<p>Enginox, I know what you mean, my dad majored in physics, but is in business. My sister is currently pursuing and english major, and I am worried about her future, and what she can do with it. It seems like if you want to go into english, you better be prepared to follow it with a masters, or a doctorate degree. With engineering, you can simply be successful with a BS, not many majors are like that anymore. People have been saying that “you won’t be successful if you don’t get a BS in something”, but I think it’s changing to “you won’t be successful until you have a masters”. Most of the people that work in the coffee shops where I live all have college degrees and they can’t find jobs.</p>
<p>^ What grades would you suspect these people to have earned in school? Give it some thought, and I’m sure what you suspect will be close to reality for the most part.</p>
<p>@EngineerHead:</p>
<p>This is the problem some of you shortsighted people keep making. You seem to think that one factor, and only one factor, determines where a person ends up. For all we know those people working in those coffee shops may have perfect GPAs within a major that gave them limited marketable skills. There are also situations where people are not hired for certain jobs because they may be overqualified even though this is not the case here.</p>
<p>Fail a math class? Can’t make it as an engineer. Commit a random grammatical error? That person must be illiterate. End up in a crappy job? That person must have a low GPA.</p>
<p>It’s as if none of you have ever made a mistake. I hope most of what I’m reading here is simply posturing, trying to impress high school kids. Once you find yourself in the real world, people will not care what your GPA is or what school you came from, if you don’t keep that bottom line black, you will be out. Please, catch a clue.</p>
<p>If we want to go the route we somewhat took in the other thread, I could argue that smart people would take the time to figure out what they want to do for their future and compare it to reality. A smart person who majors in english will prepare themselves for the world they will enter or figure out something else. They would make an effort to figure out what their future will be like instead of being directionless.</p>
<p>It’s hard to accept, but it’s reality. Smart people have the tendencies to make smart decisions. Sure there are exceptions, but for the most part I think everyone will agree. Perhaps maturity has something to do with it as well. Hell, if you’re not mature enough to figure out life problems by the time you’re 20, something’s really wrong.</p>
<p>@hadsed:</p>
<p>Just like all the smart people that never saw a crash coming in 2008. You know, those smart people that are now unemployed or underemployed, in many cases through no fault of their own. People in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s that now do not know what to do with their lives after seeing their earning go <em>poof.</em></p>
<p>Some of you seriously need to catch a clue.</p>
<p>“Some of you seriously need to catch a clue.”
- Look who’s talking!</p>
<p>I don’t think “being prepared for something in the future” makes one smart. You have to understand that there are many philosophies pulling folks in different directions, which each philosophy claiming to be the “best advice”. Some philosophies say “follow your heart”, but that may force some folks to forget the “practical”. On the flip-side, some philosophies say tailor yourself for the current reality, but that may involve not following your heart.</p>
<p>When you add in living in a country like the USA where everything comes with a price tag, it further complicates things.</p>
<p>Maybe we can’t say that it is definitely because people are stupid, but I think a lot of it is part of that. I mean, don’t people ever think about their futures? If they don’t by the time they get to college, I think that’s a serious concern.</p>
<p>Yes, I expect that some of them have very high GPAs, it is just hard to find a job in this economy. </p>
<p>Hadsed, please stop acting like you are better than everyone else. I’m 18 and I haven’t gone into college yet (I will this fall), hardly any of you impress me, except eginox, and if you are here, solely to impress people, you must have really low self-esteem and good luck with that. </p>
<p>My grades weren’t perfect either, I got a C in algebra 2, I didn’t really try in high school, which I think happens to a lot of people, but I had a really high SAT math score. That happens to so many people. </p>
<p>I’m going to be starting at UCSB this fall to major in chemical engineering, and I would consider myself smart, and I definitely made a lot of huge mistakes while I was in high school, and wasn’t always thinking of my future. I’m glad that I got it figured out though, before I go to college, but honestly making mistakes does not make you dumb, I’d say that if you learn from them, they make you smarter, so please, you are not this all-mighty person, I’m sure you have made mistakes too. </p>
<p>I haven’t even taken any engineering classes and I think that I have a better grasp of how to think like an engineer than some of you.</p>
<p>“Hadsed, please stop acting like you are better than everyone else.”
- He’s not acting like he’s better than everyone else, he’s just trying to share his insights. You can’t fault him for having unpopular opinions, and what’s more, nothing that he has said seems entirely unreasonable, unpleasant though it might be. I don’t think he’s implying that smart people don’t make mistakes, and I don’t think he’s saying all people are either smart and always make good decisions or dumb and always make bad ones. In forums you have to take a step back and try to understand what the person means because there is no body language, intonation, etc. here to aid in the understanding of what we write.</p>
<p>“hardly any of you impress me, except eginox, and if you are here, solely to impress people, you must have really low self-esteem and good luck with that.”
- First off, and I mean this sincerely, what impresses you about Enginox? No offense to Enginox, but of all the people whose posts I’ve read his seem to be among the least well thought-out. That’s just how I sees it. I’m sure his opinion of my contributions is less than stellar, but I digress. Secondly, I don’t think anybody’s here to impress people. </p>
<p>“I haven’t even taken any engineering classes and I think that I have a better grasp of how to think like an engineer than some of you.”
- That’s dangerous thinking because, like it or not, behavior in online message boards is not well-correlated with success in engineering.</p>
<p>The real question is: are you guys surprised that I kept out of this one after the original debate was pretty much wrapped up? Haha. I sure am!</p>
<p>
If you are not interested in impressing people why explain your grades?</p>
<p>“He’s not acting like he’s better than anyone else…”
Thank you for telling me what I can and cannot do Auburn. I actually can “fault” someone for having an unpopular opinion. I’m pretty sure that I can do what I want, to a certain extent. You may think it’s wrong, but that’s only your opinion. Why are you defending him anyway? How do you know what he meant by his post? I don’t think you know him personally, or even know him at all. I am going to ignore the part about taking a step back, because it means nothing to me. I can gladly see other people’s point of view, and I see his, I just don’t agree. I’m sorry you have a problem with that. </p>
<p>“First off…”
That really means a lot, that you mean it sincerely. What impresses me about Enginox is that he/she seems to be more realistic than most of the other people. It is just my opinion, but I get a sense of arrogance from most of the other people. People make mistakes, that is life. Hadsed won’t admit to any. I find that more concerning than someone who doesn’t always think of their future. </p>
<p>“That’s dangerous thinking…”
It doesn’t matter what I like or not. I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be either. If you are using dangerous as in… riding a bike dangerous, I might agree with you. Obviously, that will offend some people, and I’m not saying that I DO have a better grasp, I’m saying I think I do. It’s not concrete, I don’t know any of these people in their jobs, so you never know. The only reason I brought that up is because some of the people here seem to think there is only one solution to a problem, and that is not how you should think if you are an engineer. That is all I’m saying. </p>
<p>I appreciate your post though, you made me think.</p>
<p>“If you are not interested in impressing people why explain your grades?”</p>
<p>I’m explaining that not everyone who is smart gets good grades. I’m not trying to impress anyone. I’m giving a personal example. So what if you fail a math class, it doesn’t mean you can’t be an engineer. Please, I couldn’t care less about what any of you think. Just giving a personal example.</p>
<p>@ boneh3ad</p>
<p>haha NO you should totally join in the debate! I wasn’t present for the original, so let’s see what you got!</p>
<p>I only read your post #63, so I don’t know what was said after it.</p>
<p>Haha… and exactly what is a “low” GPA to you, Enginox? This is a problem you naive people continue to perform countless times - drawing assumptions on end.
Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions. When have I ever said any of this? When have I ever even talked about low GPA? In fact, when I wrote what I wrote to hayz, I wasn’t even thinking about a ridiculously low GPA. I took hayz650 for an educated person and I assumed his guess for the GPA’s wouldn’t naively be outrageously low, and therefore I left the guessing up to him. However, I will say that YES, I WOULD BET that if you were to survey these workers who were college grads, their GPA would be “low” (low in my definition, maybe not in yours - apparently, low to you must be a 1-2.0 GPA average, but not to me, low starts higher than that). So, the question remains: What is the range of this “low” GPA that you’re assuming I have so shortsightedly concluded on?
How naive. If it’s 5 years after college, well no shiz sherlock! This forum is called CollegeConfidential. Not “I-graduated-5-years-ago-looking-for-job-confidential.”</p>
<p>Trust me, I’m a very reasonable person and I try to always maintain pragmatism. Don’t call out people, especially not me. My thoughts are thorough. Please, catch a clue.</p>
<p>
Does a personal example also require an explanation/excuse that you didn’t “really try” in high school?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>More like 5 minutes after you sign on the dotted line for your first job, no one cares about your GPA anymore. That GPA is good for two things: getting your foot in the door at your first job, and getting into graduate school. Beyond that, it is all about experience and results.</p>
<p>Also, the site is called CollegeConfidential. That means it relates to college. Careers relate to college. To me, that implies that the plethora of career-related questions on this forum are certainly well within the scope of this site, especially the Engineering subforum, which has a history of post-graduate related topics.</p>
<p>“More like 5 minutes after you sign on the dotted line for your first job, no one cares about your GPA anymore. That GPA is good for two things: getting your foot in the door at your first job, and getting into graduate school. Beyond that, it is all about experience and results.”</p>
<p>What if after you had your first job you applied for a different entry level job (which expects new college graduates) in a new industry?</p>
<p>To say nobody cares about your GPA is missing the point. <em>You</em> should care. Now go feel bad about yourselves.</p>