I am so close to failing and so close to finishing.

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I am 5th year ChemE major (Graduating in December). I have 7 hours left in my degree, but I am also on academic probation (Major GPA 1.98 / Overall: 2.5). Mainly because of my depression severely impacting my motivation to do anything. Last semester, I finally worked up the courage to speak to a therapist and stuff. It is improving, little by little.

At this point, I am lost as to what to do. Even if I make it out of this degree, odds are that I will have a very tough time finding a job. 2.6 GPA (Max) in ChemE with a job market that looks like… O&G. I am from a Top 10 ChemE program in Texas, but I have seen people with 2.8 and 3.06 struggle to find jobs since last summer. Even though my school boasts a 95%+ employment/grad school rate for engineers, I can’t help but feel I will be left behind, stuck flipping burgers, joining the military, or re-enrolling for another B.S. degree (and shelling out another $50K+).

The best thing on my resume is a part-time lab tech position at a local Fortune 100 company for a good 2 years while I was in school and a summer REU at a decent school.

2

Hate to say it, but you were left behind a while ago. The kind of GPA you have will get you tossed out of many schools I know. Why have you not taken action before this? You will have a hard time finding a job because you really didn’t demonstrate that you learned enough to warrant getting a job in engineering.

Don’t want to be the bad guy but you do need to figure out what your plan B is.

3

I agree with Puck, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Finish your 7 hours and get your degree. The rest is water under the bridge. With that, try to get an engineering job IF you still want to be an engineer. If not, then start thinking about plan B. An Engineer with a law degree can specialize in some interesting stuff. You could get your teaching credential. There’s more I’m sure. My point is quitting now doesn’t really add anything good.

4

Finish up your degree, it is a valuable piece of paper and the GPA is not printed on that.

Look at local employers and others that don’t publish a minimum GPA.

Do whatever it takes to completely recover from the depression … whether that means taking a semester off, travelling (backpacking, camping, resort or park type job), doing volunteer work, whatever.

What will count is finding a job in a company that you like and then working hard and showing that your lower GPA is not due to you being lazy or stupid. Talking about depression may not be a great idea, but you could vaguely mention personal issues that lowered your GPA (I assume) over the last few years.

If you like to work with your hands, or have a tolerance for plant work or field work, or working odd hours, or working part-time or as a contract employee, that should open up more jobs.

ChemEs can also work in fluid, heat transfer type jobs, layout plants other than chem plants, and use their chem knowledge to

Could you take some extra classes that you could get an A in … discuss this with your professors and the department? Would they let you work in the labs, maybe for credit with an A and then for some pay after your graduate? I think at your school you should definitely discuss your issues the last few years and basically ask them for help in completing your degree …

Struggling to find a job is not a lifetime of employment and like I said it would be good to be in top form when you start at your new job. There is also no shame in taking a job to pay your bills …

I think in this field you need to plan a long term strategy. If you have a good job a year from graduation, you are a big winner and no one including your bank account will really remember the struggle to find a job. This implies living frugally, very frugally, maybe with your parents or on someone’s couch, maybe no car, etc. But you are young.

5

Your problem is not just that you have a bad GPA, it is that you are coming on here when there is just about nothing you can do about it. As I see it, you have three choices here, from easiest to hardest:

  1. Continue your descent, get kicked out, and investigate options for returning to school later on.

  2. Do well enough on your last 7 credits to graduate, and struggle mightily to find professional employment or get into another school any time soon. Please note that (decent) universities will be reluctant to admit you for a 2nd degree so soon after barely getting your 1st.

  3. Prolong your current stay in school for a semester or two extra, taking and acing a bunch of courses to raise your GPA and show potential employers that you are serious about being an engineer. Might be enough to get you to the point where you can get a decent starting job with actual advancement opportunities, instead of a dead-ender where you are hired because you’re cheap.

6

It’s way better to finish with a poor GPA than not finish at all. Also, work your way up in the job market, and at some point your GPA will cease to matter. Chin up! You have already gotten way farther than a lot of people. Just do everything you can to finish.