<p>I know that WPI ranks high in terms of job placement upon graduation, but upon talking to couple of seniors from WPI I have come to learn that they didn't have job offer while they were graduating. Some of them had 3.4, 3.2 GPAs. What should I take away from that? Do most of the students not get a job offer while they graduate? If so, how does WPI rank that high for Job placement upon graduation. I am so confused now :</p>
<p>This is the worst job market since the Great Depression.
Some majors may have more career opportunities than others.</p>
<p>I agree with marymac - a decrease in job opportunities isn’t hitting only WPI, it’s happening everywhere. WPI’s placement numbers are excellent compared to peer colleges. </p>
<p>So, do consider the course of study. I’ve read that computer science jobs are recovering/expanding more quickly than mechanical engineering jobs, for example. (Maybe the article I read in ACM TechNews was biased - I didn’t research it deeply - but I’ve read other articles with employment stats that seem to support this statement.) But having said that, if you’re passionate about mechanical engineering, do it in spite of the “numbers.” That passion will show in your work and your grades; you’ll get a job.</p>
<p>@goodncolo ACM TechNews is quite biased. Some new tech jobs are coming but for the most part, computer science job growth will not be in the US. Mechanical engineering jobs are also out there but there are lots of MechE grads out there so you must be competitive. </p>
<p>In today’s market, a 3.2 GPA is just merely “good enough” (especially at WPI where 2.0 is the GPA floor due to C being the lowest grade). But with internships and/or research experience as well as aggressive job hunting, it does not bar an applicant from a good entry-level engineering job. Many students who haven’t landed jobs haven’t applied to enough jobs or do not look beyond jobs in competitive “cutting-edge” subfields.</p>