<p>Son is deciding between Tech and Purdue OOS on both, looking to major in Aerospace. He was lucky enough to receive the Provost Scholarship at Tech and the Emerging Leader Scholarship at Purdue. Both are valued the same the difference is that he needs to maintain 3.0 GPA to maintain the Provost while in Purdue they require a minimum 2.75 GPA.</p>
<p>We had a bad experience with S1 where he lost a sizeable scholarship because he dropped below 3.0 GPA and the school didn't give him the opportunity to bring it up the next semester. It was yanked right away. Does TPurdue has the same policy? one and done?</p>
<p>Secondly we are thinking on how the GPA minimum correlate. I found this info on grade inflation in the internet.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech</p>
<p>Note: 1972-1990 data were adjusted upward by regression to match GPAs for subsequent years </p>
<p>Well, this kind of tell us that a 2.75 at Purdue is about equivalent to a 3.0 at Georgia Tech. If anything 3.0 at Tech is more doable than in Purdue. Seems llike there is no mercy at Purdue, LOL. Is that the general sentiment, reality? In a recent visit I heard that 2.80 was the average for engineering.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong I think my son will do well at Purdue but you always have to plan for the worst and work for the best. At the end it is what the student puts in that will devide the outcome.</p>
<p>I would say if he was a strong student in HS and has a good work ethic he can be successful at either school. Purdue is known for not inflating grades. Purdue is a reasonably selective school to be admitted into their engineering program. They are less selective in admitting those in other majors. Engineering, whether, at Purdue or GT is going to require hardwork and discipline. My guess is that if he can be successful at GT he can be successful at Purdue. IMHO the student that will likely have trouble is the student for whom everything was easy in HS and who never had to work to get good grades. Going to either school without the proper motivation and study habits will be a recipe for real struggle. Good luck.</p>
<p>^^
I completely agree with all of the points made in lvvcsf’s post. Maturity and work ethic are key to success in Purdue’s engineering program.</p>
<p>My son is in his third year of Aerospace. He, too, had narrowed down his final choices between GT with a merit scholarship and Purdue with a merit scholarship, and was OOS for both. We told him that if he lost his scholarship, the financial difference would be on him. He has maintained his GPA (and scholarship) while being a member of Varsity Crew for 3 years and working a very small campus job…but it has required many, many late nights and the ability to say no to parties and gaming when assignments are due or exams are around the corner.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I might PM you tonight. I’ll be interested to hear how you guys went thru the decision process between these 2 great schools.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you have decided yet. I just thought I would chime in. I just graduated from AAE (Fall 2013) and had a great experience at Purdue. It is without a doubt a lot of hard work (allnighters and sacrificed weekends are pretty much a requirement). Effort and maturity, like SillyRabbit said, mean much more than intelligence. I was exactly the type of student Ivvcsf described and the first semester was a trainwreck for me. In HS, I was third in a class of over three hundred, 2100+ SAT, 5’s on APs, the works. And I ended my first semester at Purdue with a 2.8 because I had never had to work for anything before. Purdue kicks that mentality out of you very quickly.</p>
<p>Which brings me to an important point. I didn’t have the same scholarship you mentioned, but in general, Purdue evaluates the student’s eligibility at the end of the academic year, not every semester. I would have been toast if they’d checked after my first semester, since I needed a 3.0 to keep mine. </p>
<p>And grade inflation, or lack thereof, is a source of frustration for most of us at Purdue. That average gpa sounds about right. Still, Purdue makes up for it by providing great opportunities to get internships, CoOps, and research jobs.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you’re still trying to decide, then I’d be happy to answer any questions. </p>
<p>Sijit, do you think that lower avg. GPA hurts Purdue grads in job and/or internship, CoOp recruitment when comparing to other top engineering school GPAs that may be higher? My S is deciding between Purdue and Michigan Aero. Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t have exact numbers, so I can only say from observation. I wouldn’t say we were at a disadvantage. Almost everyone around me had had an engineering internship/CoOp by the time we graduated. And most of the people that are struggling to find a job now are those that have a lower gpa AND are uncompromising about where they work (they only apply to SpaceX, Boeing, etc.). They ignore great opportunities at smaller/ lesser known companies. Or they underestimate the effort that anyone these days needs to put in to get a good job.</p>
<p>Purdue has a lot of internal job fairs and CoOp recruiting events, so if you participate in those, it seems you are judged based on your performance relative to other Purdue students. Purdue is a favorite recruiting school for some big name companies like GE, Boeing, and Rolls Royce, and those companies know how to interpret our uninflated GPAs. So I think that the connections Purdue has to industry outweigh whatever influence the lower GPAs might have.</p>
<p>It is very possible to get a good GPA at Purdue. I ended with over a 3.5. Compared to some of the folks on here, that might seem a little shabby, but every employer I’ve talked to so far has complimented me on it, so it can’t be that dreadful If your S is dedicated to their work and seeks extra help when they need it, they’ll will do just fine.</p>
<p>Lastly, another thing your S might want to look at is the course offerings. I know it can be daunting, since, as a freshman, I’d have no idea what half those titles were about, but it could help with the decision. I wanted to do astro (space) and Purdue had way more astro based classes than I saw at GaTech or Michigan (might not be that case now since that was seven years ago). Also, if your S knows what subfield of aero they’re interested in
(aerodynamics, structures, rocket propulsion, etc.) then it might be a good idea to see which school offers more courses on that topic. I’d be happy to try and answer any questions about classes.</p>
<p>Either way, both are great schools, and I’m sure your S will learn a lot.</p>
<p>Just going to chime in, getting a 3.0+ gpa is highly doable. I currently have a 3.92 gpa in civil engineering, and a 5 term coop. As long as you go to class, work hard and don’t make excuses, you’re better than average. </p>
<p>Most companies know about Purdue and it’s reputation. Especially since our job fairs draw in so many companies. As long as your resume isn’t just your gpa, you should be ok.</p>
<p>I’m just seconding everything sijit has said really.</p>
<p>Thanks sijit and seirsly for your insights. Hearing from current students and recent grads is always helpful. Sijit, my S is worried about the job market if he does Aero. How did you and your fellow classmates fare with the job search in general. Did most land jobs in the aero industry?</p>
<p>Well, the aerospace industry is cyclical. Some years they are hiring a lot of people, and other years it is scarce, so it’s hard to say where it will be at when your S graduates. It’s a little tough at the moment, but that’s for all aeros. Most people I graduated with that have a decent (above 3.0) GPA and a good resume (internships, undergrad research, TAs, etc.) have a job in or related to aero. </p>
<p>CoOps/internships are probably the best way to secure a job before you actually graduate. That is how many of my friends got their jobs. Makes sense, since the company has had 1-4 years to get to know you as you go through your rotations. </p>
<p>That is something your S will want to get started on early. I kind of shot myself in the foot with that since I didn’t do that well my first semester. So here’s a piece of advice for your S if they’re planning on doing aero:</p>
<p>Do awesome the first semester. I know that, especially as a high achieving HS student, it can be tempting to overload on a lot of difficult courses. Don’t do that. It’s a good idea to take it easy the first couple of semesters and get a good idea of the courseload you’ll be comfortable with. And get a good GPA. Purdue has a great CoOp program that recruits after the first semester. If you end your first semester with a 3.5+, you’ll stand a good chance of landing the coveted 5 rotation CoOp with a company like Rolls-Royce or GE. Or we have a handful of people that got a 4.0 their first semester and they got a NASA CoOp. Some of these folks ended college with a GPA just above a 3.0 and they still got job offers from NASA, so making connections early is important. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the insights it is very comforting to hear and helpful. S is visiting Purdue in 2 weeks to be part of the Engineering Preview and Destination Purdue. This is will be his last visit before he decides. We have some questions about the scholarship that we are hoping to get answers too.</p>
<p>One question, the scholarship is coming with a automatic acceptance to the honors college. I wonder if this adds an unnecessary work load and threfore end up with a more difficult first year than you described above. If you are doing engineering is it worth it to do honors college or if this is asking for more trouble? He really likes to be involved with EPICS and the Global Engineering program if possible and at the the Global is not compatible with honors from what we read.</p>
<p>BTW, I think that the 5 term coop is a great advantage. I wish more schools would work on that too.</p>
<p>I was accepted into the honors program, did it for one semester, and just kinda dropped out. Taking honors classes was no problem, but there aren’t really honors courses once you get into upper level sophomore- senior classes. That means you have to make an honors contract and do extra work/ research/ projects on top of the average class. Since my scheduling was already pretty tight as a 5 term co-op, I didn’t want to bother with it. But as far as for the first year, I don’t think it’ll be too much more difficult.</p>
<p>I will whole heartedly recommend EPICS. I did EPICS 101 and 102 (freshman member, 1 and 2 credits respectively) my first year. Put my EPICS work on my resume, and employers loved it. I will attribute all of my job fair success to EPICS. Just make sure you get put in a project or group that is relevant to you and your major/ job search. </p>
<p>If you like how the 5 term co-op sounds, but your child/ you aren’t 100% convinced, you can also wait till sophomore year and do the 3-term co-op. A lot of freshmen don’t like the commitment of a 5-term co-op, or they don’t really know what major they want to do. </p>
<p>Yea, I second everything about EPICS. It’s a great program. I do think that you have to have one semester under your belt before you register though.</p>
<p>As for the honors program, there’s a few. There’s the university honors program that you participate in all four years. I didn’t do it, so I can’t comment. Then there’s First Year Engineering Honors, which I did and recommend. It comes with an optional learning community, which your S should do if he is considering the program. It does make for a harder first semester, since the honors version to Introduction to Innovation (or whatever they’re calling the intro engineering class now) is substantially harder than the regular one. That being said, that class also helps to prepare you for the weed out classes that will come in sophomore year, so ultimately, I think it is a good tradeoff. One thing I would do, and I recommend this whether your S does honors or not, is make your first semester courseload a little easy. That way there’s time to get adjusted to college and the increased workload. It is better to have a courseload that could have been a little harder, than take one that results in a bad GPA that you will spend the next several semesters making up for.</p>
<p>And if your S decides against the CoOp, internships are also a great way to get experience without the commitment. Many companies, like the one I interned for, predictably offer return internships to students that do well.</p>
If your S is dedicated to their work and seeks extra help when they need it, they’ll will do just fine.</p>