview (unless you're applying to Google or MSFT). DO NOT, i repeat, DO NOT be hung up over how much they pay you for an internship. If a place offers you $17 an hour to do some crap work and another place offers you $9 an hour to develop some applications, TAKE THE SECOND ONE. The main goal here is to be able boost your resume for full-time jobs. Secondary goal is to work hard so your employer might give you a full-time offer at the end of your internship. If not, you can still be able to get decent recommendation, you never know if you'll ever need it.</p></li>
<li><p>Delaying your graduation by one semester is not a big deal anymore, so if you can afford it try to get a coop. It is usually much easier to get a co-op than a summer internship for obvious reasons. If you can get a coop, chances are you'll be doing some decent projects. Again, the main goal here would be to further boost your resume for later.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>-Go take some kind of leadership role, or go volunteering activities. Every interview i've been to, a leadership question of some sort had popped up. I volunteered at a SAT tutoring place for 5-6 years and it helped me tremendously when employers asked me about leadership stuff.</p>
<ul>
<li> If you can, try to pay for some of your own tuition so that you can put it down on your resume. This will be able to help explain why your gpa is so low. BE HONEST though, you don't want them to catch you lying on your resume.</li>
</ul>
<p>As you can probably tell, this recipe's main purpose is to beef up your resume as much as possible without having a gpa written on there. From my experience, getting that first round interview is the hardest thing. Since you have a low gpa, screw the gpa and instead use your experience to overwhelm them so that you can get that all important 1st round invite. If you can get to first round interview without lying on your resume, you have as much chance of getting the job as anyone else that's interviewing. Use that first round interview to really shine and candidly explain why you have such a bad GPA..and go from there.</p>
<p>Don't shoot for low $30s high $40s, work hard and follow this general guideline and you should have a good chance of getting a job that pays in the mid $50s range. 2 years is still a long time to right the ship, and you can definately make up all the ground you lost if you work extra hard. I hope this helps you a little.</p>
<p>oh one more thing, try to get an internship from an industry you think you would be interested in after you graduate. I interned at a telecom company for one summer, and was able to get interviews from Verizon, Sprint and SBC without mentioning my GPA at all. Companies within the same industry usually know, and to an extent, trust each other's recruiting ways. Also, the jobs are definately closer aligned to what they do.</p>
<p>wow. thanks a lot.</p>
<p>but one thing is still bothering me... most of the internships that i know of require a 3.0</p>
<p>lots of good info terp, thanks</p>