Hello, I am a sophomore who switched from economics to civilengineering, with no background in sciences/math. I have been struggling to catch up but I have the work ethic for it. I work two jobs and hold several leadership positions. At the end of this semester my GPA will be anywhere from a 2.93-3.2. Is this a good GPA? Would I be able to get a job with this gpa or lower (considering my other accomplishments)? Also, I am legally blind so that has definitely made things slightly more difficult. Would all this bar me from getting a good job?
That is on the low end for a GPA. You will definitely want to work to keep it at least above a 3.0 to be safe. Better if you can get it up to somewhere more like 3.5, but even somewhere in the ballpark of 3.3 is pretty good and will leave you with a lot of opportunities.
As boneh3ad says, 3.3 is kind of the low end for many of the larger companies. My company had an absolute cutoffbof 3.0 and we’d get so many applications that you pretty much had to be more like a 3.5 to get a real shot at working there.
Small companies may or may not have similar cutoffs. Always kind of supply and demand thing. So the less attractive jobs will take the lower GPAs.
Work hard to get that GPA up. Do you really need two jobs to survive. Your primary job at this point is getting good grades.
Yes I do need the two jobs but one of them is 4hr/wk and the other is security (i study while working), I mentioned the jobs because i have heard that having work experience looks good and my jobs are not detrimental to my education.
I posted this a long time ago, I’ll post it again:
To the extent that finding a job is a function of GPA (and it is a function of much, much more), for schools ranked roughly in the 10-50 range:
3.50+: Can work anywhere, and will be actively pursued for the best jobs out there
3.20-3.49: Can work anywhere, but will need to work to get the best jobs
3.00-3.19: Can work anywhere, but will generally be shut out of the best jobs
2.80-2.99: Will struggle to find work at large companies, can generally find work at smaller employers
2.50-2.79: Will struggle to find professional work, and such work will generally be low-paying and/or unpleasant, with limited prospects for advancement
2.00-2.49: Probably will not find professional employment in engineering
This is for cumulative GPA, you can often use your major GPA but it will require more effort in some cases. The 3.00 line is usually cumulative and is sometimes unmovable as an HR requirement.
My school is ranked #67, if i have a 2.8-3.2 but an internship, would i have a chance at employment in a small-midsize firm in a metro area?
Internships in engineering are tougher to get than full time employment. I wouldn’t count on an internship to bail you out of a low GPA. And even if you got an internship, it won’t raise your prospects for the best jobs.
But do try to get an internship. It is good for the resume and also good for helping students refine their post-grad job/field preferences.
So, essentially, gpa is all that matters? What if I take some easier geneds to boost my overall gpa?
It isn’t that GPA is all that matters; a minimum GPA is just a gate to thru to get to the next step. The better the job being offered, the more applicants. The more applicants, the more sorting one must do. It is a reasonably easy thing to do to just set a minimum GPA and then take only those applicants that are above that. I would still have many times the number of applicants than jobs and still had to keep sorting and reading just to figure out who to call for an in plant interview.
Oh, and do try to get a internship. It won’t make up for the GPA but still a good thing to do, if possible.
With the work experience in hand 3.0 is the considerable but try to stretch it to 3.3. In the end it’s the professional experience that matters
I agree with the notion to keep >3.0 to qualify for job and internship cutoffs. While a 3.5 is nice it isn’t necessary it will help. You will find your mileage will vary with GPA. I know many 3.5+ people who have terrible interview skills and little extracurricular activities, on the flipside many of the 3.0 students have lots of extracurricular and generally interact more and may have better “soft skills”. Many people underestimate the importance of soft skills and interviewing skills. Essentially in engineering pick two of the three: GPA, social skills/interview, or extracurriculars etc.
I know many engineers that had GPAs north of 3.5, have great interpersonal/interview skills and do lots of extracurricular activities. Although a company won’t necessarily place a lot of emphasis on extracurricular activities.
If your competition for that job is one of those people, you loose very quickly with a low GPA. So, in the end it all depends on the competition for that job. The better jobs have the better competition.
NOT what I or anyone else on here said. GPA is maybe the third biggest factor in getting a job, behind having a good personal connection in the hiring company (if you have one, many/most do not) and having the desired skill set (with good grades!), and well ahead of most other things. Think of GPA as a convenient starting point, other things can shift your chances a little bit from there.
Won’t help. Part of your GPA (for the purposes of thus discussion) is how well you did in classes directly informative to your prospective job. An A in advanced basketweaving helps your GPA but doesn’t show a grade in anything helpful.
So if you still need to take geneds, go ahead and make them easier. But if you are looking to take EXTRA classes, make them engineering classes relevant to what you want to do professionally, and work HARD at them.
Good luck.
Worrying ABOUT your GPA is counter productive. The way you optimize your GPA is by focusing on your course material and/or by getting tutoring. It may be beneficial in the long run to take an easier load and delay graduation by a semester or two, or by taking classes in the summer to lighten your load during the year.
As others have said, while the GPA is important to get the phone call and interview. At the end of the day, your capabilities determine whether you get the job.
The best way to better grades is to know the material. If you focus on mastery, the grades (usually) follow and you’ll also be a better engineer.