How can I transition from a B.S. Applied Math degree to an electrical engineering career?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

I am begging for advice from anyone who knows about the field. I feel like I’m going insane constantly thinking about this and trying to find a way to make it work.

My background/situation:

In terms of academics, my OVERALL GPA is slightly above a 3.0 (i screwed up big time in community college but got my act together after transferring and have a 3.7 at my university). I am attending an okay state school.

In terms of coding languages, I know how to program C, C++, C#, and MATLAB.

In terms of clubs, I am part of SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Math) and I recently joined a Power and Energy Society Club which in which I am helping building a Solar Tracker project on a team of engineers as I am learning how to work Arduino.

I have NO internship/research experience as everyone has rejected me on the basis of my overall GPA and transcripts (like I said, my community college record hurts me).

So overall, I realistically have two options: 1. Go to Graduate school for engineering (I have researched this route and it greatly concerns me that I won’t have enough experience after graduation to make me employable) 2. Pursue a 2nd bachelor’s degree in Electrical engineering. I am mostly concerned about the time I have to invest as at my school, it takes at least 2 1/2 years to complete the curriculum (I will have all the GE requirements completed already). My parents have been pushing me to graduate already and get a job so I don’t know how viable this is.

I am wondering if there is a third option where I could possibly work in the industry of electrical/electronics engineering to get my foot in the door and maybe take classes on the side to supplement knowledge. I heard that with enough experience, you can apply for an Engineering License.

2

I would recommend getting a Master’s over a double major. Your problem, for both grad school and employment, is you have a low GPA. 3.0 is close to the minimum to get into most grad schools(the elite schools want to see a lot higher than a 3.0) or get hired at a lot of employers.

3

But the problem is that I was told by professors who worked in the industry that employers wanted higher degree employees that have experience. I won’t have that experience if I transition directly into grad school since i dont have a B.S. in engineering.

4

There are internships available to grad students. Or if you’re being funded, a RA provides experience. Going to grad school and getting experience aren’t mutually exclusive.