<p>I've been wondering for a while which of types is better when it comes to college internship hunting.</p>
<p>Student with 3.80 GPA, work experience not relevant (cashier, or unskilled work), resume not spectacular because it lacks any demonstration of leadership or involvement in the field.</p>
<p>Student with 3.00 GPA, vice-president of relevant on-campus organization, couple slightly relevant (skilled) jobs, resume stands out.</p>
<p>Assuming same schools.</p>
<p>which do you think would get chosen for an interview?</p>
<p>(basically the description of me is the first one...)</p>
<p>It depends on the personality type I think would fit the job. If I wanted a cloistered academic that will work like a busy little bee than I’d hire type 1. For anything else though I’d almost always hire the leader personality, especially if it was a job that had potential for upward mobility.</p>
<p>From the people I have mentored across the years, the 2nd person really needs to overcompensate to even get the interview. The high GPA person just needs a relevant job or a leadership position and good networking will get the interview. </p>
<p>3.0 is far too low, but if it was a 3.3 or 3.4, that candidate would probably get the interview.</p>
<p>wait, seriously? I’m definitely a candidate #2 because my GPA is awful ( < 3.0) due to the lovely engineering core and lack of grade inflation at my school. Thing is, I’d probably have at least a 3.5 at any of the schools that my HS friends are going to, and its not like they’re at community colleges. I’m learning a lot more, working a lot harder, and you’re saying I’m going to get tossed just because of my GPA? That doesn’t sound right, especially considering that my school has pretty nice job/grad school placement rates.</p>
<p>^ Hang in there, I know it sucks but its true to SOME extent. There are some companies that want people to stick around after the summer work. The kid with a very high gpa will probably leave them hanging for another company. So if 3.8 is going to use company ABC as a stepping stone to get to… Intel, Google, Boeing- Would you want such a person? I wouldn’t.</p>
<p>But engineering 3.0+ is not bad. I am around 3.3, and I think its not easy at my school. What you can do is make up for gpa by learning other skills. If your EE, try learning programming languages and drafting software like autoCAD.</p>
<p>Although I understand this is a vague/general question for a comparison, there is a bit more which companies consider. Factors such as majors which have tougher grading/curves, possible reasons for lower GPA (have to work X hrs during semesters to support yourself), course work attempted, etc. </p>
<p>A EE major applying for the same internship as a liberal arts major mostly can’t be compared directly, as it’s like apples and oranges. EE may have a 3.2 and the liberal arts 3.7, but the companies know the EE course work is more demanding and often curved down. The student with lower GPA, but works a lot during semester for valid reasons, could have one of the best GPA’s if they could allocate the work hours on academics. And say you have two people with same major, but different GPAs, the lower may have taken hard classes relevant to the job, and the higher took easier general courses which aren’t revelant to the job.</p>
<p>Generally though the GPA trumps everything else. College attending/GPA are the first things on your resume. For internships the companies expect you to have little experience and worked unskilled jobs. There is no point having mountains of work experience and clubs if your GPA is hurt as a result. Competative internships will get a lot of interest and your resume will get glanced at. If they throw out the resume b.c of GPA they’ll never read far enough to see anything else. </p>
<p>If you can do some leadship in clubs or revelant work without hurting your GPA too much (3.8 to a 3.7 or 3.6 if the position is worth it) then I’d do it. Just don’t worry about comparing yourself to other candidates as companies have different hiring pratices and value things differently.</p>