<p>Background: I'm a b.s. chemical engineer from '90 with a 3.3 gpa. In 1990, I started out with a position that paid $37.5k (a tad above the national average at the time). I steadily increased my marketability to where in 2004 I was making $96k plus annual stock allotments worth $30-40k. Unfortunately, I decided I didn't like the field and have decided to return to school and become a dentist (among other reasons, I want to own my own business and that's very difficult/risky to do as an engineer). Currently, I am about to begin my 3rd year of dental school.</p>
<p>My experience suggests that if you have decided that you want to be an engineer and work as an engineer then gpa means very little especially as the years pass. When you start out, you are competing and companies have little to go on so gpa helps, but isn't the ticket to a life of luxury. If you have over a 3.0 you will find a choice of a lot of good jobs. If you have a 2.5-3.0 you will find a few good jobs to choose from. If you have a 2.0-2.5 you will find a job that will give you the opportunity to expand your experience and move up from to a good job. If you have less than a 2.0, you better have an uncle in the business. The 3rd digit of your gpa is insignificant...don't even put it on your resume.</p>
<p>What really matters is what you learn (it's not the details that are important, but the learning how to approach a problem and solve it) and, more importantly, what you do with the job you get. If you work hard and provide benefit to your employer you will move up in salary/position. If you think someone is going to pay you big bucks just because you did well in school, you are going to get a cold splash in the face.</p>
<p>As short as 2-3 years of work experience, you will find your value will (should) go up considerably as you now have a track record and experience. You will be able to say, "I know how to do X and do it well."</p>
<p>Now, here's the dirty little secret in the business: you'll get raises, but they'll be small and steady in a given company unless you move divisions (e.g. become part of the technical sales team for example)...so, if you want your salary to move you have to be proactive and be willing to change companies every 3-5 years (less than that and you look to volatile). With that you can expect as much as 10-20% increases instead of the 3% one you would have gotten. If you have people or sales skills (rare in engineering) you will be in high demand. At this stage, your gpa means crap....in fact, a very high gpa can be a negative (they assume you are a bookworm with no people skills).</p>
<p>There is a catch...if you don't like what you're doing, no amount of salary is worth it. If you find a job you absolutely love don't leave it just for the salary bumps.</p>
<p>I recruited for one of my companies and worked in Houston and Louisiana (arguably the two biggest US chemical engineering employing markets). School you attended means virtually nothing if you want those jobs...they need so many that they pull from all the ones in the south. You don't see a lot of Cornell/Stanford/MIT engineers in those markets. You do see a lot of Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, etc. grad's in those positions (so big schools, but not big expensive schools). The MIT'ers seem to usually go into more research-related positions which tend to be more in the northern US (except for refining) like Napersville, Illionois. It's a bit of an over-simplification, but the point is that if you want a production type position as a chemical engineer, you don't have to worry about trying to compete with the Ivy League folks, you just have to be willing to go where the work is.</p>
<p>Other than slightly helping you get your first job, your gpa will only be of value if you decide to go into teaching (and then being published in some research is arguably much more valuable), or if you wish to use your degree later as a springboard into another career (law, medical, dental (like me)), or if you want one of those research jobs in a market where the MIT level folks are likely to be competing.</p>
<p>The most common route in the south is for engineers to go on and get an MBA in hopes of moving up the management ladder when they realize there's not much of the "fun engineering" in the jobs they have or that their pay isn't what they'd like it to be---to me it seems they become disillusioned with the mundane level of engineering (assuming they do any real engineering at all) and they decide to go for the money and enjoy life outside of work. Most engineers don't even get licensed beyond the EIT. A few go on to get their masters (PhD's are very rare and worthless in the private sector salary-wise unless you want to teach and/or do research), and a good portion go into technical sales or sales support role (sort of the avenue I was on before I took a right turn into dental school).</p>
<p>My suggestion is to do the best you can to get a good gpa (you never know what you might decide you want to do 15 years later like me), but not to freak out about it. Build a network of friends in your field of study (you'll find they are invaluable if you decide to change jobs), study as you are supposed to (it's the education you should want, not the gpa), and enjoy life along the way.</p>
<p>Above all else, work towards doing what you think you will love and if you find you were right, the money won't matter.</p>
<p>Carth</p>