<p>How important really is GPA for internships? I have a 2.9 in the engineering school after my freshman year now. It is terrible. My mom is not happy at all, I am feeling depressed. I sat down and calculated... with 16 credits next semester and if I got a 4.0 in every class, my cumulative gpa would only go up from 2.9 -> 3.3. Talk about a mistake or two that can **** you up for a long time (failed organic chemistry first semester, fully my fault, 8am class i was too exhausted to ever get up cause i slept later, didnt keep up, etc etc). What about for future grad school prospects? I understand med school is likely completely out of the picture for me. But I'm not sure that's the route I wanted anyways. For engineering or business graduate schools, i'm guessing you need at least a 3.5?</p>
<p>someone please help. i'm just feeling a little desperate. i came into college top of the class (35 ACT, top 1% of class of 700, SAT 2240, Eagle Scout, etc, etc.). My mom thinks that now I was actually just a mediocre student (and not actually intelligent) because when it came to real competitiveness, I'm now doing just mediocre.</p>
<p>I'll admit, I couldve tried a lot harder second semester freshman year (after the fail in orgo first semeser put me @ a 2.5GPA), but still. damn.</p>
<p>The same way that they don’t count your freshman year in high school for admissions, I would have to imagine if you did poorly your freshman year in college and well the rest of the time, it shouldn’t be too bad for grad school. I really have no idea, but you’re best off doing your best from now. </p>
<p>And from what people here say, 2.9 would be above average for engineering. An above average student who is then improving should have plenty of opportunities I would think.</p>
<p>Predator, life is not a sprint its a marathon. I can tell you dozens of stories of people who started down a certain path towards a career or a lifestyle, and things didn’t go smoothly right away, but they kept at it and made a success. I have a good friend who started college in the 70s, everyone thought he’d be a doctor, but he got caught up in some political things and left school before he graduated - big failure to his mother etc. -fast forward 25 years and he moved his family back to his college town to begin medical school - just call him Dr. Failure now. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to say that you won’t finish school or that it will take you 25 years to get what you want, I mean to show you that even a big detour can still lead you back to where you want to go. You have had a little bump in the road. You can decide you want to get back into your classes and succeed academically or you can decide you want something else, it is all you. Don’t let a little problem grow into a big one by dwelling on last year - make each day a fulfillment of what you want to be and where you want to get to, so that it will be obvious on your transcript and in your life that you know what you want and you are going for it!</p>
<p>“It’s not how hard you can hit but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward” </p>
<p>You still have 3 more years dude even if you just 3.8 the rest of college you’ll be fine especially for eingineering(i know its spelled wrong). Keep your head up and believe in yourself.</p>
<p>Yeah man. You obviously have some naturally-given cerebral skills, evident from your 35 ACT. Not too many people even have that. That is your advantage. This summer, just begin to clear your mind from the negativity. Turn the “can’ts” into “cans.” You just hit that rough patch in your life, and everyone will. BTW, Swimmer23, your Rocky Balboa quote is very nice.</p>
<p>Predator, I did poorly my first semester at Michigan. I think that this is actually a common occurence among top college students; they party a little too much or underestimate their studies the first year since they were top dog in high school. Don’t worry, now that you’ve adjusted a bit to college life I’m sure you’ll do better in the coming years. A 35 ACT and 2240 SAT shows you’ve got a ton of promise.</p>
<p>Also, a 2.9 engineering GPA is by no means bad. I believe that’s actually around the average GPA of freshmen in CoE. Remember that UMich is a world class university, and you’re in an elite engineering program. Get your GPA to above 3.4 and you should be able to get into decent grad schools.</p>
<p>“Get your GPA to above 3.4 and you should be able to get into decent grad schools.”</p>
<p>Do you know what you are talking about? You dont need a 3.4 to get into a “DECENT” grad school…think about it, a 3.5 GUARANTEES you a spot in an accelerated graduate program at an ELITE engineering school by the name of university of michigan college of engineering (SGUS program), and plenty of people get an exception into SGUS with a 3.4+. So 3.4+ gives you a shot at an ELITE engineering grad program, not DECENT. *THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS MASTERS IN FINANCIAL ENGINEERING which offers no SGUS…</p>
<p>unless your idea of elite = MIT and Caltech and the rest are decent… then I see your point</p>
<p>anyway to OP, you are in a bad situation now. Get your GPA up to a 3.0+ ASAP. Most internships listings specify they need a 3.0+, and sometimes those HR droids just toss away your resume because you dont meet that criteria in the preliminary screening… sometimes they even use computer programs to do that, then you are out of luck. So get it up to 3.0 at least. :)</p>
<p>bearcats… a 3.5 does not guarantee you a spot in SGUS. You need to be admitted through the program as well as through rackham. You need a 3.5 to apply for SGUS. However, you are right about the internship. Internships usually want a 3.0 and some will ask for a 3.5.</p>
<p>Predator. Just a couple pointers on doing better next semester. First off, do not stress over exams. Many professors will tell you that stressing during exams will trigger stupid mistakes, which in the meticulous engineering school, is costly. Secondly, Im assuming you are pursuing a degree in chemical engineering [given that you have taken Organic Chemistry]. You may want to consider changing your major since it seems you are troubled by the chemistry and you’ll be taking a lot of chemistry if you are chem E.
For a future in graduate school, you may want to consider taking a relaxing 13-15 credits per semester and graduating in 5 years.This will help your gpa and allow you to focus on your current courses. Try not to rush courses and get them into your schedule simply because you want to raise your gpa as fast as possible. Also, get involved in an engineering club. This will help focus your attention on academia as well as broaden your knowledge and help your resume for internships and etc. If your looking into business graduate school, perhaps pick up a minor in entrepreneurship. Overall, I guess what I am saying is to stop being so tense about your situation and to get back on track without too much worry. Michigan is a competitive university but if you focus on academics for the next couple years, you can definitely get into a great graduate program.</p>
<p>It’s how you present yourself. I got an internship this summer at a start up firm (marketing and stuff) and now i am running part of it as a full time job. I’m not a business student either - poli sci. My gpa went into the *****ter this semester too. Family and personal reasons but i still managed to beat out 2 kids from ross, a wharton kid and some from Cornell. So yes with grad school grades do matter - in reality the presentation you put forth shows a lot as well. Account for your mistakes and do your best to fix it. THat is really what life tends to give and take.</p>
<p>"a 3.5 does not guarantee you a spot in SGUS. You need to be admitted through the program as well as through rackham. You need a 3.5 to apply for SGUS. However, you are right about the internship. Internships usually want a 3.0 and some will ask for a 3.5.
"</p>
<p>ask any program advisor and they’ll tell you it’s a lock once you get the program advisor approval, which is automatic at 3.5+. It’s just standard procedure (you need to fill out rackham app and be approved by rackham. It’s like people getting admitted to the architectural program still need to be approved by the general admissions office)…by the way it’s 3.5 cumulative and 3.5 major. </p>
<p>the one that you might not get in even if you meet the requirement is EGL.</p>
<p>Yes bearcats, I know what I’m talking about. I was not referring to the SGUS program when I say 3.4 is needed to get into a decent school, I meant applying to other schools like Purdue for a masters. Most of the SGUS programs require a 3.5, not a 3.4 - there’s a significant difference. However, this does not mean that anyone outside of UM can easily can into a masters program with a 3.4 or 3.5; UM CoE does SGUS as a favor to its own undergrads.</p>
<p>I agree however, that 3.5 will give you access to most of the SGUS programs at Michigan.</p>
<p>ya i remember BME only required 3.2, i actually knew people who didn’t have exactly 3.2 who somehow got in as well, i knew folks with 3.2-3.4 who got in Berkeley/Stanford. </p>
<p>I was in almost exactly the same situation freshman year, I failed organic chemistry my first term as well, you need to realize that standardized test scores mean squat, you are not any smarter or less smart than the majority of the students in COE. You sound like you have a work ethic issue adjusting to college, just work at it, and realize that you have to study a lot more to do well, and this is the truest thing i ever heard someone tell me, in essence that is, getting an A is NOT a lot harder than getting a B in engineering, which isn’t a lot harder than getting a C. </p>
<p>GPA is really important, but you can get great jobs coming out of UM engineering with a pretty bad gpa too, but if you don’t have at least a 2.9, you’ll have to fight really hard for internships.</p>
<p>Note that I said most programs are 3.2. Predator, if you want to do a BME masters at UM, then I don’t see what you’re worried about. 3.2 is definitely achievable. However, keep in mind that BME and polymer science are just about the only 3.2 SGUS options…Plus you said you’re also interested in business, so something tells me you may not want to do BME after graduation. If you just finished freshman year, you have plenty of time to get your GPA up.</p>
<p>According to that you can do Financial Engineering SGUS from IOE, or atleast that’s how I interpreted it. </p>
<p>“There are several reasons why students pursue the IOE Masters degree. Some students use it as the first step toward the IOE Ph.D. degree. Other students pursue the 30 credit-hour Masters degree to expand their knowledge base in order to enhance their qualifications for professional engineering careers. Among this group, most students select Masters courses in order to specialize in one or two of the following areas:
Engineering Management
Ergonomics/Safety Financial Engineering
Operations Research
Production/Manufacturing Systems
Statistical Decision Making/Quality Engineering”</p>
<p>Would what you get not be the same as a Masters in Financial Engineering or what? I’m a little confused by it because they say on their website that a Financial Engineering degree is 39 credits ( [Master</a> of Science in Financial Engineering at Michigan Engineering](<a href=“http://financialeng.engin.umich.edu/about.html]Master”>http://financialeng.engin.umich.edu/about.html) ) but the SGUS says only 30. It also doesn’t mention SGUS on their website.</p>
<p>bearcats and elixrs, sorry I haven’t been keeping up with this thread. Yes, I am BME. I am also interested in the idea of starting a company in the future. I’m not exactly sure what path to follow with this, other than a BME major. I want to do the Entreprenreurship Certificate (through CoE) and taking Econ401 this fall (as a sophmore) to work towards an econ minor? I dunno… any advice from you guys?</p>
<p>And thanks again for all the encouraging words. I am doing a lot better since the time i originally posted this. I guess I just forgot my strengths. I just need to throw in some hard work and focus and I think I’ll be solid.</p>
<p>qwertykey… short answer… no you cant. I already asked my advisor… i was wondering about the same thing…but i really dont want to repeat the long explanation. </p>
<p>Bearcats, what’s the difference between the thing they offer for SGUS and the Financial Engineering program, other than 9 credits (or 3 if you don’t double count, as it’s 6 double counted).</p>