Engineering Majors and low GPAs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS switched specialties within the Engineering School and that helped a lot. Would that help? Some specialties are much harder than others (ChemE).

You think ChemE is the easiest? or the hardest?

Hardest. By a long shot.

[Anonymous]

Heard of kids switching from MechE to CivilE. Could make life easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College boards on reddit are full of engineering kids with awful GPAs struggling to get call backs and jobs. "Interview went well, I thought, but then they brought up my GPA..." sort of stuff.

It's a giant red flag. Why would a hiring manager risk their own skin to hire some kid who's a liability?

I don't know where you are exactly but here in the DMV, there are plenty of engineering kids with awful GPAs but they have AWS cloud certifications. I can guarantee that those kids have no shortage for getting high paying IT jobs, especially in the gov. contracting sector.

Define "awful" GPA. And are the awful GPA kids white... or female/URM?

[Anonymous]

white *male... or female/URM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "let them find their own way" is such Psychology Today bull****. Most kids if left to their own devices will just piss your money away on the easiest degree and party. Then you can have fun paying their rent through their 20s and for the grad degree they'll need when it finally clicks in their 20s that their BA was so damn easy because it was essentially worthless.

Unclench, please.

My kid, left to his own devices, has chosen a hard major and is struggling. He is certainly not partying too much. He is crushed right now.

[Anonymous]

I think that frankly at a 2.0 from an OK engineering school like Clemson and you will find a job. Maybe not 'the' job, but 'A' job. There are plenty of kids with 3.5 and above there and everywhere else. I would say that just looking at it logically, he is probably in the bottom 25% of his class, possibly lower. You are likely faced with fewer choices and more compromises when it comes time to get a job. By no means is it impossible. I had a roommate who graduated with something in the low 2s for a GPA and he has an amazing job 20 years later but he got very lucky and was extremely aggressive with pursuing companies. That would be my advice. I don't think you will end up with great choices if you follow the traditional recruiting process.

[Anonymous]

I don’t believe any of you are actual engineers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe any of you are actual engineers.

I think they are disgruntled kids whose GPAs weren't what they wanted.

It is important to remember that half of all students are in the bottom half of the class. They go on to good lives. Even the engineers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College boards on reddit are full of engineering kids with awful GPAs struggling to get call backs and jobs. "Interview went well, I thought, but then they brought up my GPA..." sort of stuff.

It's a giant red flag. Why would a hiring manager risk their own skin to hire some kid who's a liability?

I don't know where you are exactly but here in the DMV, there are plenty of engineering kids with awful GPAs but they have AWS cloud certifications. I can guarantee that those kids have no shortage for getting high paying IT jobs, especially in the gov. contracting sector.

Define "awful" GPA. And are the awful GPA kids white... or female/URM?

Awful GPA like between 2.0 and 2.3. Race or gender is not an issue as long as they have AWS cloud certifications. That's what government contractors are looking for, highly sought after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe any of you are actual engineers.

I think they are disgruntled kids whose GPAs weren't what they wanted.

It is important to remember that half of all students are in the bottom half of the class. They go on to good lives. Even the engineers.

2.0-2.4 GPA is more like bottom 5% of the class, not bottom 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College boards on reddit are full of engineering kids with awful GPAs struggling to get call backs and jobs. "Interview went well, I thought, but then they brought up my GPA..." sort of stuff.

It's a giant red flag. Why would a hiring manager risk their own skin to hire some kid who's a liability?

I don't know where you are exactly but here in the DMV, there are plenty of engineering kids with awful GPAs but they have AWS cloud certifications. I can guarantee that those kids have no shortage for getting high paying IT jobs, especially in the gov. contracting sector.

+1. They’re in heavy demand in this area. My colleagues and I in hiring joke that we chose the wrong field.

[Anonymous]

You folks are making me feel like Einstein with my 3.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS switched specialties within the Engineering School and that helped a lot. Would that help? Some specialties are much harder than others (ChemE).

You think ChemE is the easiest? or the hardest?

Hardest. By a long shot.

My kid graduated with 3.85 ChemE. I guess I should’ve given him more credit. He never said a word but always looked tired whenever I saw him.

[Anonymous]

As a member of recruiting at an engineering firm, I assure you we do look at the whole package but a GPA below 2.9 is a red flag. We wouldn't even consider a candidate with a GPA of 2.5 and under. Everyone assumes GPAs do not matter, just the degree. Not true and it doesn't matter what year you graduated. Of course, life experiences can easily overtake a low GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a member of recruiting at an engineering firm, I assure you we do look at the whole package but a GPA below 2.9 is a red flag. We wouldn't even consider a candidate with a GPA of 2.5 and under. Everyone assumes GPAs do not matter, just the degree. Not true and it doesn't matter what year you graduated. Of course, life experiences can easily overtake a low GPA.

I graduated in computer engineering with a 2.85. I even had straight As the first semester of my senior year. The course work was challenging, but the problem for me was all the projects due at once during the semester (especially with EE and CS classes). Looking back on it, I should have been in CS not CpE. It turned out ok for me. I had 2 summers as an intern at a Fortune 100 company and was recruited better than most of my friends who had better GPAs. Experience matters, but there are a few things that would have been easier with a GPA over 3.0. Grad school wasn't an easy option either. I should have transferred to another major, but I didn't know any better.