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Once your working and doing the real thing no one give two shyts or crap what your gpa was in college. The real test is can you perfom in work.
Yes and no. The path to the top can be much longer.
Merit is a long-run equilibrium concept. In the long-run, it is about performance. In the short- to intermediate-run, strategy and tactics are just as important.
Do you know what they call a guy who passes his medical exams with a 70?
"Doctor".
Yes, you can be a doctor or an engineer with just barely passing grades. But would you REALLY want a doctor working on you who just barely passed, or a chem engineer mixing up potentially lethal chemicals who didn't apply himself to his studies? Or an engineer dealing with sewage systems to get the drainage and runoffs right 70% of the time? I don't think so!
You could go one step further and say that 50% of all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class
I don't care what grades he got if he can do the job. There are too many book smart people out there that can graduate with that 4.0 but can't apply it to anything in the real world. Engineering is no different.
If someone with lower than what should be expected GPA or test scores can graduate then what does that say about that person? He/she has other things on their mind or maybe the school is too tough.... I have never come across a person PhD, MD or one who has achieve a Masters Degree to have a lower than 3.0 GPA....
My former university would not consider a candidate for a Masters Degree with under 3.0 GPA or a PhD candidate with a GPA under 3.5.....
Yes, some colleges and unitversities are tougher than others but if they are too tough why attend when one doesn't understand the course curriculum. There are some such as my wife who has the smarts and common sense for a 4.0 sfrom the Univ of Penn. I on the other hand tried much harder to get a 3.75 in Undergrand and Grad school.
Some are just gifted in the fields of common sense and understanding life in general.
I still take a good look at GPA when selecting employees worthy of my company. My dad was an Engineer and he always said you gotta do good while training in college and I still believe it to be true. Many people change and it is our lifeblood but I would rather see how one propels themself before I hire them. ....Attitude means a lot. You seem to have a great perspective in life.
Good luck I think a good attitude during an interview will propel you.
...
If you are a recent undergrad it is very important. When my husband was hired right after he graduated collage the company was only considering 3.0 or above because he was been hired into a program that required him to complete a MS in Engineering.
I already had my graduate degree when I was hired so GPA was not that relevant (it was already implied it was good).
Also in my field/industry very rarely you stay with only a BS, most engineers nowadays will pursue a graduate degree and in order to be accepted at a decent school you will need at least 3.0.
So yes it is important, specially early on in your career.
Depends on the company/position. High GPA's can be impressive to big intl. corporations hiring for engineering, product design, IT depts.... I run a small company and hire engineers only for sales/support positions. I require an undergrad degree in engineering but am less focused on GPA. For sales, I look at technical expertise/GPA but am more impressed by social/interpersonal skills and extracurriculars/job experience. Some of our best sales engineers have had lower GPA's in engineering school but have been stars at networking/customer relationship building.
I've heard that generally employers dont really look at your gpa. Does this hold true in the Engineering field?
I mean as long as your have your degree, does it matter if you have a like a 2.5 gpa?
I know for a FACT that some companies won't even look at you if you do not meet a minimum GPA requirement and you didn't go to a school with reputable accreditation.
I've seen some places that wouldn't look at you unless your GPA was 3.8 or higher but they are few and far between. The majority I've seen that have min GPA requirements are set at 3.0 to 3.5 range. The company I went to work for out of school had a 3.0 minimum if I recall.
But they don't JUST look at GPA...they also look at your activities and in interviews they try to cut out the folks who lack social skills, have problems with organization, show little or no business etiquette, etc.
There are some companies out there who don't pay much attention to GPA's...but I don't think I interviewed with any like that.
I've heard that generally employers dont really look at your gpa. Does this hold true in the Engineering field?
I mean as long as your have your degree, does it matter if you have a like a 2.5 gpa?
Yes it does! I work with a colleague who has an Electrical Engineering degree and cannot find a job to save his life. He's been out of school for about four years, and has a GPA in the 2.7 range.
He says that he's looking for a job that deals with RF design, but by the way the he's going he'll be lucky if he can find that type of job by the time he's 30.
I've heard that generally employers dont really look at your gpa. Does this hold true in the Engineering field?
I mean as long as your have your degree, does it matter if you have a like a 2.5 gpa?
Only for the first job. After that, what you accomplished on the job matters more than your GPA.
I had a GPA of 3.8 and can't buy a job in this market. I'm pigeon holed as an automotive engineer because that's where my experience is and there are few jobs to be had in the automotive sector and those are highly specialized. I WISH GPA mattered longer than for 6 months after you graduate.
At the moment, I'm teaching chemistry and physics making less than half of what I made before as an engineer. You do what you have to in a tough economy.
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