<p>Just finished first quarter, got a 3.02. I'm an engineering major and was wondering what kind of GPA I should strive for to get good internships/jobs/grad school(obviously 4.0 will get me jobs, but I'm talking realistic)? </p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there's engineering grade deflation too, right? I took 5 math/science related courses this quarter (math, chem, chem lab, comp sci, engineering writing).</p>
<p>Make an appointment with a counselor at the career center that specializes in engineering. They should be familiar with recent placement of students in internships and can tell you what GPA the students had. Also they should be familiar with the qualifications employers recruiting on campus request.</p>
<p>Beamers: Just went through this with the dd. People who don’t have engineering majors don’t understand how difficult this major is.</p>
<p>Try to keep above a 3.0 to get interviews and internships. By the time you graduate, you need to have over a 3.0 to have your resume received, and the employers WILL ask.</p>
<p>Husband is an EE. DD is an EE with SW engineering coursework.</p>
<p>I had some more thoughts to add to the thread, what I wished someone would tell me if I was in your position. I’d say you want to aim for a GPA of 3.6 or better. Before I get shrieks of horror posted in response, I am not saying that you need this to succeed. But having this kind of GPA sends strong messages to prospective employers [ul][<em>]When you took the class you knew the material well. If it has slipped a bit in memory you can quickly relearn it. [</em>]You can discipline yourself to work hard[li]You can learn new material[/ul]There are some on-campus interviews for internships but more often companies collect resumes and managers then go thru the stack to figure out who they want to call for a phone screen. UCSB is a fine school but may not have the same name recognition as some other schools like Cal. However a GPA of 3.6 or higher on a resume in an engineering program speaks for itself.</p>[/li]
<p>The next issue is how do you get that GPA? The prime reason students don’t do well or leave engineering is lack of self-discipline. Good students often spend 6-10 hours per week outside of each class studying. Add it all up and its a full-time job. That doesn’t mean college is nothing but drudgery. A few years from now when you’re in the workforce you’ll be working 40+ hours a week, yet the fun won’t be over. You just need to pick your times – then, and now. </p>
<p>A second reason is poor study skills. Ironically this hits especially hard in engineering since you have to be a smart kid to get accepted, and smart kids often got thru HS on native smarts and never acquired good study habits. One thing that always irks me is when people say that if you major in a science or engineering “you learn how to study” as if it were taught the same way calculus or physics might be. I’d wager you will go thru your college years without a prof or TA once taking even a few minutes to talk about how the better students go about learning the material. So learning how to learn is something I suggest you carve out some time for. </p>
<p>A book I highly recommend is “What Smart Students Know” that lays out study skills for different subjects. You can look around at UCSB and see if they have a Study Center that can help you improve. One of the strongest findings in research on learning is the importance of frequent testing. Many students prefer to study by reviewing the material, confusing familiarity with recall. It all seems to be there as they read the chapter or their notes, but on the test they find they can’t bring back what they felt so confident they knew. See [Why</a> Students Think They Understand—When They Don’t](<a href=“http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/winter0304/willingham.cfm]Why”>Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Why Students Think They Understand—When They Don't) for an explanation of why this happens. For most of you classes you can buy problem-solver books such as “The Calculus Problem Solver”. During those 6-10 hours per week studying for each class you do extra problems from the book until you are consistently getting them right. This is self-testing, right in line with the research, and is why people are often advised to work extra problems to get better. Another tip is at [The</a> Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/11/14/how-to-ace-calculus-the-art-of-doing-well-in-technical-courses/#more-534]The”>How to Ace Calculus: The Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses - Cal Newport) And once you know the material you need to have a regular practice schedule so you don’t forget it. Flip back and solve a few old problems each week. See [Practice</a> Makes Perfect—but Only If You Practice Beyond the Point of Perfection](<a href=“http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/spring2004/willingham.cfm]Practice”>Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Practice Makes Perfect—But Only If You Practice beyond the Point of Perfection) for the explanation why.</p>
<p>There is one more thing you need to do. Get involved in a student engineering project such as a robotics competition. One benefit is networking. You’ll be with the students most interested in engineering and have a chance to learn from their examples, as well as hear of openings and opportunities they happen to learn about. You need the knowledge you learn in class, but companies aren’t going to hire you to sit and take exams. They want you to apply what you’ve learned, and student projects are a chance to build that skill. This is especially important in landing that first internship. Given 2 candidates with similar GPAs the one that has taken part in actually applying it will have a big leg up.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice guys, I’ll try to maintain over 3.0 but hopefully I can break the 3.5+ barrier. Just gotta power through and manage a balanced schedule. Rather than one week chilling and one week cramming hardcore haha.</p>
<p>The problem with engineering coursework is the labs. The labs have major projects that take many hours and involve teamwork assigned by the course professors. If one person doesn’t show, you’re stuck with your team partner’s grade. My dd had excellent study habits, what she couldn’t stand were the team projects and relying on others for her grade. She often ended up taking over the projects because people would not do their share. Engineering is not just about cracking open a book and knowing what to focus on, it’s also about time management with 4 other courses. </p>
<p>All of the good study habits in the world can’t make up for those labs that are directly related to your course grade and include:
*The GA’s never opening the labs- a lot of those GA’s at my dd’s school were often international students being paid to be GA’s, who could barely speak English; they were required to open the labs, which after complaints by the students to the professors, penalized students with bad grades in the labs.
*Partners who were assigned crucial pieces of the projects, waiting until the last minute to complete their portion of projects.
*Professors who were unwilling to change out absent partner group members.
*Professors with thick accents who were difficult to understand and would not provide notes, course texts or relevant articles.
*Professors who, in their pompous attitudes, gave a one-problem final exam with 30 components, as a final; no other measures used to grade the students. Not available for office hours because he “works” and multiple no-show lectures. Not available by email or wouldn’t answer student emails.
(My dh, an MSEE from Stanford, a known expert in his field with 30 years experience, constantly asked by UC to teach, would be asked to review some of dd’s exams and he would finally figure out what the professor was trying to get from the students and would find errors in the prompts.) </p>
<p>Ask any former engineering student and you’ll find that these things occur more often than not with adversely impacts your grades. If you have a theory-based university program, then use a book to get your grades. If you have a practical and theory-based university, find a good reliable group of engineering partners and try to stick together to help each other.</p>
<p>So, shoot for above 3.0 gpa.</p>