<p>Whats good, its been a while since I posted here, but I remembered about this site and thought it would be good for my q.
I been applying to internships but have not been getting any responses at all... I goto a top 10 engineering school with a gpa of about 3.5 in ee (major gpa about 3.6, had a horrid first term gpa<3.0 :p). My question is what do you guys do if you don't get an internship during this crucial summer (it looks like this will be my case). Research programs look like they are just as hard to get internships... I was thinking about maybe going to grad school so I would get another summer to do something, but dunno if I will be able to get into a good program (would want something like in the top 15 or so, just cos it would be kind of a disappointment to go from a top 10 to significantly lower rated school). A family mate in the industry tells me my grades are too low for grad school and pretty low to be a competitive applicant for jobs, or atleast the applicants he sees.
I am all ears, cos I am started to get a bit worried, time is running low and people in my school dont talk.........</p>
<p>Not necessarily time to panic yet about a summer internship. My company would spend the fall collecting resumes for potential interns. Last part of December HR would be sorting them out and they’d be on my desk when I came back from holiday break. I’d start calling after I’d had a chance to select the ones that looked good to me, ie. about the second or third week in January. </p>
<p>Don’t know if my company has the same schedule (I retired a few years back) but I can only see it slipping, if anything, because of the uncertainty in the economy (and wanting to make sure I had enough funds to support an intern or two in my department).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the horid first term as long as your later term grades are good. It is the later term grades that are the better indicator of your ability.</p>
<p>If you’ve got a 3.5 gpa and aren’t getting any responses, I’d start looking at your resume, maybe it isn’t up to par. I got four interviews in the last month (and ultimately an offer I accepted) with a 3.25 in Materials Engineering. Maybe GPA requirements are vastly different in EE, but I kind of doubt it.</p>
<p>That said, I’d give your resume a bit of a work over and keep applying. I had friends last year that didn’t hear about internships until a few weeks before the school year was over, so you do have time left.</p>
I wouldn’t say so. I applied to maybe 20 EE co-op positions this semester? I got 5 interviews and landed 2 of them. I’m a 4th year in a 5 year masters program and I also interned last summer.
When I was applying for internships last year, I applied to maybe 25 places, got 3 interviews, and landed 1 internship. It is a competitive market out there.
Before this semester’s grades boosted both, my gpa was 3.2, with a 3.4 major gpa.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to a ton of places that had Fall deadlines and you haven’t heard back at all, I’d wager it’s your resume as NBrink said - possibly bring it to your career center for tips. At the place I interned at last summer, they told us interns that they didn’t even bother looking twice at resumes that weren’t organized/ gave them a headache just looking at. All because they had 500 applicants for just 2 positions and couldn’t afford to take the time looking at people who apparently couldn’t write.</p>
<p>But as NBrink said, lots of people aren’t going to be getting internships until next semester anyway - you still have time. I didn’t get my internship until late March last year, and it seemed to be the norm for my friends as well. I didn’t get next semester’s co-op offer until a few weeks ago either.</p>
<p>Do not panic and just keep on applying. The internship recruitment cycle is still going strong. Some good internships might not be landed until as late as April next year. So just be proactive, cast your net wide, apply to as many internships as you are allowed, attend next term’s Career Fair and make good use of your school’s Career Services.</p>
<p>It HAS to be something else (resume, your interviewing, etc). I cannot see a 3.5 GPA not getting an internship much less hired after the B.S. degree.</p>
<p>I don’t want you to slack off but yours truly was not even a 3.0 student (Michigan State…barely Top-50) as an undergrad and was still hired by a decent company out of school. Yes, I had to pile on some years of work experience and use the “back door” method to get into grad school (U-Wisconsin), but I did it.</p>
<p>A 3.5 GPA in EE at a Top-10 school??..must be the resume or interview tactics…both of which can be corrected.</p>
<p>Yea makes sense. I recently redid my resume and redistributed that out, so I am hoping that will make things better. I was wondering about grad school, if the grades are a touch too low for a good grad school? I am interested in grad school because it could really help job prospects and I am just plain interested in taking more classes in the field. I wanted to do a continuing masters program in my school but they need a 3.6 by the end of next term, and I would need a 4.0 next term to get that (not impossible by no means, but rather tough and something I don’t wanna bank on)
Also any ways to bring light to a low first term gpa and upward trend? Where can I bring light to this trend, or should I even?</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice though! People in my school don’t talk much about their stuff.</p>
<p>If you can secure the job first after your B.S. degree then you can do grad school part-time. Remember this, at some schools work experience can offset low GPA. Still even with a 3.0 GPA, a few years of work experience can enhance grad school admissions.</p>
<p>true did not think of that, though going to school and working full time? that looks really tough. school already in my op is quite tough. I am leaning on trying to get into a grad program right after because I feel like that transition might be easier and my parents will help me with the bills now rather than if i am already an independent person who no longer relies on them. I know some companies do pay for schooling, but do they all? not sure if its worth the risk…</p>