I’m currently an Aerospace Engineering student at UC Davis with a cumulative GPA of 2.5, which is considerably low. What are my chances are of working for a large company after I graduate? I will be graduating in March of 2016.
Although my GPA is low, once I’m finished I will have accumulated 9 months of experience during my intership and current co-op for a small defense company. I know this will be a major plus when applying but I’m not sure how much it will counter my GPA.
During my time with the company, I have gained experience with tooling design, model verification, and product inspection. I have over 1000 hrs experience with SolidWorks and I’m also fairly sufficient in MATLAB, Java, and C#.
I’m honestly willing to apply anywhere. Automotive, aerospace, or even as a mechanical engineer for a tech company such as Google or Apple. Thoughts?
Is 2.5 low for engineering? When I went to Johns Hopkins 2.5 was average for engineering. I knew someone who went to Cooper Union in the 50s, it was mostly engineering, and you needed a 1.5 to graduate
I believe average at my institution is 2.8 or so. I know it won’t be too difficult finding a job with a small company like the one I currently intern for, but bigger companies generally apply a GPA filter to all their applicants. I think it’s usually above 3.0.
My husband’s company will interview some candidates who are not at 3.0, but will ask about the low GPA. (Typically, these are the inhouse applications brought in by a current employee). For the most part, the online filters will eliminate candidates with less than a 3.0. The defense companies do check the GPA and U.S. citizenship.
My dd’s friends, who had under a 3.0, were not contacted for interviews, regardless of internships.
Unfortunately, some big companies won’t even interview you unless you have minimum 3.0 GPA (some companies have even more stringent requirement of 3.2 or higher).
Thank you all for the input, much appreciated! I suppose only time will tell. Fortunately I think my current company will give me an offer, so if I need to fall back on that it will probably be an option.
I would suggest, If it’s not too much bother, try taking internships? maybe one abroad it might out-shine the “poor” (though I don’t really agree it’s poor) GPA you are crying about
I would suggest, If it’s not too much bother, try taking internships? maybe one abroad it might out-shine the “poor” (though I don’t really agree it’s poor) GPA you are crying about
you need to find out what your gpa is for your engineering classes. what was it for aero only? sell that to employers., assuming it is higher. I know gvt contractors are strict on GPA. my son who was engineering, was under a 3.0 and was hired on where he interned then moved on a yr later. the new co was more interested in his talent than gpa, though they did ask for transcripts once hired as that was part of HR requirements. you can get through it.
