<p>I know a third year student who is at a top engineering school and is upset because the possibility of landing an internship is small because of a low gpa (2.7). This student is upset because had their chosen major been math, business, finance, or economics their gpa would have been around 3.5 and internships would be possible. Can anybody help me guide this student?</p>
<p>Just a little history...
The student goes to a school far from his home and had a tough first semester (2.2gpa). The student excels in math.</p>
<p>I think said student would have a better chance of landing an internship if s/he applies to smaller places who are less selective with no GPA requirement and definitely unpaid. It would be helpful if said student also writes a CV or interest letter with a short paragraph that explains his circumstances with the low GPA.</p>
<p>I do not think all hope is lost, but the possibility is just low. Maybe student can also re-take certain classes s/he got a low grade in to raise the GPA, if possible, to land secure an internship in the fall of his/her fourth year.</p>
<p>I would not take classes over. Just work harder going forward. Hopefully he learned the hard lesson about consequences of letting grades slip.</p>
<p>First, engineering majors are judged against other engineering majors as are business majors. If everyone is getting lower grades because it is engineering then fine, he is not judged against business majors. It is self defeating thinking to be imaging how great the gpa would be if only… if wishes were fishes he’d have a good fry. Why wouldn’t that hard year have affected a business class less than an engineering class? That is a bitter self defeating mind set and if he is going to go around with a chip on his shoulder maybe he is better off switching to a business major and dazzle with his gpa.</p>
<p>Now that I have that off my chest. Tell us more about the situation and what year he is. He is looking for an internship now? For working during the school year or next summer?</p>
<p>One thing he can do is focus on building a resume. He should talk to some professors about being a research assistant or working on a project during the semester. This can also lead to good reference letters, and may lead to paid summer research work. He can also apply for REU’s but those are competitive too.</p>
<p>See if he can do volunteer work with organizations such as Engineers without Borders.</p>
<p>He should look for lower profile employers and less desirable locations. And cast a wide net, send a lot of resumes.</p>
It’s very difficult to raise a GPA in the third year. At 2.2, I assume the student has failed some classes or received a lot of C’s. Since OP said student’s first semester was tough, I’ll jump to the assumption that it would be mostly GE classes to retake and that the situation could be explained since many students have a tough first semester.</p>
<p>It would be easier to raise the GPA to a decent ~3.0 by retaking classes than trying to land all A’s for the next few semesters (based on the assumption that the student’s school completely replaces grades when s/he takes them a second time). From what I can see, engineering is becoming a very competitive field.</p>
<p>But I definitely second with BrownParent’s advice on volunteering. A great way to lead into an internship, possibly paid. </p>
<p>By chance, is student in Computer Engineering?</p>
<p>Well if the low grades were in GE classes that is good, because he can list his major class gpa as well and that will help. But I don’t think this is the case since he boasts how great his gpa would be if he didn’t have an engineering major.</p>
<p>Different engineering majors will be in different situations. 2.7 in EECS is doable. It might be harder than if he had a higher GPA but if he applies widely there’s a good chance he’ll get something. A 2.7 in Civil, that’s going to be difficult.</p>
<p>Tell him to keep applying and don’t be discouraged when he gets mostly rejections. He only needs one acceptance to have something, and he might really like it.</p>
<p>If small firms exist that are taking interns of his major in the area (Could easily be in something like EECS, probably not going to be in something like Aero) tell him to start there. If they’re small firms they may not have internship programs set up, but if he sends an email or two, they might consider him.</p>
<p>The first thing to do is for the student to come to the realization that a 2.7 doesn’t doom them from an internship or a job. At a lot of colleges half of the class in the particular engineering major will be at 2.7 or below and somehow almost all of them seem to get jobs in their major area.</p>
<p>This student needs to lift up his/her head, be happy they’re not in the bottom end of the class (I assume - they’re probably right around the middle - varies by major and college), be proud of what they accomplished, and start applying at companies who don’t impose an automatic GPA cutoff of applicants (the companies that won’t even look at an app if the GPA is < 3.0, which is a mistake on their part IMO). It’s not just small companies who don’t impose this cutoff - some larger companies don’t as well.</p>
<p>Nothing ventured nothing gained. The student should not be their own worst enemy by self-limiting because of the GPA. Just start applying and see what results. Also - sometimes a student can connect somewhat with a prof and a prof might have some recommendations. A lot of engineering profs are active in private industry as well (including sometimes owning their own companies) and might have some contacts. This can be especially true if the student happened to do well in a particular course despite the overall GPA.</p>
<p>Now get out there and give it the good old college try!</p>
<p>There are several REU sites in the engineering disciplines that have no official minimum GPA. Going from there, employers will certainly notice a student whom has REU experience. It’s no guarantee but having an REU on your resume is definitely as asset.</p>
<p>Just do a search of the National Science Foundation REU programs or go directly to individual university web sites to find out if they will operate a Summer 2014 REU. And by all means, confer with the university placement office, now!</p>
<p>We have a friend who’s S was an EE major and graduated last spring with a GPA of 2.8 because of some difficulty his freshman year. He had internships the last two summers with a professor at his college and decided to apply to grad school during his senior year. He ended up only applying to 2 grad school programs and did not get accepted with his GPA.</p>
<p>There is good news to this story. He moved back home after graduation and applied to companies around town and landed a job at a very good company as an entry level EE. His plan is to get some work experience over the next 2-3 years then apply to grad school.</p>
<p>Student himself should go to his school’s career center and discuss internship opportunities, and discuss same with his professors. Internships often result from business connections of professors themselves, in addition to firms that come to recruit. Since engineering majors often face lower than average GPAs, and engineering and industrial firms are fully aware of that issue, I suspect that student will find an internship if he does some legwork to help himself.</p>
<p>Another idea for resume building is to join a project oriented club such as Robotics Club. My daughter did that and got experience on a research project, a publication, a trip to the international robotics competition. All good stuff for the resume. Plus a good letter of recommendation from the professor/mentor for the club.</p>
<p>If he can work for a professor during the year that might also help. In addition, he might want to have his GPA listed in a way that emphasizes an improving trend.</p>
<p>It is unfortunately that in engineering there is this 3.0 line students are supposed to cross to get internships. I agree talking with the schools career center as a good place to start as they will have names of alumni who may consider offering an internship. </p>
<p>I would not spend time seeking REUs. I have following postings here on cc and they are very frustrating to wait to hear from, sometimes lose funding so drop the spots available and are notoriously bad at letting students know if they are not chosen making it pretty late to look for other summer opportunities. </p>
<p>He can seek out unpaid internships by offering his availability to smaller less competitive companies. I would even suggest advertising in the craigslist that he is looking for internship and post some type of short resume and area of interest there.</p>
<p>I can’t dispute Lakemom’s (no relation, LOL) experience but my son’s REU endeavor was quite positive all the way around. His strategy was to dispassionately select a specific set of REUs to apply to. We heard back from all in a timely manner except one. End of story is that he had a great time, learned a lot. It will definitely be an asset when he applies for a job.</p>
<p>Yes, REUs are not perpetual, some schools that offered them last year will not repeat their program in the next year, because the funding ran out, etc. Still, there are dozens of REUs every year.</p>
<p>S/he has lower grades in chemistry, physics and computer science (C+), higher grades in math classes (B and B+), highest grades in economics and writing classes (B+ and A). The first semester s/he had one D(computer programming). Thankfully s/he never failed a class.</p>
<p>BrownParent you make a good point, s/he could have worked harder. </p>
<p>I have noticed that the classes with the highest grades are math, econ, and writing. This appears where the student’s strength lies. My thoughts… as a math major with a finance or econ minor might have been a better choice.</p>
<p>I always persuaded the student to remain in engineering because I thought the job prospects would be better. I never realized that a high gpa is the most important attribute when trying to secure an internship.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the help. I have forwarded this information to the student.</p>
<p>That’s probably true. But at many schools it would be easier to get good grades in econ and writing. There tends to be A LOT of homework required for chem, physics and comp sci.</p>
<p>Yes I agree chem, comp sci, and physics are much more demanding.</p>
<p>I now understand why many do not major in engineering, it is a gpa killer. The smarter choice for this student would have been to major in math with a minor in finance or econ which have resulted in a much higher gpa. Internship prospects would have been greater.</p>
<p>Hopefully everything will work out okay and thanks for all the suggestions.</p>