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?

 

[KENAT]

I didn't have the best grades but as I went to university in the UK it's difficult to give a meaningfull GPA equivalent. (see my earlier post)

I was a member of the relevant society that could have eventually led to me being chartered (equivalent to PE) when in the UK.

Now in the US I don't have EIT and it would be a pain to get as far as I can work out, working in exempt it didn't really come up as an issue though at places I actually interviewed. However, there were job adds that did ask about it.

That said if you can get it I'd say it can only improve your prospects, just don't know how much. From what I understand it will probably be easier while things are relatively fresh in your mind. Also for certain sectors of mechanical it may even be a requirement.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Gymmeh]

KENAT for your second to last post

I am unsure of the UK but with my experience with education in Europe and The States, many engineering schools in Europe (my experience with DE, DK, CZ) are "Uni" or universities are strictly for engineering and a Collage is for technicians. And some countries spend students spend 5 to 6 yrs for Ing. title, with less gen. edu. classes. So Engineers should all have an education equivalent to the US; M.Sc or M.Eng. (Correct me if im wrong). – My wife has the Ing. title and everyone is the US asks what it means.

I check wiki to make sure im not an Idiot on this <

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineer's_degree>

The vastness of the US, shows a differences in education between geographic regions, states, Universities, Colleges, Community Collage, even with the oversight of the ABET. This may be the reason GPA is held in higher regard. So for example: even if you took a watered down course load at CC, a 4.0/4.0 GPA would (hopefully) show you learned something. – I was told I was a big nerd by my ERASMUS friends because I cared about my grades while studying in Europe.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Gymeh: My degree...

Three years of 9-5 maths/aplied/maths/engineering including many late nights of writing up lab reports. We had "humanities" in 2nd and 3rd year, which involved writing essays about Hilter's germany. It was bloody hard work. Almost as hard as working for a living.

 

[KENAT]

Gymmeh, UK is different, at least I was when I went through my education. Bachelors in 3 years at University. I only studied Engineering, no other requirements.

In my part of the UK College was what we called the last 2 years of 'high school'. There are also technical colleges which while the majority of their students will be last 2 years of high school they'll also have a lot of day release and night time classes for technicians etc.

Don't get me wrong, one or 2 big places asked about grades but that was about it.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[shin25]

I have an MS degree in structural engineering with 3.9 GPA. I did not see it matter much for the company where I work.

I feel a propel in my career once I had my PE. I think this is something that will take me where I want to be.

 

[ktfuller]

In my area of focus, passing the EIT exam seemed to be of paramount importance to most of my interviewing companies right out of school. I listed my GPA on my resume, but of more concern was that I had passed the FE Exam.

I also feel that the Grade Point Average varies by school. For instance, suppose you went to school for a History degree. A 3.5 GPA at The University of North Carolina-Charlotte would probably pale in comparison to a 2.8 GPA received in the same major from Harvard.

 

[Lion06]

I had a different experience than ktfuller. Every firm I interviewed at cared about GPA. Passing the FE exam was sort of expected so it was not a big deal to have it on my resume. Not having it would have hurt, but I am not sure having it helped because I am sure most people had it.