<p>I was an idiot my first few years of college. I could have worked harder and I would be fine now, but I didn't. Here's what I've done so far. I was lazy and unmotivated (not anymore). </p>
<p>I'm expecting 3.7+ gpa for my last 3 semesters, a 3.5 major gpa, and a 3.0 cumulative GPA by graduation. I will have participated in several organizations by then. </p>
<p>Electrical Engineering
Semester 1 - 2.6 GPA
Semester 2 - 2.8 GPA
Semester 3 - .7 GPA - Chemical engineering
Semester 4 - .6 GPA - Switched to electrical
Dropped out for a semester, got readmitted right after
Semester 5 - 2.7 GPA
Semester 6 - 1.43 GPA (This last fall)
Semester 7 - ??
Semester 8 - ??
Semester 9 - ??</p>
<p>I plan on graduating next spring, but I have no internships, no involvement outside of class, etc. Can anyone please tell me what has to be done in order to improve a LOT in the next 1.5 years before I apply for jobs? If a genius got a hold of my body, what would he do in this situation? I'm willing to put forth as much effort as it takes..</p>
<p>I think it’s a little pre-mature to say you are expecting a 3.7+ GPA for your final 3 semesters when your previous highest semester GPA is nearly a whole point below that.</p>
<p>You need to focus on your studies. Even if you found some way to get tons of involvement in EE, a 2.0 will not get you anywhere.</p>
<p>The general consensus seems to be that if you’re above a 3.0 by the time you graduate, you should be getting pretty good offers. This is what I’ve read from others who have been in similar situations. You could also try for that 3.0 and then apply to grad school where employers will pay more attention to your grad school GPA, and if you feel that you can do that, then that’s also a feasible option.</p>
<p>Well employers will think that you either aren’t smart or don’t apply yourself with scores like that. So you would need to prove to them that you excel in the other areas… then you can try and explain your GPA. So I would start by making sure I can blow away all my interviews and prove that I have some of the best personal skills out there. If you can show that your an outstanding people person then they may very well over look your GPA.<br>
I would also try and get an intern or something before graduation. I don’t know how easy that will be with your GPA. I would assume their are GPA requirements but I dunno. </p>
<p>Point im making is your GPA is pretty shot even if you do well on those few semesters left(which in itself will be hard. As someone pointed out, jumping a whole point won’t be so easy). So you must show that every other criteria of your resume is outstanding and then there is a decent chance there will be one employer or two who overlooks GPA.</p>
<p>Basically you need to keep your motivation up and do as well as you can for the time you have left. Unlike the previous poster, I would definately not advise you to live it up now and worry about it later - that’s really bad advice. If you can have fun and do well that’s one thing, but college is not a multi-thousand dollar party. </p>
<p>In any case, you need to focus on hitting at least a 2.5 GPA by the time you enter your final semester if you want to have any chance at finding a job before you graduate. In all honesty you’re almost certainly not going to find an internship with until you can bring it up substantially - so try to get a summer job doing something related to the industry you want to get into. If you’re EE, focus on things like electrical work - at least something that shows you’re trying.</p>
<p>And network like hell. Hit all of th job fairs, go to the info sessions, talk to friends, relatives, etc…</p>
<p>On top of what I said earlier, spend a considerable amount of time refining your resume. Do not list your GPA. Some people don’t like this advice, but I stand by it. My brother never listed his in college even though it was above a 3.0, they never asked. He landed a job paying 67K… Like another poster said, it will help considerably if you have some personality - hopefully you didn’t just goof off playing video games and actually developed some people skills over the last few years - if this is the case you’ll end up alright one way or another. Get some leadership positions under your belt asap.</p>
<p>“Unlike the previous poster, I would definately not advise you to live it up now and worry about it later - that’s really bad advice”</p>
<p>Where’d that come from? I never said that. I guess the “your GPA is pretty shot” could be interpreted as that but thats NOT what I meant. I had no intentions of saying give up because of the .6 and .7 GPA. </p>
<p>Or were you referencing bigtrees?</p>
<p>Giving up… thats not my message. Improve other areas to counter the low GPA. That is. </p>
<p>Can someone tell me what grad school admissions are like right out of undergrad? The reason I ask is because I was thinking about Johns Hopkins for a masters in Systems Engineering and besides having around 5 yrs of relevant work experience, they only care about your last two years of schooling as an undergrad.</p>
<p>If you can get a 3.7+ for the last 3 semesters, tied in with what you did since being readmitted, and have a high scores on the graduate exams, you might be able to get into a decent grad school, provided they only really focus on your latter half of undergrad studies. I know if you had 5 yrs of relevant work experience you could get a masters from Hopkins provided that your gpa was 3.0+ for the last two years of your bachelor.</p>
<p>The important thing to consider here is that you probably have eliminated yourself from finding the work/pay that you originally thought would accompany your B.S. degree. The odds are certainty against you with respect to finding a job that meets your interest both work-wise and pay-wise. Your first 5 yrs out of school are very important to your career because they dictate how you fit into “Looking for experience in XXX with XX yrs of experience.” Obviously if you have crummy jobs you’ll stray farther and farther away from what you learned in school and the types of jobs you could realistically land.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that the traditional grad school path isn’t a option (i.e your first 4 semesters crushed any chances) and your best bet would be to get relevant work experience for a graduate work program that only looks at the latter 2 yrs of undergrad. If you could get this far and get high graduate marks, you’d be back in business.</p>
<p>That just doesn’t happen man, thats not how the education system works. Unless you are really smart or find connections to help you through the course material you cannot do that.<br>
I am very similar to you in that I have a cumulative gpa of 2.81 in EE and I did very poorly one semester myself. But Even I knew I could never bounce back with 3.7 gpas its unheard of. Engineering is a very difficult major but with a WHOLE year under 1.0 you’ll be lucky if you get past 2.5. THATS WHY engineering is considered a difficult major, and the "average seems to be around 3.0, because people do fail and do do bad. Its not like your typing up journalism papers, that are graded subjectively. </p>
<p>and if you can’t get past 2.5 man and you need to change your major to something easier there is NO SHAME in that. You should be proud that you went to college and did your best.</p>
<p>I find this rather offensive - I hardly put any effort into those 3 poor semesters, had I gone all out and still obtained such grades then I would agree. However, studying as much as I do now I’m confident I can obtain said grades. And yes I realize it’s not the time put in but the quality, and I DO know how to study for engineering courses, I was just too lazy earlier on. </p>
<p>And pretty much my last 3 semesters are all ECE courses… if I do obtain 3.7+ for these last 3 semesters that would be extremely impressive, and I am looking to get involved in projects as well. My major GPA would definitely be above 3.5…</p>
<p>So you are saying that you spent 3 semesters wasting your time and money being “lazy”. If you put it that way, then yes you screwed yourself over because that kind of excuse is not what any employer would want to hear (so best keep that to yourself). It would be more respectable to make poor grades giving 100% effort in my opinion.</p>
<p>Respectable, yes. Good for his future? Maybe not, if he could turn it around. Which he is.</p>
<p>The important thing is, boiler, that you don’t let anything get you down. Work your freakin ass off to do well in your classes, that’s all that matters. Worry about what you can do, everything else you can figure out later.</p>
<p>however, I have stuck to what I said earlier. I’m studying as hard as I can, not missing any assignments and trying to think as an engineer. I have made plans to work over summer and pay for summer school, in which I’m taking an upper level course so I can advance in coursework. </p>
<p>I’ve made plans in terms of projects as well, and my grades are definitely picking up… realistically I’m confident that I can expect at 3.5+ this semester. </p>
<p>Honestly my last 3 semesters are pretty much all upper level ECE courses. </p>
<p>If I failed earlier on in lower level engineering courses but I retook them and excelled in those, as well as upper level, do you guys honestly think an employer wouldn’t overlook my past?</p>