<p>GPA? Networking? etc..?</p>
<p>major + ugrad prestige + connections/networking are all very important. certain schools also have internship programs (for senior thesis and whatnot) that you can apply to and plug in to. those are great for getting a permanent job.</p>
<p>gpa is usually important as a threshold (ex 3.0 for engineering) over which doesn’t matter but under which they will not hire.</p>
<ol>
<li>Previous Experience<br></li>
<li>Networking</li>
<li>UG Prestige</li>
<li>GPA</li>
<li>Required classes (financial accounting for business, gov/econ classes for policy, etc)</li>
<li>Major</li>
</ol>
<p>In my opinion, I would put them in this order. I would also say that they can definitely vary from situation to situation (some internships will prefer various things others), but in general and from my own personal experiences I would say this is pretty fair. </p>
<p>It’s debatable whether 1 or 2 are in the correct order though, I think they’re kind of equivalent (and more important) than the rest for sure.</p>
<p>If the company recruits at your school, then I believe GPA is the number 1 factor. It is not the only factor but is one that will greatly influence your chances. Though passing the thrershold GPA is important, but in itself is not enough. In this tough economic situation, a lot of companies will hire from the top GPA students first and then go down the line. A 3.9 student will have more opportunities compare to a 3.6 or a 3.2 student.</p>
<p>You should wear clothes. I found out early that they prefer that. :D</p>
<p>You have to demonstrate your usefulness to a company, </p>
<p>Companies do not like to babysit</p>
<p>A high GPA is good, but I think i’m living proof that if you don’t have any prior work experience, at least in this economy, even a 4.0 won’t land you the interviews you need to get a chance at snagging an intern. With over a 3.9 and applications to over 50 companies and 100+ positions, only one interview was offered. Meanwhile, a friend has a 3.0 GPA and didn’t apply to any companies except for one his uncle works at, and he was accepted as an intern almost immediately. That’s networking.</p>
<p>As much as it pains me to admit, from my experience and from people I know, I think roneald’s list is probably pretty accurate with GPA being far down the list at #3 or #4. I think it’s unfortunate how far down the scale GPA is placed in importance considering the sheer amount of difficulty and extra work that is required to achieve, say, a 4.0 compared with a 3.0 at a typical engineering college. I feel as though i’ve probably wasted hundreds of hours over the last few years slaving away to get top grades when most companies don’t even appear to make any real distinction between applicants with a 3.0 and those with a 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>No, because all that a high GPA proves is that you can read a book listen to lectures and regurgitate what you remember. Monkey see monkey do.</p>
<p>Company’s need good learners and dedicated workers but they also need people who can create, contribute and communicate value. A high GPA does not prove that ability. If it did, we wouldn’t need interviews. We would just hire people with the highest GPA’s, or a couple of chimps that can follow instructions. :)</p>
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<p>If you believe that is all it takes to get a high GPA in engineering, you went to the wrong engineering college. Or perhaps the right one, if all you’re looking for is to breeze on by with minimal effort and high grades…</p>
<p>The thing is, networking and previous experience does not necessarily prove anything about one’s ability to create, contribute, and communicate value. Being a relative of someone who works at a company proves nothing about those abilities. Having the name of some other company you worked for on your resume proves nothing about those abilities. I knew a guy who interned at Cargill and did nothing but menial tasks such as scrubbing floors, but that was enough to get him an interview even with a horrid GPA. And certainly undergrad prestige proves nothing about those abilities. But these appear to be more highly valued than GPA.</p>
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<p>… and those who don’t contribute after getting hired will get laid off. </p>
<p>It’s all about getting your foot in the door and getting the chance to show people what you can do. If a connection is what it takes, then so be it. My first internship was difficult to get, but subsequent ones were easier since I started making connections in my industry. Relationships build on top of each other and people were giving me recommendations. Heck, it’s the entire philosophy behind the social networking giant LinkedIn.</p>
<p>If I were hiring somebody, I’d look for signs of their ability to work with others in the professional setting. GPA alone doesn’t tell me this.</p>
<p>Work experience combined with GPA hands down! Plus, it has been our student’s experience that most companies could care less about research experience, except that it is considered work experience. Having work is experience is number 1 in our book!!</p>
<p>Well since I’m an actuarial science major, pretty much only one thing matters for me to get that junior internship : passing the 1st actuarial exam</p>
<p>All play an important factor. I firmly believe your main goal is to make yourself a well balanced candidate. For example, I am currently a sophomore studying Information Technology. GPA:3.78 (currently). As a finished my freshman year (with a 3.6 or so) I pretty much had NO experience. I had worked one semester (8 hours a week) at the front desk of my dorm. I took the summer as an opportunity to work in two different areas that would give me the opportunity to grow and learn different skill sets and also network.</p>
<p>I worked as a customer service representative for a adult and continuing education program. I also took on a lab assitant position for a physics professor at my university (which i might add is small - about 2000 -2500 MAX)
That summer, I applied to attend a program at one of the top business schools not really expecting to be accepted. In October I got the chance to attend the program and used this as a great networking opportunity. I was the youngest there as a sophomore and it gave me an advantage when it came time to networking with old Alumni who were also there and current students. One BIG opportunity I was able to obtain was an offer (by the way without applying) to participate in a summer program at the University with a small stipend and living expenses for 6 weeks paid and an opportunity to have my graduate school paid for. This was a result of networking.</p>
<p>This along with my own persistence when applying for other internships, working on improving my GPA, taking on an unpaid internship for experience starting my sophomore year, and continuing to participate in school activities have made me a well balanced candidate (in my opinion) for whatever I decide to apply to whether it be in business or another field.</p>
<p>Just my personal opinion.</p>
<p>the importance of networking varies field to field. for engineers, it generally really is about WHAT you know not WHO you know. if the position is a java software engineer, they will hire the person with 3 yrs java programming experience and multiple industry awards over the person that “knows someone”. similarly for actuarial, medicine, accounting, and law. you are often getting hired for your skills. of course, if you have the skills AND the network, that much better.</p>
<p>that said, to proceed to the upper levels, or to a more business-y role, it is about networking immensely. you do not need to be an expert java programmer to be a successful manager, and the leadership roles often go to well-connected individuals with good people skills.</p>
<p>now keep in mind the later will usually make more money and rise up faster, so if those are your goals it is important to develop those skills sooner than later.</p>
<p>GPA and work experience definitely seem to be the two most important things to have on a resume. But what about secondary accomplishments? These are some of the options I may have available next semester, and i’m trying to decide which of these I should pursue in order to add the most to my resume.<br>
How would you rank these in order of importance to employers?</p>
<p>Member of a design team (race car, robotics, human powered vehicle, etc)
Participated in undergraduate research
Teaching assistant for a class
President of a campus organization (Engineering society or Honor society)
Member of a campus organization (Engineering society or Honor society)
Certain upper level classes in advanced areas</p>
<p>No offense, Mark, but I’m not sure what planet you’re living on. You seem surprised that work experience helped your friend get an interview despite his low GPA. Sure, networking and work experience don’t “prove anything about one’s ability to create, contribute, and communicate value,” but neither does GPA. Most math and science IS regurgitating what you’ve learned, unless you’re conducting your own personal research. Hell, half the PBK kids here have contributed nothing to campus and haven’t done any interesting research themselves, they’re just good at grinding away. </p>
<p>Think about it – if you’re an employer looking for an intern to do mostly *****work, you’re going to want someone who’s dependable, responsible, and easy to work with. Work experience – and the letters of recommendation that come along with it – is an indication that this particular student has successfully contributed to companies in the past (even in minor ways), and is likely to do so in the future. High GPA indicates absolutely nothing whatsoever about such traits, since it in no way demonstrates qualities like interpersonal intelligence that are of paramount importance in the workplace. You’re not going to get a good internship without previous experience – we’ve all paid our dues with crappy first jobs, and you probably will have to, too.</p>
<p>If math and science is all about regurgitating, what does that say about the students who can’t even do that? Regurgitation will earn you a C or at best a B at my school. A deeper understanding on a conceptual level is needed for an A. And I see high GPA as a demonstration of dependability and responsibility, because students without those qualities choose to drink it up at a party instead of studying. Or they are simply not diligent enough to ensure they have put enough hours into homework and studying to make the grade. GPA reflects that. It also reflects a capacity to learn. And I can tell you without a doubt that my peers who score C’s in their engineering classes don’t even know where to begin solving the problems we are doing. They are absolutely clueless about what is going on conceptually in the problems. If this level of understanding and work ethic is considered acceptable to a company, so be it. But it makes me wonder what the whole point of a four year engineering degree is, then.</p>
<p>Getting a high GPA as an undergrad doesn’t involve actually coming up with anything creative/new…it’s a measure, in large part, of how well you take tests and do problem sets. It’s also a measure of how easy your classes are – imho, people who have 4.0s probably should have been taking more advanced classes – yes, even at the grad level – to challenge themselves. I have never met a single person who has excelled at every challenge he/she has ever faced, so getting all As in truly truly challenging classes is really unlikely. It’s also not a dependable measure of intelligence – I know kids with 4.0s who get them because they spend every non-class, non-sleeping/eating hour studying. There are kids I know who are far more intelligent who get slightly lower grades (3.7, 3.8, whatever) because they’re too busy starring in experimental theater productions or traveling for the debate team to grind away at their work.</p>
<p>I second the comment on demonstrating your usefulness to the company. If your going into a service industry like myself then prior work experience in customer service.</p>
<p>Based on my limited anecdotal experience, Work Experience >>>> Undergrad Prestige >>> GPA (depending on the job) >> Major > Networking</p>
<p>I’ve found that networking can help but that typically most people who get internships/jobs through networking are through family connections.</p>
<p>Work experience trumps all. For instance, one of my friends, who’s interning at Goldman, was barely above the GPA cutoff of 3.5 (he had like a 3.53) but managed to get a Private Wealth Management internship because he worked his butt off before his junior year, working around 60 hours a week, unpaid, at a local private equity firm. When the recruiter for our school was skimming through the resumes, he recognized the firm that my friend worked at and decided that my friend had enough quality experience to merit an interview. The thing is, my friend hadn’t networked at all for the position, but he was able to secure an interview based mostly off of his previous internship experience.</p>
<p>Further, most of the people I know (I’m a rising senior) that had previous internship experience fared considerably better in the internship hunt than those who were trying to procure their first internship this summer. Experience is kinda a funny thing because it seems like in order to get some, you need to have had some already.</p>