Undergrad Engineering GPA to aim for

[atlanta_dad]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

[livesoft]

Aim for? Better than 4.0 because Why not?

Years ago I had a lengthy conversation with the guy sitting next to me on a flight. He described how he graduated from college with the lowest possible GPA that one could have and still graduate. Then he went on to say how recruiters would stop the interview as soon as they learned his GPA was below 3.5. So then he started lying about his GPA, got a great job, became a recruiter for an engineering start-up, made millions in the IPO and retired early. He was on his fifth or sixth gin-and-tonic by the end of the 3 hour flight.

[DoubleComma]

I rather arrogantly self-extracted from several interviews right out of college and early in my career because the company wanted documented proof of my GPA. I didn't think it matter, I graduated and could prove the degree, so why did my actual GPA matter. It was rather short sighted of me to take this attitude, although I now hold a VP role in a F500 and have never documented my GPA. Point is it worked for me, but I don't think it would still work today, and we set GPA standards for out kids.

Our company doesn't have a GPA policy per se, but we do ask early in career and college recruits about their GPA and college experience. Anyone under ~3.5 might get a couple extra questions. For example the student it took 6 years to graduate with a 2.9, but worked and put themselves through school with no loans will be more favorably viewed than the 3.3 but doesn't have a compelling back story. We don't fish out this back story, we ask a couple leading questions and see what is shared.

To answer your question specifically I would say a 3.5 or better would be no concern.

[alex_686]

Years ago I had a lengthy conversation with the guy sitting next to me on a flight. He described how he graduated from college with the lowest possible GPA that one could have and still graduate.

Question: If the top student in a graduation class of doctors is called a valedictorian, what do you call the person with the lowest class standing?

Answer: Doctor.

OP: What is your daughter's end goal? At her age I would kind of suspect, and hope, that she does not have one. The world is a big place and college is often the place where horizons are expanded.

Grades matter. Getting a good internship also matters. Thus having a good demeaner and positive interactions with the professors is also helpful.

On a related note, I have worked/mentored college interns. The ones with the highest GPA are not always the ones that I recommend for hire. Sometimes they are just not a good fit for the position.

[quantAndHold]

Before I retired five years ago, I worked for several tech companies, and did a lot of college hiring, so I probably interviewed about 300 soon to be or recent grads.

This is going to sound kind of flip, but grades don’t matter. A lot of the time, I didn’t know what their grades were when I was interviewing and making hiring decisions. The thing is, though, that the kids that did better on interviews, and that we were more likely to hire, tended to have better GPAs. I got to the point where I could interview a kid without knowing their GPA, and then guess what their GPA was pretty easily. 3.5 seemed to be the dividing line between kids who were serious about what they were doing and kids that weren’t. We hired kids with <3.5, but much less often.

So, the bottom line is that grades don’t matter, but it helps to be the kind of person that gets good grades.

[JoeRetire]

I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects.

She should aim to do the best she possibly can.

Why would she want to aim for anything else?

[BernardShakey]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

Virginia Tech is a great engineering school. My guess is anything at or over a 3.5 will set her up just fine. Good luck to her!

[atlanta_dad]

I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects.

She should aim to do the best she possibly can.

Why would she want to aim for anything else?

Yes I would expect she will do her best. But kids sometimes may not take things seriously until it is too late to correct. This is for my knowledge and when it is time to review her grades I need to know if she is on the right track or not. Thank you!

[iamlucky13]

I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects.

I would approach the question with a different mindset:

She should aim for as good as she is capable of. She probably won't achieve what she hopes, but it's good set a realistic but ambitious target and work for it.

She could prove to be extremely capable, but after being told 3.0 is a good GPA in engineering, just settle for that and sell herself short.

With that said, I would expect a 3.5 to be sufficient for nearly all job opportunities. I don't have good data, but think that roughly aligns with the top quintile. Between 3 and 3.5 there may be some job opportunities where her resume gets passed over on the basis of the employer having a satisfactory number of candidates with higher GPA's, but she will still be highly employable.

Between 2 and 3, I think there could be more frequent challenges getting interviews, but still a good number of opportunities. I don't know the GPA's of my classmates, but most of those who I think had GPA's above 2.0 (as we periodically discussed test scores) did get jobs in some sort of engineering work.

Below 2 and I start to be concerned whether the curriculum is being well enough understood, and it could be hard to find a job that is a good fit. Of the classmates who I think had GPA's below 2.0, it was mixed whether they found jobs in engineering. Many others changed majors in the first year or two. In these cases, I think demonstrated practical experience was the key factor. One person in particular I think flunked a couple of his required classes and dropped out after 3 years, but because he could manage C's on certain topics, and he had very good mechanical aptitude and shop experience, he got a technician job that overlapped with basic engineering responsibilities.

Now for the warning I'm sure you've heard before but is worth repeating:

GPA is far from all that counts. I had a pretty good GPA, and my extracurricular involvement was above average, too, but many of my classmates who I'm certain had lower GPA's found jobs after graduation more quickly than I did. In particular, there was one major employer that was high on my interest list that I applied for quite a few open positions with. I never managed to get an interview. One of my classmates, who I know struggled quite a bit in class, sailed straight through the application process and was hired I think to the first job she applied for at that company.

Meanwhile, one of my best friends was definitely smarter than me, and I think had very close to a 4.0, but was a very reserved person who I suspect did not interview well. It took him a lot longer than me to find a job.

[starboi]

> 3.0. But internships are more important than grades.

[JoeRetire]

I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects.

She should aim to do the best she possibly can.

Why would she want to aim for anything else?

Yes I would expect she will do her best. But kids sometimes may not take things seriously until it is too late to correct. This is for my knowledge and when it is time to review her grades I need to know if she is on the right track or not. Thank you!

So review her grades each semester and decide if you and she feel that she did her best.

There's no magic GPA number for that.

[warowits]

Grades vary by institution and major. I have heard from an engineer that at their school an out of state recruiter rolled in for a job fair and told the placement office they only wanted to see people over a certain GPA. The school official laughed at them and told them there was only one student who qualified, and he had significantly better job prospects than that company.

Better to just try hard and see what you can do, as the numbers are not really comparable between schools. Also being a woman in engineering will make her resume stand out in a way that it might not as a lawyer or a doctor. I doubt she will have employment issues.

[iamlucky13]

Before I retired five years ago, I worked for several tech companies, and did a lot of college hiring, so I probably interviewed about 300 soon to be or recent grads.

This is going to sound kind of flip, but grades don’t matter. A lot of the time, I didn’t know what their grades were when I was interviewing and making hiring decisions. The thing is, though, that the kids that did better on interviews, and that we were more likely to hire, tended to have better GPAs. I got to the point where I could interview a kid without knowing their GPA, and then guess what their GPA was pretty easily. 3.5 seemed to be the dividing line between kids who were serious about what they were doing and kids that weren’t. We hired kids with <3.5, but much less often.

So, the bottom line is that grades don’t matter, but it helps to be the kind of person that gets good grades.

I don't have your background in hiring, but from being on the other side of the table enough times and gauging how those conversations have gone, I'm going to assert that GPA matters for a recent graduate in order to get an interview, but the interview tries to establish the rest of the story that the GPA can't. Is their knowledge practical or purely academic? Do they seem to remember the core principles or were they just good at taking tests? Do they seem to understand the specific type of work we want done? Do they seem like an agreeable person to work alongside?

My understanding is the ratio is something very roughly like 100-200 applicants, 5 interviewees, 1 hire.

So what I'm curious about is did you review those perhaps 6,000-12,000 resumes to select those 300 interviewees, or did someone else do the screening to prepare a list of candidates worth taking you away from your regular duties to evaluate? If the latter, that person probably did look at GPA as one of their criteria.

[Morgan22]

In the past I worked for a fortune 500 company that wanted to see a GPA of 3.7 or higher for new college graduates. You could get special permission from HR to override this requirement.

Once you had experience the the field it didn't matter as much. But they still wanted to see a higher range.

Oh, and they required proof of GPA from the college/university also.

[cockersx3]

As someone who has been the "first boss" for many newly-minted engineers in the past, I would say that anything 3.0 and above is fine. As others have noted already I use this as a quick resume screen, and then use the interview to establish the candidate's other traits (for me - ability to work well with others, mechanical aptitude, level of confidence when dealing with something unfamiliar, etc). But having that first number be a 3 will get the resume past the HR person and in my queue to review.

Interestingly, my experience is actually that too high of a GPA can sometimes be a red flag. The kids I've interviewed with near-4.0 GPA's tend to be odd ducks that often don't have a lot of hands-on experience. Not always, of course, but I've seen it often enough where those candidates get more scrutiny from me.

All that having been said - I can tell you that every single one of the engineers I graduated with got hired as engineers within 6 months of graduation, even the kids that I know for a fact had GPA's significantly less than 3.0. I actually graduated into a very poor job market for my industry at the time, so there's that too. In fact, one of those <3.0 friends is now a COO of a major manufacturing company. So while the path may be harder for those folks, all is definitely not lost for them.

[Parkinglotracer]

Those with the highest gpa’s are usually those that are either the smartest, or those who work the hardest at school, or both. Tough to argue otherwise. Now if that is not what you want hire - there may be other things one looks for in a new hire like leadership skills. It’s just one factor. A work force full of smart, hard working, rule followers is not best to get all jobs done. Not the kind of police personnel we might have needed in uvalde, not necessarily the type if person I would have wanted to serve in the military with.

I’d encourage my son/ daughter to apply themselves and do the best they can while they get involved in some activities outside their comfort zone and pursue internships.

[FWF406]

I am a software architect in big tech. My local office doesn't hire many interns, but it is the best route to get a job after graduation. The thing is that corporate policy dictates a 3.8 GPA to get into the intern program. "Shoot to be at the top of your potential" is all I can say. Internships matter, but it takes the GPA to get the best internships, they are pretty competitive.

[TJat]

I’ve found my best hires have about a 3.7. People below a 3.3 won’t get looked at and those close to 4 generally interview poorly.

[Chardo]

> 3.0. But internships are more important than grades.

Yes, but you need a strong GPA to get those internships.

Obviously the higher the better. Under 3.0 will have a hard time getting a look. Over 3.2 will usually get interviews, especially for internships. The most exclusive firms require even higher, but know there are tons of great companies out there. After you land the interview, it's up to you. Once you land an interview, the GPA becomes irrelevant. Just know that it's about more than just the GPA. If they're impressed with you and you have the talent they seek, it doesn't matter what the GPA is. Just being interviewed, you already met their requirement.

[Vulcan]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

To get your best shot, aim for the center of the target.

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

In our opinion, both are true: they should be responsible, and parents should track their grades.

There is no way for you to see your daughter's grades without her consent.

But I hope for your and her sake that you have the kind of a relationship where it would not be a problem. I jokingly refer to myself as our elder's academic advisor, because I am certainly more involved with his academics than his official advisor is. (Not because he's not perfectly capable of handling his own affairs, but because it is nice to have someone covering your back).

Having grown children is a big transition for all involved. Good luck!

[Vulcan]

I’ve found my best hires have about a 3.7. People below a 3.3 won’t get looked at and those close to 4 generally interview poorly.

You mind telling approximately where your company is on this list?

https://www.levels.fyi/internships/

[Impatience]

Cutoffs that folks frequently use are: 3.6, 3.5, 3.2.

Higher is safer. Employers may not ask but it will be important when it comes to grad school which is necessary for certain engineering careers.

[livesoft]

Monitor grades? I have no idea what grades my children got in college. They never showed them to me even though I paid for all college expenses.

[MikeWillRetire]

Monitor grades? I have no idea what grades my children got in college. They never showed them to me even though I paid for all college expenses.

Me neither.

[an_asker]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

The first part of your question has had a lot of answers, so I'll focus on the second half.

Before I start answering, let me start with a hint ... your daughter got admission to Virginia Tech, so she must have done something right!

Unless you whipped her (figuratively not literally lol) into making those grades and getting admission, I would think she's a responsible individual who will take care of her grades. As to whether parents track their undergrad children's grades in general... I think the popular response here would probably be a No. Because kids are supposed to have adulted by then. Colleges definitely don't send grades home - though they take money from parents, their "customers" are the students. To be honest, I don't think my undergrad institution in India mailed my grades home every semester,

I've just asked in general how DS's grades are - are they "good" or not lol. He needs a 3.0 for his FL state-based Bright Futures scholarship so he's definitely above that. I know he doesn't have a 4.0 for sure. He didn't do too good in a couple of remote learning classes during the Covid era

DW has asked him in a bit more detail but I doubt she knows his exact GPA. He's a junior right now and already on an internship. He makes nowhere close to where the folks on this list make (for good measure, neither do his parents lol), but he is happy which matters more, doesn't it?

In general, one would think you could claim a need to know if you were paying for her education; if she has a (mostly) full ride, you might not get many votes in your favor if you were to want to know her GPA...

[iamlucky13]

To get your best shot, aim for the center of the target.

The center between 4.0 and 0 is 2.0, so...

Aim for a 2.0 GPA!

[kevinpet]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

It depends what field she's going into. For computer science (engineering-adjacent, not real engineering), aim for 3.7 or better to get interviews at the best companies. You can fudge it a little bit without being totally dishonest by talking about your in-major GPA. My understanding is that for real engineering (civil, mechanical, etc) the classes are harder and no one expects new grads to have a high GPA. I'd imagine that something below a 3.0 would be a turn off for a lot of employers and higher is better. I'm not familiar with Virginia Tech (I'm west coast), but generally public schools are harsher with grades than private schools (less grade inflation), in some cases up to about the difference between a B and a B+.

I'm 20 years out of school, but definitely the school isn't going to send you your daughter's grades. If you're paying for school, it's totally appropriate to ask to see them and keep an eye on how things are going. But do keep in mind that college should be challenging and some of those courses will be legitimately hard.

[AnEngineer]

What matters most is that you know the stuff. If you do, the grades will be good. Different places will have different expectations on GPA. You can try asking companies that recruit on campus.

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall...

An undecided engineering major can easily become more than 4 years to a degree if not careful.

[mighty72]

I have been involved in recruiting CS new college graduates for last 10+ years in one way or another. GPA is important; it is an initial screen that gets used. I would say that anything above 3.5 is great and above 3 is safe but you will get pushed a little harder in the interview. If GPA is lower but you have worked on a very relevant project or have a couple of internships then it is okay.


At the same time, I have never asked anyone to provide proof of GPA. The company does run a background check and I don't know if GPA is verified

I would shoot for as high as you can get and try to put 3.0 as the floor. You can still do well with lower but I would rather set a high goal and fail

[Pinenut]

These seem like questions she should be asking at school?

She’s an adult, or will be soon. If you did your job, you’ve raised a capable woman who can manage things by her lonesome.

If she loves engineering, she’ll have no problem with grades. If she doesn’t, this will be reflected in her grades/coursework.

Since I don’t know how you raised your children, this isn’t targeted at you. Just raising the point that she’ll be off to college and will need to find these answers (and many others) without help from her parents.

[Elysium]

I had somewhat of a similar thought recently. My assessment was that aim for the highest possible but settle for good enough, which is somewhere around 3.5 for a engineering student from a reputed school with some level of difficulty. I know the major corporations that I work with have a cut off of 3.2 for internships, so given that interns are prospective employees this can be used a good guide. That said, it matters only for a fresh graduate.

The second part of it though is that you have to let them ease into it and not put pressures. You do want them to graduate right? so that means stepping back and letting them adjust to college life. There are many pressures, and dad or mom asking for GPA reports every now and then is not something you want to add. You got to be tactful about it. See how they come along, open up a good conversation, and they may feel comfortable talking to you about it. It is my experience that most kids do want a good GPA and wish to do well, they are well aware at that point in their life, but sometimes things are just hard and not everyone handles things the same way. You just got to understand where they stand and how they adjust to pressures, this is why I believe fit matters a lot when it comes to schools beyond ranks etc. They also need to have a feel good about the school which in turn will help them work harder.

[stoptothink]

I’d encourage my son/ daughter to apply themselves and do the best they can

Wouldn't this be the logical advice, to do they best they can? I would never advise my child to cruise and not aim to do their best. At least in my experience (not in engineering), GPA isn't a huge deal for new grads and we rarely inquire if it isn't listed on a resume, but a high GPA certainly isn't a negative.

[KlangFool]

My daughter is joining for an Engineering undergrad (undecided major) at Virginia Tech this fall. I haven't gone to college in US, I was wondering what is considered a good GPA that she should aim to pass out for better job prospects. Thanks in advance!

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

atlanta_dad,

1) Make sure that she can graduate with an engineering degree first.

2) Unless she keep a CGPA of 3.0 or better, she would not be able to get into the engineer major that she wants.

3) If she does not maintain a CGPA of 3.0, she may be placed in probation and move out of the engineering college

4) Can she graduate in 4 years? Only of 60+% of the VTech students did. Many Engineering students took 5 years. Are you prepared to pay for 5 year?

https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges ... retention/

5) Assuming that she can graduate with an engineering degree,

A) You need CGPA 3.0 to get an interview.

B) CGPA 3.0 to 3.5 -> no big difference

C) CGPA 3.5 to 4.0 -> you have a good CGPA.

6) Internship is very crucial in finding a job after graduation. Assuming that you can get an CGPA of 3 to 3.5, then, internship is very important.

7) If you have no internship and working experience, make sure that your CGPA is very good -> 3.5 to 4.0. Or else, why should someone hire you?

8) In all cases, gain some working experience before you graduate.

KlangFool

[Vulcan]

I’d encourage my son/ daughter to apply themselves and do the best they can

Wouldn't this be the logical advice, to do they best they can? I would never advise my child to cruise and not aim to do their best.

Yes.

And doing one's best can (and does) go beyond a perfect GPA. It also involves choosing more challenging classes (upper level and graduate) than may be strictly necessary for a given degree.

Top performers will list the advanced classes taken on their resume/websites/linkedin profiles.

[MarkRoulo]

... snip ...

My understanding is the ratio is something very roughly like 100-200 applicants, 5 interviewees, 1 hire.

So what I'm curious about is did you review those perhaps 6,000-12,000 resumes to select those 300 interviewees, or did someone else do the screening to prepare a list of candidates worth taking you away from your regular duties to evaluate? If the latter, that person probably did look at GPA as one of their criteria.

I've often been tasked with my boss to go through resumes, phone screen those candidates that looked good and then select some for on-site interviews.

I'm not sure we have EVER had 100 applicants for a job. And we've instructed HR to do *no* screening (and our HR is quite cooperative so they don't) which means I'll see everything. If someone sends in a resume for one of our coding jobs indicating that they are an oil roughneck currently serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison ... I'll still see the resume because HR won't screen it out.

But my employer makes semiconductor test equipment instead of being a FAANG so a lot of potential candidates probably don't know we exist. Still, this may be more common than FAANG hiring experiences.

[Kagord]

I send their grades for the auto policy good student discount, so in a sense I'm monitoring them. If they get below 3.0, I pay more.

[Bradford]

Engineering grad here. I graduated with a 3.3 GPA from a state school in the midst of the financial crisis, and even though overall opportunities were somewhat scarce at the time I still got plenty of job offers. As others mentioned in engineering it seems internships and relevant experience play a big factor for fresh graduates.

[KlangFool]

Edited: Also, do parents track their children's grades (or left it to them as they are college going and they should be responsible) in their undergrad when they are away / out of state college? Do colleges send grades home in mail as the high-schools do? I hope my daughter will be serious and responsible but I am having hard time imagining the next 4 years. I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves

atlanta_dad,

1) Did you attend the freshman orientation?

2) Your daughter need to approve you to access her grades.

3) It is very simple. I told my son that if I cannot access his grade, I am not paying his tuition.

"I need to order an amazon book and get ready by the time she leaves "

4) You need to read Virginia Tech College Handbook and academic policy.

https://www.undergradcatalog.registrar. ... icies.html

5) Please verify this. I think the student need to meet certain CGPA target or else they would be placed in academic probation. If they do not fix the grades, they would be forced out of the engineering college.

6) I think the VTech undergraduate engineering graduation rate is 67%. 1/3 did not make it. Please verify the number.

7) For undergraduate engineering, many students were kicked out by the weed out classes. The designated extremely hard classes to get rid of as many students as possible. But, if you survive those classes, the remaining classes are easier. It proves that you can make it.

KlangFool

[KlangFool]

OP,

I worked part-time at the University Computing Center while earning my BSEE and MSEE. I had 5 years of working experience after I graduated with my MSEE. Nobody look at my CGPA.

KlangFool

[dekecarver]

This is what I tell students asking about grades or not really thinking about it:
1) shoot for the highest you are capable of achieving, this gives you some fall back room
2) shooting for anything less gives you fewer chances of making it, and more chances of being nothing more than average or below.

[KlangFool]

If she loves engineering, she’ll have no problem with grades. If she doesn’t, this will be reflected in her grades/coursework.

Pinenut,

I disagreed.

We are all different. We are good at something and bad at something. In the undergraduate engineering degree, a person would be exposed to many subject areas. And, for some people, they aced out in some subjects and they are hopeless in other subjects.

It is normal to receive bad grade in some subject. We cannot be good in everything. And, that is when some smart student took the loss too personally and drop out of the engineering. This is the first time that they faced failure and they took it badly. They did not realize that it is normal.

KlangFool

[KlangFool]

I have been involved in recruiting CS new college graduates for last 10+ years in one way or another. GPA is important; it is an initial screen that gets used. I would say that anything above 3.5 is great and above 3 is safe but you will get pushed a little harder in the interview. If GPA is lower but you have worked on a very relevant project or have a couple of internships then it is okay.


At the same time, I have never asked anyone to provide proof of GPA. The company does run a background check and I don't know if GPA is verified

I would shoot for as high as you can get and try to put 3.0 as the floor. You can still do well with lower but I would rather set a high goal and fail

mighty72,

In some places, the student would be forced out engineering if their CGPA drop below 3.0. I am not sure whether VTech is one of them.

KlangFool

[SmallSaver]

How many of the responses here are about engineering programs specifically? In my (limited) experience engineering programs are more likely to stick to "traditional" grading - meaning a C is fairly standard and an A is truly exceptional. VA Tech is a good engineering school, and setting an expectation like a 3.8 in a rigorous engineering program could be a set up for a real bad time.

Edited. Got over my skis a little. Nevertheless, I do believe there is a big difference between a 3.8 in, say, environmental science versus mech E. Engineering programs are hard, and in good schools many students are going from being top in their class to pretty average. Keep expectations reasonable, engineering school is hard enough as is.

[Normchad]

How many of the responses here are about engineering programs specifically? In my (limited) experience engineering programs are more likely to stick to "traditional" grading - meaning a C is fairly standard and an A is truly exceptional. VA Tech is a good engineering school, and setting an expectation like a 3.8 in a rigorous engineering program could be a set up for a real bad time.

I interview engineering grads all the time. For the schools I look at, they aren’t giving out very many C grades at all. A is not truly exceptional, and certainly not at Virginia Tech, where I recruit every year.

Looking at GPA is problematic because it varies widely from school to school. I definitely look at transcripts though, because I’m interested in particular courses and grades. And for a lot of schools, you can fail classes, and the impact of that is scrubbed form the GPA by retaking it. So I look for F grades and Ws.

I have an engineering degree, and did it all on my own. I never cheated on homework, not even once. But a lot of my classmates, who were driven to get higher GPAs certainly did. If I had it to do all,over again, I’d cheat like a madman. Not because of the grades though. As it turns out, in my professional career, the skills I was mostly lacking were the same ones that cheating like a madman would have developed. Communication with others. Building a network. Working well in groups. Mentoring each other. Dividing up large work loads amount a team to get it done faster and better overall, etc.

[KlangFool]

How many of the responses here are about engineering programs specifically? In my (limited) experience engineering programs are more likely to stick to "traditional" grading - meaning a C is fairly standard and an A is truly exceptional. VA Tech is a good engineering school, and setting an expectation like a 3.8 in a rigorous engineering program could be a set up for a real bad time.

SmallSaver,

https://www.registrar.vt.edu/graduation ... f/faq.html

"How do you graduate with honors at Virginia Tech?
If you complete at least sixty (60) hours at Virginia Tech, your distinction will be awarded following:

3.8 or greater Summa Cum Laude.
3.6 to 3.7999 Magna Cum Laude.
3.4 to 3.5999 Cum Laude."

https://commencement.vt.edu/past-commen ... -2021.html

Out of Fall 2021 331 Undergraduate Engineering Graduation class, 27 are Summa Cum Laude.

27/331 = 8.1%

KlangFool

[muddgirl]

In the US we have an educational privacy law called FERPA. For college students thus means they have a right to academic privacy even from their parents. This is not just grades and academic performance but also financial aid and bursar notifications (even if you are the one that is paying). There are forms that your daughter can fill out to authorize information sharing with you, but the default is that she is the primary point of contact at university.

[twh]

I used to recruit as one of the volunteer jobs at a major tech company. Anything less than 3.0 will often be screened out by HR and they will not even get a chance at an interview for internship or full time.

My youngest went to Virginia Tech...great school.

[Cycle]

Reminds me of a friend who couldn't get into dental school, so he went to med school in India and now is very successful doctor in the US. GPA can close some doors, but there are always other ways in.

I graduated with a 2.7 in undergrad engineering, I simply developed the skills that would get me the interview via internships through friends at school, snuck my way into megacorp via contract position converted to full time after 6 months. GPA only matters for that first job. Most of the people I work with have phds and very high GPAs, but I managed to get promoted pret high so far working in R&D on medical devices.

I also managed to get a graduate engineering degree from an ivy league tho I had shown I got As on few grad courses before applying. My graduate GPA is like 3.8, but I don't put a gpa on my resume.

[twh]

Reminds me of a friend who couldn't get into dental school, so he went to med school in India and now is very successful doctor in the US. GPA can close some doors, but there are always other ways in.

I graduated with a 2.7 in undergrad engineering, I simply developed the skills that would get me the interview via internships through friends at school, snuck my way into megacorp via contract position converted to full time after 6 months. GPA only matters for that first job. Most of the people I work with have phds and very high GPAs, but I managed to get promoted pret high so far working in R&D on medical devices.

I also managed to get a graduate engineering degree from an ivy league tho I had shown I got As on few grad courses before applying. My graduate GPA is like 3.8, but I don't put a gpa on my resume.

There are always other ways...the front door is usually easier.

[saolafan]

When I attended Virginia Tech they had a rule that you weren't guaranteed your engineering major of choice unless you had a 3.0 at the end of your first year. So 3.0 would be a reasonable par goal.

After that, it depends on your specific major, but I recall 3.5 was above average and considered good enough for many entry-level positions. Many graduates with a GPA below 3.0 had to do some extra job searching, but they ended up all right.