<p>meh a friend got a job w/ microsoft with under a 3.4 ....</p>
<p>this is hilarious... Michigan is not top 5 at all. HYPMS is top 5.</p>
<p>Simple reason.... you are competing with people like my sister, who went to UMichigan and got a 3.87. Prestigious colleges are not overrated...it's your all about your GPA.</p>
<p>I too graduated from a top 5 engineering college with a fairly low (close to the original posters') GPA. I found a very good job though with little effort. The trick was to identify a nitch that certain employers would really find appealing for their area, but not many students focus on. Has been many years since I graduated college, but as someone who now frequently recruites engineers for his employer I can safely say the concept still applies. For example, I am employed in the nuclear power industry. When recruiting electrical engineers at a college, it's amazing how many students are focused on the exciting, state of the art fields such as communications (as in cell phones), computers, etc. They are a dime a dozen. But just try to find someone who is truly interested in the decades old tried and true field of electrical distribution (circuit breakers, switchgear, breaker and load coordination, fault protection, power transformers, etc.), especially if they have taken a few courses on those topics demonstrating real interest. They are worth their weight in gold. Plus much of this equipment is being updated in the plants with new technology. Makes the field not quite so outdated. If I am lucky enough to find an engineering student that fits the bill, I jump at the chance regardless of the GPA. (I take that back. I suppose if it were less than a 2.5, I still might have some reservations.)</p>
<p>Hey, now, just because an engineering school isn't in the top 5 doesn't make it a "bad" school. Any ABET-accredited institution isn't half bad, and employers know it. If you can't muster a major GPA of 3.0 or better (forget classes like English, history, etc) then perhaps the employers are justified? I know this will be an unpopular post, but accreditation boards exist for a reason... to ensure graduates know enough about a core set of information. Ideally, if you know as much as your buddies who went to less-well-ranked schools, you should have the same gpa in major courses. Of course, in the real world, classes might be a little more demanding at the nicer unis, but you sort of brought that on yourself, no? Employers like ambition, but they prefer people who can follow through on it.</p>
<p>had i read this thread last year, i probably would have switched major. i'm also from UMich, junior (class standing) with a borderline 3 GPA in engin. OP's situation is totally depressing. most desirable internships have a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 or higher. looks like i'll most likely end up with some less desirable company or even being unemployed after graduation. </p>
<p>wow, after all this grief...graduation might just become the beginning of unemployment.</p>
<p>Bump, I'd like to hear more even though this is old. Perhaps GPA does play a major role in job hiring and prestige plays much less?</p>
<p>I know exactly where the OP is coming from on this issue. When I was Junior Chemical Engineer I had a GPA of a 2.5 and was attending my first career fair. It is a very very frustrating process when dealing with recruiters who's first question is, "What's your GPA?" You know immediately that your resume is being tossed into the "trash" pile and you felt you wasted the recruiter's time. I was very fortunate to get a paid internship that summer because GPA was not a concern to the company but even during my senior year it was still very difficult to get hired with a less than 3.0 GPA. I had great experience but because my GPA was not up to par I would not be considered. </p>
<p>The only solution I feel is NETWORKING. </p>
<p>I was able to maintain very good relations with many recruiters during my time in college who knew I had a less than desirable GPA but over time they felt that my experience out weighed my low GPA and was able to get me interviews that I normally would not have been able to get.</p>
<p>^ You distinguished yourself by making those relations.</p>
<p>Many studies have shown no correlation between grade point and job success, but recruiters still use it as a filter. I had a classmate that got an interview with one of those 'minimum grade point' companies, but the kid had gone to CC for 2 years and had a higher GPA than the rest of us for that reason.</p>
<p>So with a lower GPA at a great engineering school, you'll have skills that others won't, but will have a lower GPA, which will limit your access to internships, since you are competing with your peers at that school. It won't limit access to good jobs (but not the "best" jobs) in the end.</p>
<p>Look at it from the perspective of employers - at a school where Google recruits, No-name Industries, which may have a great, challenging job to offer, can't compete with the flashiest companies, but they still need strong skills. That's where the lower GPA folks can get noticed.</p>
<p>I just wanted to try and sum up this discussion so that both sides might agree. Some of you argued that school rankings/reputation do not matter in the the working world, while others believe that they do matter (at least to some extent). I believe that this is the end game: If GPAs from two different schools are similar and high, reputation plays a greater role in a potential employer's decision making process. However, if one GPA is high and the other is low (below 3.0), reputation is effectively deleted from the equation.</p>
<p>I just graduated from Harvard (Undergrad) and I'm in a bit of a fix like many other people who contributed to this thread. I had a 3.3 GPA going into my senior year, but I really hated the material I was studying (Government/Political Science). I originally decided to study Government because it is known as an "easy" department at Harvard. I always thought that GPA was more important than pursuing your interests. Needless to say this was (and probably still is) a very unpopular view point. So, during my senior year, I finally caved to all of the "advice" I was getting and started studying economics (a field I was actually interested in). I skipped the intro courses because there had already been significant overlap with some of my Gov courses.</p>
<p>By the end of my senior year, after taking intermediate econ and intro statistics courses, I ended up with a 2.995 GPA. After applying all year to economics-related jobs, I finally gave in and started applying to govt. positions. Now I'm working for a department of the federal government (just because I needed a job), and I hate it. The bureaucracy is ridiculous. The ironic thing is, I honestly think that if I just kept my GPA higher by continuing to take govt. courses, I would have gotten an offer at one of the jobs that required just a little bit of econ knowledge. </p>
<p>Sorry this post was so long.</p>
<p>it is quite unfair sometimes.</p>
<p>check out this scenario of one of my friends (i don't mean to bash him but it's true lol)</p>
<p>1) bachelors in management information systems. gpa ~3.0 (from UCF - univ central florida) - sure as hell not a high ranked school
2) friend hates coding, and he's bad at it - so he decides work in databases might be easier and good..
3) he only had 1 database course in college, and he remembered nothing from the class. not even the most basic of basic database concepts, "Select * from tablename". that's a huge 'lmao' if you know anything about databases.
4) he had no internships, no experience, and 5 months after graduation he finally got an internship because he mentioned an ex-VPs name as an acquaintance.....
5) after his internship, he was offered a position in database administration, mid 50k salary.
6) after a year or so, he was promoted to a full database administrator, 15k salary increase.</p>
<p>-- keep in mind he was never a good performer, and some of his teammates got on his case a lot --</p>
<p>7) another year or so passes by, he GETS FIRED! CANNED! THE BOOT! he was making all that money, and it finally caught up with him..
8) he adjusted his resume a bit, found a placement company to help him find a job, he even TOOK A DATABASE ADMINISTRATION CERTIFICATION TEST AND FAILED with one of the worst scores the placement company had EVER seen.
9) somehow, he got an interview at a company shortly after, and WAS HIRED ON FOR 10K HIGHER THAN HIS LAST JOB! how the hell do you get fired, yet end up making more? i don't know.</p>
<p>he is a BIG people person. he has a charming personality and he is a good friend. he is a smooth talker and "just one of those guys you can't help but like". his skills are ****ty, but i guess they like paying his salary just to have him around. he was fired from that previous job mostly because his teammates were stiffs who hated him because he made lots of friends at work and formed lots of after-work hangouts, etc.</p>
<p>so..what's the lesson here? sometimes life is unfair. you can bust your ass and not make 80k, 70k, 55k, or even something less. job skills and performance are second in TONS of jobs.</p>
<p>-- if the highlight of your bosses day, is talking with you at work and you inviting him to a social event you put together, such as happy hour bar, or poolside w/ some beer and grill out, etc.. then your boss is going to like you a lot, and there's a good chance that you'll stick around for the simple fact that you can put together people for fun social events. --</p>
<p>there's my 2 cents of the real-world environment</p>
<p>(btw i love my friend lol, but he's a good example here)</p>
<p>Background: I'm a ChemE who attempted to compress his core courseload into a two year plan as a transfer student from a junior college. Essentially I took basic classes like material and energy balances alongside the higher level courses like pchem and process thermo. The result? I've earned C's, B's and the occasional D. (I will graduate with ~2.0 GPA) My school is not a "top ranked", but we happen to be one of the best schools for process engineers so half of our grads go to texas working for Exxon or Chevron.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, the courses I took were taught at a higher difficulty level than what the current crop of students has had to face. (I failed a 4th year class and became a super senior). So the typical "cull classes" that I sweated C/B grades in now give out easy A/Bs for mediocre students. Additionally, this year's class is approximately twice as large as last years, so competition is fierce. To reiterate one of the previous posters; life is NOT fair, but if you get knocked down you damned well pick yourself up and keep on fighting.</p>
<p>How do I combat having the worst GPA of my [new] class where 3.7 is the norm? My internships were hard as hell. I effectively display an aura of pure compentence and as such I convinced my employers to give me projects outside the realm of the typical internship where I could and did prove my mettle. One was a major capital project (>$500,000), while the other tested my initiative and adaptability (independent travel between plants, personal time management, go getter attitude). I received great reference letters from both companies.</p>
<p>Stepping stones my friends. My first internship ended in an offer, but not in my chosen field. The second was promising but the company economics took a dive. If you're a sophemore looking for their first internship talk to the big companies who want 3.0-3.9 students. Accept the looks of disgust when they see your grades, but think of this as a crucible and look that recruiter in the eye when you drop the bomb. You won't get a job with a company like this with substandard grades, but if you make a good impression that same recruiter might be there after you've engineered for 2-5 years and have more to show than grades. (this is my grand strategy)</p>
<p>Another strategy I've found useful has been to provide a "verbal resume" (assuming you can communicate, alot of engineers struggle here) and prove to them you can hold an intelligent conversation prior to flashing paper. Personally, I seek out companies that are smaller and could get more use out of an employee who can change hats. You have to be careful here though as these same companies also have a higher risk vs. reward in hiring a recent graduate with questionable grades.</p>
<p>Do not provide a transcript unless this is explicitly requested, unless you just had one bad sememster and there is a definite upwards trend. (difficult as you reach junior/senior level)</p>
<p>An engineering degree is worth far more than a 3.0 comms or other psuedo degree. If you hit some bumps along the way, just consider them character builders and keep truckin'! :)</p>
<p>Oh and get E.I.T. certified even if you never intend to pursue a P.E.</p>
<p>I am majoring in electrical engineering from umich (junior standing). my current gpa is 3.14 and is gonna stay about the same at the end of the semester. i took 2-3 classes in my concentration last semester and have a 3.83 major GPA. This is the GPA I list on my resume. Unfortunately, I am not doing well this semester, but hopefully my Major GPA doesn't fall below 3.5 by the end of this semester. I don't have any relevant experience. I have had jobs at Meijer and at a couple of libraries. This makes my resume look really childish. I got a job about a month back at the housing information technology office (i had to be really persistent) thinking it would be more technical than my previous jobs, but turns out it is just manual labor. Work also adversely affected my GPA. So out of desperation I applied to UROP for the winter and got into it. Hopefully I can get some relevant lab experience. I haven't really applied to that many internships yet, but am really skeptical of my chances.</p>
<p>Well you guys have it really tough in the US. In Canada, I have a friend who had a gpa of less than 2.3 who got an internship and a full time offer as SDE from Microsoft. Heck I have a 2.5 gpa and I got an interview from MS(well I showed up 15min late and the interviewer didn’t seem too pleased).</p>
<p>But I agree with the poster who said that people with a lower gpa should focus on firms that aren’t in the “hot” industry. I applied at an “old world firm” (railway industry), turned out, it was a major European defense contractor.</p>
<p>I know a guy that was just offered a software engineering position at Microsoft with a less than 3.0 GPA, in fact, he has been put on academic probation twice. Granted, this is at a top 5 CS school, but the point still stands.</p>
<p>If your GPA is low, take it off your resume.</p>
<p>or just change the 2. to a 3. and tell them you made a typo. (I’m kidding of course)</p>
<p>I go to UW-Madison for engineering and have a 2.94. I am a junior looking for a summer internship with little work experience. Should I post my GPA on my resume?</p>
<p>I’d leave your GPA off your resume. However, many companies will ask for it. You need to be prepared to answer that request. </p>
<p>How is your GPA trending? Are you getting better grades later in your college years? I found that college kids whose GPAs were rising thru their upper division classes were still excellent candidates even if their overall GPA was a little low. If it is coming up, your first thing to say would be what your upper division GPA is.</p>
<p>Are your poorer grades in non-engineering classes? If so, quote your engineering GPA. That is after all what is most relevent to an engineering company. </p>
<p>Whatever you do be sure to identify what it is you are giving them.</p>
<p>I know this topic has been dead, but I am in the same situation. I am a computer science major, just went to my first career fair at a top school. I have about a year of work experience as well as outside projects I worked on. My GPA is about a 2.67</p>
<p>So I failed a class and I am currently retaking it if I do decent my gpa will be about 3.1 so I am not too screwed. But it sucks, there are some companies that handed me my resume back because I did not have above a 3.0. I explained my situation to every single recruiter. I told them look I have a relevant job I am hard working and know what I am doing. I just have a low GPA until the end of the semester. All the recruiters would tell me that everything is impressive but then they would ask what is your gpa? And then I would go into the trash pile even thought in 3 months I will have a 3.1-3.2</p>
<p>I would suggest you not show your gpa on the resume until you can bring it above a 3.0. Also get you resume reviewed by a career professional. This is very important. If you cant find a professional, look up good sample resume’s online. 2.7 from an engineering school is not all that bad. Just keep trying and do a much wider search. Also try applying early from now on. In my opinion you must finish applications for summer internships by late october the previous year.</p>