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<p>Yes. We hire many of our Northeastern coops. I think Coops are a great way to get some perspective on real-world engineering that can provide synergy back in the class room. It also provides some maturity. We also get to try before we buy, which I love :-). A few years back I hired a Northeastern BS who got great experience at another company. </p>
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For a highly technical position, it’s important, but it’s more important to do well in the areas that you want to work in. I can deal with someone who got Cs in subjects unrelated to what I do but got As in our area. </p>
<p>It’s also important to work on projects and to understand everything about those projects even parts other team members worked on so you can talk about them in an interview. Curiosity is a valuable attribute in an engineer. I love it when I interview someone and they can teach me something from what they did. I like to ask a lot of “why did you do it this way?” questions. When the conversation ends with “well, I didn’t work on that part” or “because my advisor said so”, it’s a turnoff and shows a lack of curiosity. </p>
<p>For other less technical positions, it matters less. A 3.0 from Cornell is not bad and should be highly employable, at least in EE, which is what I know. There will be plenty of recruiters going to Cornell.</p>