<p>I'm currently a first year EECS student, and I've been getting my ass handed to me the first two months of school. Learning from my mistakes, I have started to change how I study and I am now transitioning to college classes pretty well. Nevertheless, with only finals remaining, my chances of getting good grades are disappearing, despite my improvements over the course of this semester. </p>
<p>My course load for this semester is CS61A, Math53, and Physics7A, and I expect to get a B in CS61A, a B in Math53, and probably a C in Physics7A. That's around a 2.5 GPA. </p>
<p>I guess my question is: Am i in a position to apply to research positions or internships this spring/summer/fall with a Bs and Cs on my transcript? Would you recommend taking summer classes to maybe have a little more time to improve my GPA?</p>
<p>I’m not in EECS or anything related, so take this with a grain of salt, but I’d suggest spending your summer taking classes. Look into research options the summer between your 2nd and 3rd year if you’ve improved academically.</p>
<p>My view on research and internships while in college is they should be supplemental to your studies. You do it once you have a solid GPA. If you don’t have a solid GPA, focus on academics until you do.</p>
<p>But I’m just a political science major, so what do I know? Hopefully someone with more applicable experience will chime in.</p>
<p>I agree with nick_scheu that you should probably focus on your GPA before you spend a lot of time on research/internships. But with that being said, many research professors won’t even care what your GPA is, just that you have a strong interest in their field of study. My research prof didn’t even ask me what my GPA was (I wish she would!) when I emailed her for the first time haha. Internships with companies and stuff will probably be more difficult to obtain with a lower GPA, though.</p>
<p>When it comes to GPA, there is no such thing as high enough. Most EECS research professors do check your GPA and classes you’ve taken. You definitely need to improve your GPA before you start looking for a research position.</p>
10char</p>