For the engineers on here

[RESmonkey]

Heya

I'm at my second year in electrical/computer engineering at a top school (top 3), but my GPA is okayish (3.2). It might drop lower this semester, and I've started to worry about job outlook with sub-3.0 GPAs. What are your takes on hiring someone with a sub-3.0 but from a top school?
Would a good portfolio of projects worked on be appealing?

Thanks

 

[Matthiasa]

I'm at a no name school with a similar gpa and have an interview for a co-op position at a huge company soon. (read still in college)
I'll say for you that it shouldn't be to bad.
Oh and for a real response internships and co-ops always look good.

 

[Bignate603]

Until you get your GPA up no one is even going to look at your portfolio for your first job. Most places would toss all new grads with a sub 3.0 GPA directly in the circular file. I knew a guy with a 2.7 that didn't get a single interview his whole last semester.

If you can't keep your grades up the last thing you want to do is to start other projects to add to a portfolio.

 

[endervalentine]

If it's below 3.0 it'll be hard to get through the system's auto-filter and even if you have some in the inside to get the manager to look at the resume it's still a little tough to get an interview.

You're only in your 2nd year, you still have time to bring up your major GPA since you really haven't taken that many upper division courses yet. If you're able to do really well in your major GPA, you can just use that instead.

Since you're from a top school, I'm sure you guys have on-campus job fairs, that's your chance to bypass any auto resume filters, you can talk to the hiring rep. face to face and talk about the different projects, etc.

Personally, when I review a resume it's, Internships, Projects, then GPA. So don't worry too much about it, just make sure to work hard! Good luck!

 

[Martin]

Maybe I just got lucky, but no one ever bothered asking me for a GPA. I did CompEng at one of the top Canadian universities, got a nice internship, did some interesting projects and by the time I started looking for work, I had enough skills and confidence not to bother with that. If I remember correctly, my final 4-year GPA was average or slightly below - 2.7 or something like that.

 

[misle]

My GPA was 2.6 or 2.8 and I had several interviews and landed a job pretty quickly. I didn't have one lined up when I graduated, but that was because my interview skills sucked.

I didn't put my GPA on my resume and only one job interview asked what it was and they made the largest offer. Then after two years working for them, I applied at a company that wouldn't even look at you if your GPA was less than 3.2 and got hired on almost immediately.

After your first job, I don't think GPA matters at all.

 

[gorcorps]

Until you get your GPA up no one is even going to look at your portfolio for your first job. Most places would toss all new grads with a sub 3.0 GPA directly in the circular file. I knew a guy with a 2.7 that didn't get a single interview his whole last semester.

If you can't keep your grades up the last thing you want to do is to start other projects to add to a portfolio.

Total bullshit. It varies wildly with the company, your degree, the position they're looking for, etc...

Plenty of companies will consider you, but there are a select few companies that require 3.0 or better. From what I've seen (in my field) companies that absolutely require better than 3.0 are the minority. Especially if you're from a decent school like you say, then a degree from there will look better than a higher GPA from a lesser known school.

 

[esun]

Basically all of my friends managed to find employment regardless of GPA (and I knew people sub-3.0 in undergrad and sub-3.2 in grad school, both of which would be "bad" GPAs). However, you might as well try to give yourself every advantage you can when finding a job, and that includes having a good GPA.

 

[Bignate603]

Total bullshit. It varies wildly with the company, your degree, the position they're looking for, etc...

Plenty of companies will consider you, but there are a select few companies that require 3.0 or better. From what I've seen (in my field) companies that absolutely require better than 3.0 are the minority. Especially if you're from a decent school like you say, then a degree from there will look better than a higher GPA from a lesser known school.

You may disagree but it happened to the guy. I didn't see the rest of his resume though. He was deadweight during the group project I had to do with him (not by choice) so he may not have anything to actually put on it, or find anyone that was willing to be a reference for him.

 

[gorcorps]

You may disagree but it happened to the guy. I didn't see the rest of his resume though. He was deadweight during the group project I had to do with him (not by choice) so he may not have anything to actually put on it, or find anyone that was willing to be a reference for him.

Oh I believe it happened to the guy, but it might have more to do with his interview skills and, like you said, was worthless and didn't try all that hard. I'm just saying that in my experience as an engineer, the 3.0 isn't a requirement for most of the companies I've interviewed with and talked to.

 

[Bignate603]

Oh I believe it happened to the guy, but it might have more to do with his interview skills and, like you said, was worthless and didn't try all that hard. I'm just saying that in my experience as an engineer, the 3.0 isn't a requirement for most of the companies I've interviewed with and talked to.

I had a couple that made it clear that they had a hard limit when I interviewed 2 years ago, but they tended to be the large companies that were just trying to filter out the resumes that got fed into their automated system. The smaller companies didn't come out and say that they had any sort of cutoff.

 

[RedCOMET]

OP,

Get an internship while your at school for a semester. Most companies I was interested in when I was a new grad (07) were loooking for 3.0. Some mentioned it directly in job listings when they did career fairs while others did not.

Experience AND decent GPA can be worth more than just a Bad ass GPA.

 

[rcpratt]

Having above a 3.0 is fairly important. It's not mandatory, but there are some companies that will filter you out if you're below that.

I'm graduating in May with a 2.9 in Nuclear Engineering in a top 5 undergrad nuke university. I've had four interviews and have picked a job from them, $68k starting salary. I've also had two summers of valuable experience in the industry. It's critical that you get some experience in respected internships or co-ops after your soph and junior years.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Well, it really depends on whether or not you're really going to one of the top three engineering schools, which arguably should be some of the following: MIT, Stanford, CalTech, GaTech, UC Berkley, Carnegie Mellon, UI Urbana. I'd expect that companies recruiting at those schools be giving you credit for the quality of their programs even if your overall GPA is just so-so.

Anything that helps set you apart from other run-of-the-mill graduates is a good thing. As others have suggested, meaningful summer work experience through a co-op program is top of the list.

That said, it's a little early for worries. Sophomore slumps are pretty common. Maybe you can turn things around next year when the grades mean more. Given the state of the economy and the job market, you might want them high enough to go on for a masters degree too.

Good luck