<p>3.5+, with a lot of research experience.</p>
<p>I'd say you need a 3.5 to be certain at most places...I didn't have much engineering research experience and I got into many top 10 places. I had a 3.7 undergrad GPA.</p>
<p>where did you go undergrad?</p>
<p>I went to Marquette University.</p>
<p>i also agree that internships and research experience aid in finding a job, but don't those two require a pretty good GPA? Just wondering.</p>
<p>ya, thats the problem.</p>
<p>k whoever said that companies dont 'hire below 3.0 is a....well uknow what I was going to say. I have known many people with 2.4s and .5s have gotten interships, jobs etc...the bottom line is once the company sees that you can do the work they don't really give a **** about GPA. And engr. students have low gpa anway</p>
<p>I just thought of posting this link. made me feel much better, hopefully should help those out there ina similar situation as i am.</p>
<p>You are right fei. GPA matters but you can totally get a job/internship/research with a low GPA. Who will likely go farther in life, someone with social skills who makes/keeps friends easily with a 2.2 GPA or someone with poor social skills with a 3.8? Ask people who have been in business and they will tell you it's the first guy.</p>
<p>It may also be better to attend a less rigorous school and get a high GPA. While at a rigorous school my GPA was 2.5 and dropped to 2.0 before transferring. When I transferred to a lower tier school my cumulative GPA went to 3.0 to 3.51 to 3.49. I had a 3.8 for one of my semesters. My first two years of school was a waste because I didn't understand anything and most of my exam grades were in the 60% range. I was able to overcome that confusion and get more confidence. Since coming to my current school I have received a lot more opportunities such as research and internships. Many of my classmates have low GPAs and that presents a problem. But some also can't express themsevles very well when giving presentations, interviews, etc. I am not very socially active (don't hang out much, don't really have any good friends, etc.) but I am confident in front of an audience and I can express myself well. Those kinds of skills are great to have in engineering, especially when the profession is stereotyped as having many members who don't have good people skills. But it is weird to see a socially confident person getting nervous when giving presentations to audiences that are mostly made of their friends (i.e. during our lab presentations).</p>
<p>justin, where do you goto school now?</p>
<p>justin, where did you go before transferring?</p>
<p>1st school: Cornell University
Transferred to Youngstown State University. It had a bad reputation in high school for being a crappy school but that is ignorance. It is pretty good. Its focus is on teaching but more and more research is being done on campus and the schools name is started to be recognized on a more national level. A lot of the research in the engineering college is done with grants from companies like Delphi and Parker Hannifin, but we don't have any projects like Robocup. A project that I am working on is related to NASA. The school is very different because many students have jobs outside of school and pay for their own tuition. What I like best is how all of the engineering students are in the same building and we all have close collaboration with our professors on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Justin...sounds like you made a good choice...it's neat that you've seen both sides, a school with a big name and a school that focuses on teaching. I have been at big name research schools and I teach at a smaller one and I'd say that for many students it's better at the smaller schools.</p>
<p>i agree with you guys, i was just turned down for a research internship, they admitted people from community colleges and schools that u have never ever heard of before with SAT averages of 1000. lol, its funny too, cause these people will probably get in better grad school.</p>
<p>Sometimes the logic behind hiring students with lower GPAs and less technical experience (i.e. due to the limitations of the colleges) may be that those students are more willing to learn and work hard. Not saying that a MIT electrical engineer with a 4.0 wouldn't want to do the same, but a former professor of mine said that some very intelligent students act like the already know everything and they are not as easy to work with. But there are always exceptions.</p>