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for example: if I got 3.9 in Communication Systems and you got just 2.0 does it mean I will be more productive than you? ( not really)
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Well someone either had a much stronger work ethic or understanding of the material. Both of these attributes contribute to production, so yes one would be more productive. (really)</p>
<p>GPA can only say so much. It also depends on the number of ECs you do in college as well.</p>
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for example: if I got 3.9 in Communication Systems and you got just 2.0 does it mean I will be more productive than you? ( not really)
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<p>I'd say there would be a strong chance you are. If you got a 3.9 and I got a 2.0 that means either 1. You have more work ethic or 2. You understand the material better.</p>
<p>Either case you are more productive.</p>
<p>Ive been on about 40 internship/summer job interviews and 1 asked me for my gpa. The one who did, was the smallest company of the bunch, they called themselves Themarkets.com</p>
<p>There are a lot of companies that have GPA requirements students must meet to continue working for them.</p>
<p>Nvidia for example requires their interns to maintain a 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>Ive been on about 40 internship/summer job interviews and 1 asked me for my gpa. The one who did, was the smallest company of the bunch, they called themselves Themarkets.com</p>
<p>Most companies look for different types of engineers. If Lockheed wanted you to be a research engineer, then a high academic gpa is important, as that job is academic oriented. If they want you to be an integration engineer. That has nothing to do with academics, its actually a blue collar job. you will get in there and get dirty, and a high gpa doesnt mean much at all. If they want you to be a relations engineer, then they actually look for engineers with lower gpa's as they feel they are better socially oriented. </p>
<p>Engineering students with excessivily high gpa's tend to be more procedure driven. They dont actually learn why something is the way it is, instead they simply remember algorithms to solve text book problems. They need to do a lot of practice to experience and create algorithms for all types of problems. There is nothing wrong with this at all. We need folks like this.</p>
<p>Medium gpa engineers tend to not care at all about procedure, and like to feel the material and use there thoughts and intuition to solve the problems. They are able to dynamically solve problems, but sometimes must rely on outside sources for info. These guys tend to be more socially inclined, and care about other things, like girls, freinds and independent projects.</p>
<p>Low gpa students are smart, but don't usually apply themselves and have other motives in life. They acknowledge that they will still get a job, and would rather experience life, rather then living in a text book. Due to them experiencing life, they tend to be much more comfortable and confidant in social situations. </p>
<p>All different types for different employers, all you as the new employee need to do is apply to jobs, that will accept you.</p>
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Engineering students with excessivily high gpa's tend to be more procedure driven. They dont actually learn why something is the way it is, instead they simply remember algorithms to solve text book problems. They need to do a lot of practice to experience and create algorithms for all types of problems. There is nothing wrong with this at all. We need folks like this.</p>
<p>Medium gpa engineers tend to not care at all about procedure, and like to feel the material and use there thoughts and intuition to solve the problems. They are able to dynamically solve problems, but sometimes must rely on outside sources for info. These guys tend to be more socially inclined, and care about other things, like girls, freinds and independent projects.</p>
<p>Low gpa students are smart, but don't usually apply themselves and have other motives in life. They acknowledge that they will still get a job, and would rather experience life, rather then living in a text book. Due to them experiencing life, they tend to be much more comfortable and confidant in social situations.
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<p>I'm sorry but you can't generalize people in this manner based on their GPA.</p>
<p>You certainly cannot. Knowing a person's GPA tells you pretty much nothing about a person.</p>
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^do you think students with a higher GPA are more productive than students with a lower GPA?</p>
<p>***** life is not as we think it is.
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<p>Uhh no. You misread. Perhaps my sarcasm needs a bit fine tuning.</p>
<p>I was implying that the OP believes he did not even need his GPA in order to snag a job, but that is not some well-kept secret. I wanted to make it clear that a high GPA will not correlate to performing well in the job tasks.</p>
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Low gpa students are smart, but don't usually apply themselves and have other motives in life. They acknowledge that they will still get a job, and would rather experience life, rather then living in a text book. Due to them experiencing life, they tend to be much more comfortable and confidant in social situations.
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<p>Yep, that is me, as clear as night and day. Good description Dr.Horse! If I had an A on my transcript I'd give it to you but alas, I have none :)</p>
<p>Think what ya want, but I just did. Ive met a lot of engineering students, and I was one myself. Ive interviewed for a lot of employers and have worked as a engineer. if any generalizations were true its the ones I posted above. Does every engineer fit that mold, of course not. But from a employers standpoint they must generalize and if you think they don't, your fooling yourself. A employer doesn't have a lot of time to decide on who to interview, so they must generalize on what is the most apparent and abundant. generalizations are not great, but they all hold some truth.</p>
<p>i'll state it again, Ive yet to encounter many 4.0 engineering students that are incredibly dynamic in problem solving, though I have met a few(2). Ive also yet to see a 4.0 that goes to clubs and parties, and has a social life that takes a lot of time. ive yet to meet one with a girlfriend. Ive yet to see a 3.0 that is very procedural in problem solving, and doesn't need some sort outside resource other than himself. The 3.0's are a decent mixture of ones who have and don't have girlfriends. Ive yet to see a 2.5 that isint incredibly social and at least decent at the engineering stuff. To graduate with a engineering degree from a abet accredited institution, you must be atleast decent in your craft. </p>
<p>These dont apply to all, just most and by that different employers if they ask for your gpa will generalize you. Theres a reason why if yahoo wants a PR engineer, when they sort resumes, they arent goesnt to get a 4.0. They are more likely to chose the 2.6-3.0, and even more likely to choose one of those 2.6-3.0 that went to law school or has a MBA. The company doesn't want a nerd who is unable to communicate with people, doing PR. Its a waste of company resources, as well as a bad public showing on the companies part. No reason to have a highly skilled algorithm researcher doing PR stuff.</p>
<p>Dr. Horse your claims are too hard to believe. How many 4.0 engineering graduates do you actually know? Do you know the GPA's of all your co-workers and can therefore sit down and classify them? Did you know the GPA's of all your fellow students and can generalize them too? Or are you just making assumptions about people? I'm in school right now and I can't make a claim like "most 2.5 students I know have girlfriends and are increadibly social". I don't know which students are 2.5 students and which are 3.5+ unless I am personally good friends with them and even then I'm still making assumptions.</p>
<p>I can't imagine there are many (if any) jobs that an employer will look for lower GPA's over high ones. Employers are going to look for high GPA's and get them into an interview. This is where they eliminate the people who aren't suited for the position. I guarantee you that Yahoo would not purposely look for 2.6-3.0 students for any position, even if that position requires a lot of social interaction. Why? Because there are plenty of people with high GPA's who are just as capable in social interaction.</p>
<p>All else being equal, a higher GPA is <em>always</em> superior to a lower GPA. How is this even a debate? Employers like to screen for work ethic & intelligence. GPA screens for both!</p>
<p>Ive known 8 4.0's in my time and yes I know peoples gpa's. It usually has come up somehow in the years I know people. Do I know the gpas of every one of my co-workers of course not, but in my realm of the company, I did. I even knew my bosses (2.8 Toronto 1972).</p>
<p>If you cant claim that most 2.5's have girlfriends then you dont know that many people, I was quite the opposite. I knew and still know and talk to many of them. I can firmly say at least at my school, 90% of the ones I knew did. I was quite a social person in fact, many clubs, engineering fraternity, etc. I knew quite a good number of other students and I came upon my assumptions this way. </p>
<p>Believe what you want, it doesn't hurt me any. Ive interviewed at both amazon and yahoo and guess what I had a 2.8. I was not going for a highly technical position, instead a interdepartmental engineering position. A position where where social skills are far more important than technical ones. </p>
<p>The fact remains that there may be a few high gpa students with great social skills. I never said my generalizations were across the board, they are just general. Those few high gpa students with great social skills are going to be eaten up by the biggest and best companies. Now ask yourself "What does a smaller company do?", they need engineers with good communication skills just the same and some may not be able to meet the salaries needed for those students with the best of both. Even a company like yahoo which I used as a example, is getting smaller by the day and having trouble competing with the bigger companies. </p>
<p>Many companies will sacrifice gpa for other means as there is not just one type of engineer. </p>
<p>Payne, a gpa at least in my opinion doesn't hold much ground. One could easily cheat his way through a engineering curriculum. Does that mean that person is a better engineer than a 2.8, I doubt it. Also we need to remember that engineering is more of a trade, than anything else. We are paid to create and fix. You actually have to do it, to know you are good at it. A high gpa has no correlation to how one will do as a professional engineer. So what if you are good at tests and problem sets and the control atmosphere of university. These things have nothing to do with true engineering. So there is nothing that states a 2.5 gpa cant be a better engineer than a 4.0, it all depends on whats required of them.</p>
<p>lets take for instance a 2.8 gpa student who graduates and goes for a job interview. he competes with a 4.0 students. Now lets say that 2.8 was a core developer and still is for Ubuntu Linux, and the 4.0 are just academics with a internship or two. Who do you think is going to get the job? My story actually. I couldn't care for school at all, I saw no need to get a high gpa and it paid off.</p>
<p>DR Horse,
You are right.
Thank you very much for explaining it to these young inexperienced students much, much better than I can do it. I would just add that a high GPA is required if someone is continuing their studies after bachelors to be accepted into masters and/or phd.
AND again i would emphasise that just a GPA is important for the acceptance but NOT university ranking. Students can be from any university with a high GPA and not just from the so called old university.</p>
<p>Dr. Horse, while I agree that the "social aspects" are of importance to many firms (especially smaller ones that rely on every employee to engage clients and marketing), I'll disagree with you that GPA holds no weight. It may not be the only determining factor in hiring decisions (as you pointed out in your example), but it certainly IS a factor. Would you hire someone with a 4.0 with just academics or a 2.0 with just academics? The importance of each factor is certainly debatable, but whether or not GPA is a factor is not debatable.</p>
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Ive known 8 4.0's in my time and yes I know peoples gpa's. It usually has come up somehow in the years I know people. Do I know the gpas of every one of my co-workers of course not, but in my realm of the company, I did. I even knew my bosses (2.8 Toronto 1972).
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<p>I don't think my school has even handed out 8 4.0's in it's lifetime haha.</p>
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lets take for instance a 2.8 gpa student who graduates and goes for a job interview. he competes with a 4.0 students. Now lets say that 2.8 was a core developer and still is for Ubuntu Linux, and the 4.0 are just academics with a internship or two. Who do you think is going to get the job? My story actually. I couldn't care for school at all, I saw no need to get a high gpa and it paid off.
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<p>That's good for you but a 4.0 with an internship or two is usually qualified for positions they apply for. In your case they apparently applied for a position they weren't. You had the skills for the job, they didn't. That's more important than GPA. But just because this was your experience does not mean it's the case the majority of the time. Most people with high GPA's are very qualified for the jobs they apply for...</p>
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lets take for instance a 2.8 gpa student who graduates and goes for a job interview. he competes with a 4.0 students. Now lets say that 2.8 was a core developer and still is for Ubuntu Linux, and the 4.0 are just academics with a internship or two. Who do you think is going to get the job? My story actually. I couldn't care for school at all, I saw no need to get a high gpa and it paid off.
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Or how about they have a choice of a 4.0 & 2.8 who have extremely similar resumes and interviewed at the same level. The 4.0 gets the job every time. That's because GPA is something which companies screen for.</p>
<p>Of course, connections are always useful and the chances of you getting a job if you already know someone within the company are much higher.</p>
<p>With that being said, it's false to say that your GPA doesn't matter at all, especially at an entry level. Yes, the person that has three internship experiences and a lower GPA will probably get hired over the one with the higher GPA and no work experience. But, if both candidates are in the same playing field, the GPA will most likely be the cutoff to at least get to the interview (where anything can happen).</p>
<p>Extra-curricular activities can also be very important. I know for a fact that my GPA is not what got me my internship last summer. Being President of my school's Electrical Engineering Student Committee helped a lot more.</p>
<p>Yovanka I've yet to see a post from you that doesn't sound like an arrogant generalization. Assume we're all young and inexperienced and we can just assume you're a dumb b*tch. Fun huh.</p>