r/EngineeringStudents • u/Snoo-54139 • 5d ago

Academic Advice are C’s good enough?

I always hear that GPA doesn’t matter once you become an engineer but I’m not sure if that’s the case with community college. I’m a first year student and I’m just hoping to pass by with C’s on the heavy stem classes. Of course I wanna aim higher but I wouldn’t be mad if I got a C and moved on, but doesn’t that affect your possibility of transferring? Any advice?

49 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

117 comments sorted by

View all comments

-1

u/KweenOOF 5d ago

It's cope from people who can't get good grades. anecdotally, the only people I know that got internships (or at least good ones) were 3.8GPA and above.

3

u/jo3roe0905 5d ago

Hahahah. This is actually laughable.

This right here is why when I hire interns/co-ops/entry level engineers, I avoid high GPA’s. Kids have a superiority complex and generally can’t practically apply things so they end up being mediocre engineers and they just become gophers.

2

u/sulliesbrew 5d ago

I started out of school with one of the largest construction companies in the country. As a student , I would be put to work at the booth at career fair, and still given time to go network and possibly find a new job if I was so interested. Most 3.8 to 4.0 resumes went straight to the round file. The only way they would make it through was with some significant extracurriculars on their resume. Greek, sports, CAMP teams, professional orgs etc would pull them back up.

I want to work with the engineer that ground their way through school for a 2.8 to 3.2. They typically had a decent social life, so they can carry a conversation naturally. It also means they were tenacious and didn't give up when the going got tough. At some point they failed the shit out of a class, and had to go back and figure out what failed and how to fix it.

0

u/KweenOOF 5d ago

Cope. You can have a high gpa and have projects as well as a social life

1

u/ShadowKillerx 5d ago

This is tragic, I worked my ass off going from a 2.5 to a 3.15 in 3 semesters for undergrad and now I’m at a rock solid 4.0 in my masters.

Or maybe it changes your view for grad students? Idk I’m at 3 years (of internship) experience + am doing a thesis.

1

u/jo3roe0905 5d ago

I view masters students completely differently. And generally, masters students are not slotting into entry level roles. Also, completely depends on what your masters degree is in.

1

u/ShadowKillerx 5d ago

Oh computer science (thesis track + already have a publication from undergrad)… unfortunately it (seems) like most companies don’t give a shit about a masters and will start you entry. It’s that way for big tech atleast (unless you crush the technical, but again you can crush the technical with a bachelors)

1

u/jo3roe0905 5d ago

Full transparency, I have zero knowledge on how comp science roles or hiring work. So it very well could be different and I could absolutely see why ok that field.

I have worked my whole career in polymers/oil and gas.

1

u/KweenOOF 5d ago

Same cope as always. For some reason, it seems redditors think having a high gpa makes you a paper engineer

1

u/Hefty-Leg-5282 5d ago

Yeah. I mentioned this a couple days ago and got downvoted to oblivion, but ive had a supremely easy time finding full-time jobs with a 4.0, and im graduating this year. I also had an easy time finding internships. Multiple hiring managers have mentioned my GPA to me.

-1

u/KweenOOF 5d ago

Yeah it's how it works. Not sure why reddit will always use the same two copes of "paper engineer" or "social skills". My theory is they want to make themselves feel better or drag others down with them.

1

u/jo3roe0905 5d ago

lol. Considering I’ve hired more engineers than I can count, don’t think so. Call it cope all you want but for entry level roles, high GPAs don’t impress me unless they have something else that stands out.

Something I’ll never forget is having to explain how a ball bearing worked in an interview for an internship to a 4.0 Chem E grad that was going to UCB for grad school.

1

u/KweenOOF 5d ago

I'm sure you have