Your grades in university and where you are now 6

[eliou]

Hey there,

What are your thoughts on how well you did in university and where you are now? Do you think you would have a better job if you worked harder and got better grades? Anyone ever fail a course and felt that it shut doors?

 

[TheTick]

re: university rep

I went to Silicon Valley to do contract work with a group of about 6 others from the Midwest. We went to "nice" midwestern schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Marquette, & MSOE. Most of the engineers at Apple were from MIT, Stanford, or UCSJ.

It was apparent that the MIT and Stanford guys had a better education. They learned things we never covered. I was a bit jealous. I had my chance and let it go past.

 

[IRstuff]

Definitely has something to do with the school you go to as well. I only had 3.2 GPA at 50% of graduating class, flunked Quantum and Chem 2B, but still have the best career I think I could have wanted.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[swivel63]

i've worked with people from local schools like UF, and FSU, and FIU, and UM.....yea, their universities might not have the educational rep that the guys get from Illinois, Purdue, MIT, GT.....but i've always tried not to put that in someone's face because i know that it's something that they very well might be sensitive of.

i've never really thought about it, but i guess i can see where someone would.

besides....UW-Madison is in the top 20, isn't it not?

 

[Lion06]

Can someone tell me what kind of criteria they use to rank these schools when it comes to engineering disciplines? I would be curious to know.

 

[swivel63]

i have no idea, lol.

i checked US news and world report and basically they ask the deans of engineering their opinions.

i've seen my university be anywhere from top 3 to top 5 to top 10 in the past 10 years. it's pretty much a crap shoot and it's always pretty much the same schools in there, just interchangeable.

personally, i don't think it matters as much.....but i've had people size me up just because of it.

 

[Heckler]

It was apparent that the MIT and Stanford guys had a better education. They learned things we never covered. I was a bit jealous. I had my chance and let it go past.

I beleive the big name colleges have a lot to offer partly because of all the great research grants the professors bring to the learning process.

When I worked for a large defense firm in the Silicon Valley we would get summer interns from the large "big name" colleges. I remember these two guys from Syracuse. All they did all summer long was goof off and flaunt their privileged lifestyle.

I went to CSUS where their was no research grants but one of the professors (Joe Harralson) was building a landspeed record streamliner bike. Their were about ten of us that were true "gear heads" that jump started the campus SAE club by winning the 1994 SAE Mini-Baja competition. I am sure a lot of CSUS engineering grads could attribute part of their sucess to Joe Harralson. I know I do.

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[KENAT]

Well, in the UK there is (or was last time I heard) an official (I think government) ranking of schools by department.

For instance there was a ranking for all the Aeronautical Engineering Departments at all the universities in the UK that had an aero dept. My University was in the top 5 when I was there.

Every few years there was an assesment carried out to determine these rankings, I can't remember if it primarily focused on research or if it was a general ranking.

However, when it comes to hiring I suspect in reality it's more down to personal prejudice such as "I went to this school so that's the best" or general reputation. I'm sure most most people would rate Oxford or Cambridge more highly than my school (University of Southampton) even though if I recal correctly Oxford didnt' offer Aero and Cambridge wasn't that highly ranked.

 

[TheTick]

Keep in mind that some schools have great local reputations but almost nothing nationally. One school I mentioned previously is a good example. It was an interesting & entertaining progression watching that school's grads answer to "What school did you go to?" change from a quick four initials to nine syllables over time.

Still, if you want a job in this state, it is a good school to be from.

 

[csd72]

I worked for an employer once who was wary of top grade students. He found that those with the top marks did not always have the practicality and common sense to become good engineers.

In a way the most important skill to have as an engineer is being able to dumb it down to a manageable level.

 

[debodine]

csd72:

Did you mean to say "dumb it down to management level" or am I off base? )

 

[eliou]

Yeah I've heard some people say the same thing about "top grade" students. Some people find that they are brilliant at working out problems but do not function that well within a team at the work place when compared to a "B" student. Anyone else feel this way?

 

[KENAT]

It happens, my current place has an awful lot of A type students (most with at least a Masters and many PHD floating around) and real team work seems almost non existent.

 

[IRstuff]

Oh, good, I can use THAT excuse; my grades were poor because I play nice with other people ;-)

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[calguy07]

i was great in college..ended up wih cumulative 3.6 or so but 3.7 in engineering. not sure how much i really remember from what i learned in school...still on my first real job out of school, 6 months in, and i realize how little i really know (see my old thread in the other folder, lol). i'd say i'm somewhat satisfied in how far i've come on this job but there's still soooo much i need to learn though.

 

[Lion06]

I second calguy's response. While my GPA was very high as I noted above, I realized quickly that there is a wealth of information to be learned after school. I have bought many additional textbooks and am reading through them religiously.

 

[eliou]

Yeah there's no way of getting around learning after university, otherwise you get left in the dust.

 

[Beggar]

Good grades can get you into some great companies that you'll have a tough time hooking up with later on unless you come from one of their competitors who are also very grade conscious.

Regarding school reputation, it seems to be mostly an issue of who comes for on-campus interviews for graduating seniors and who offers internships.

Also, when the program is viewed highly by big-name companies, it usually means very good lab facilities to go along with it because of big donations.

Working on a research project for my first company led me to some CalTech labs. I was blown away by the sophistication of some of what they had there in terms of wind-tunnel and water-tunnel testing facilities.

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[271828]

In my case, grad school performance seemed to matter more. I had a mediocre undergrad GPA, but never got below an A- in a structures class. The structures professors took that into account and gave me good funding in grad school. They got to know me in my MS program, which really helped get that first job. Beyond the first job, though, I don't think GPA made a difference one way or the other.

There's been some talk in this thread about whether it matters where one goes to school. In structures, I think it matters tremendously. Many schools don't offer a lot of structural engineering design classes. Guys who took 2-3 classes each in steel, concrete, foundations, and wood (in my experience) have a much deeper knowledge, even 5-6 years down the road, than the fellows who learned those subjects on the job. I have been involved in the hiring process a few times and we gave the school and number of design courses a lot of weight.

 

[Lion06]

271828-
I started a thread recently about how employers view a distance education master's degree. Do you feel that the number of courses you mention above matter if they are taken as grad or undergrad courses? I am currently debating enrolling in a grad program, but it would have to be a distance education program for me to be able to complete it (family considerations). I have had 2 concrete classes, 2 steel classes, 2 analysis classes, 1 foundation class, and a very intensive senior project. I did not have any wood or masonry classes, but have done a significant amount of reading on the subjects.
What would be your advice on a master's program and any deficincies I might have.

 

[271828]

StrlEIT, it seems like you had a fair number of design classes for an undergrad. Several of my co-workers had 1-2 total design classes through their MS programs. They loaded up on continuum mechanics, elasticity, FE classes, higher math, etc. during grad school because those were offered. You must've went to a better school from a SE's standpoint.

I'm not sure if it matters when you take the classes. It might be a little better to take them during your MS program, but I doubt that it matters much. You have a wider perspective at this point in your life, so might've gotten a little more out of them, but I'd assume that you got plenty considering your GPA.

I don't know exactly what's involved in a distance education MS, but I'd not be quick to discount it. We had several folks in my ESM vibrations class last year (I'm back in school for PhD after 9 years of work). They did all the work that we did!