![]() |
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Hey guys it's me again.
How big of a factor is GPA in getting a good aerospace job at a cool company? The line "...Do good in school" is always given in advice when I was growing up. To tell the truth I was holding a decent 3.3gpa untill I hit my math sequence at college. Now I have no more 'breeze' classes (history etc) to prop up my gpa and it's killing me. I'm problobly around a 2.3 now. This really bums me out. I went into Aerospace cause I wanted the job of my dreams designing aircraft. Nobodys gona hire a medocree looser that doesn't excell in math. So how Important is a good GPA when looking for a job? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Having been connected with airline training and selection in the past
- here goes. All the job applicants look alike. Clean, neat, dark suit, sober ties, polished shoes, haircuts, mostly college grads, so what is left? GPA is one of the distinguishing factors. Another factor is 'desire to fly'. I recall one instance where two Ivy college grads were rejected in favor of a comunity college (two year) grad simply because the Ivy guys presented the attitude that they were doing the compnay a favor in allowing themselves to be hired. OTH the 2-year kid was like an eager puppy dog; he wanted to fly and exhibited the willingness to take any flight anywhere any time in any conditions. As for math - in my first attempt at college I never let homework take precedence over sports and surfing . . . with predictable results. Later on I discovered that if you ask questions and do the homework college math is easy . . .Duh! Walt BJ |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Flying? He dreams of designing, not flying.
"WaltBJ" wrote in message om... Having been connected with airline training and selection in the past - here goes. All the job applicants look alike. Clean, neat, dark suit, sober ties, polished shoes, haircuts, mostly college grads, so what is left? GPA is one of the distinguishing factors. Another factor is 'desire to fly'. I recall one instance where two Ivy college grads were rejected in favor of a comunity college (two year) grad simply because the Ivy guys presented the attitude that they were doing the compnay a favor in allowing themselves to be hired. OTH the 2-year kid was like an eager puppy dog; he wanted to fly and exhibited the willingness to take any flight anywhere any time in any conditions. As for math - in my first attempt at college I never let homework take precedence over sports and surfing . . . with predictable results. Later on I discovered that if you ask questions and do the homework college math is easy . . .Duh! Walt BJ |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
You're young yet
Some bits of further advice. Pick one or more, take them to heart, and discard those that don't apply. Take a few years, work for a living, join the service, whatever. Older, returning students who come back ready to focus on something they want are famous for doing better than barely-adults who go galloping off in all directions. (Especially if one of those directions is toward the nearest party. Nothing personal; I'm just trying to cover all bases.) When the right opportunity comes up, take a course or two at whatever college or trade school suits your fancy and REALLY APPLY YOURSELF. This does more than convey facts and skills. It builds confidence at the school game (something you're doubtless sorely lacking just now, having at best fought your coursework to an armed truce and at worst gotten your butt kicked), and keeps you in practice at kicking your friends out, turning off the game, and cracking the books. Talk to the advisors at said institution about what tests you can take to find out whether your problem was nothing more or less than an inadequate foundation for college-level math and engineering. Some friends who went the faculty route can and do just go ON and on and on about how much time they spend teaching remedial high school -- maybe you came in behind the curve and never caught up. Don't let middle-class circumstance put the golden handcuffs on you. You are a work in progress and can drive an old car and live in a smaller place while saving money and building skills for the completion. These days, holding onto that attitude through an advanced degree (once you have a vision of what that degree should be in, of course) has a lot to recommend it. Said vision is important. All this may reinforce your desire to become an aircraft designer and prepare yourself for that rather hard major. Or maybe you'll discover that you're happier and better suited for another profession or trade -- where is it written that at 18 you know what you want to do? This may be in the aerospace field or not; it may consist of pushing a mouse around a desk or not. Maybe the reason for your poor performance was personal. Maybe it was inadequate preparation. Or maybe it was your inner self recoiling at the difference between what you imagined the profession to be about and what it really is about. Well, the world needs aerospace engineers, and also aerospace machinists, history teachers, chefs, the good honest car mechanic everybody seems to have so much trouble finding, veterinarians, and a thousand other things. Just keep in mind that the result of your education thus far is a setback and something you'll have to explain now and then for a while, but it is not a disaster. Work hard and you'll probably find yourself able to direct people's focus toward the things you excelled in as a focused and disciplined adult, not the things you fumbled the first few years out of high school. And it'll be good practice in case you realize many years from now that Act II (or III) of your adulthood calls for another rethinking and/or another increment of formal education. Maybe "completion of a work in progress" wasn't the right thing to say earlier -- "completion of the present phase" is more like it; and the designers are notorious for barging in unexpectedly with a new set of prints. One man's opinions, worth what you paid if your connect time is cheap, --Joe |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
![]() "sibersmith" wrote in message ... Hey guys it's me again. How big of a factor is GPA in getting a good aerospace job at a cool company? The line "...Do good in school" is always given in advice when I was growing up. To tell the truth I was holding a decent 3.3gpa untill I hit my math sequence at college. Now I have no more 'breeze' classes (history etc) to prop up my gpa and it's killing me. I'm problobly around a 2.3 now. This really bums me out. I went into Aerospace cause I wanted the job of my dreams designing aircraft. Nobodys gona hire a medocree looser that doesn't excell in math. So how Important is a good GPA when looking for a job? If you had dragged down your gpa with general ed you might have some wiggle room, but all those cs and ds in math and engineering courses probably mean you should look outside engineering for a job. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
I agree!
Forty-one years in aerospace has shown the need for really good mathematics comprehension, including some math fields you may have to learn on your own since you probably will never heard of them in undergrad school. Good luck WDA end "Tarver Engineering" wrote in message ... "sibersmith" wrote in message ... Hey guys it's me again. How big of a factor is GPA in getting a good aerospace job at a cool company? The line "...Do good in school" is always given in advice when I was growing up. To tell the truth I was holding a decent 3.3gpa untill I hit my math sequence at college. Now I have no more 'breeze' classes (history etc) to prop up my gpa and it's killing me. I'm problobly around a 2.3 now. This really bums me out. I went into Aerospace cause I wanted the job of my dreams designing aircraft. Nobodys gona hire a medocree looser that doesn't excell in math. So how Important is a good GPA when looking for a job? If you had dragged down your gpa with general ed you might have some wiggle room, but all those cs and ds in math and engineering courses probably mean you should look outside engineering for a job. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
![]() "sibersmith" wrote in message ... This really bums me out. I went into Aerospace cause I wanted the job of my dreams designing aircraft. Nobodys gona hire a medocree looser that doesn't excell in math. So how Important is a good GPA when looking for a job? If this is an example of your work you might put in some extra hours of study in English. Just using a spellchecker would help. This is not a criticism per se but is given to you to show that the whole package is important. Peter's advice is very sound. That said, are you planning to design military aircraft? Tex Houston |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
![]() "Tex Houston" wrote in message ... "sibersmith" wrote in message ... This really bums me out. I went into Aerospace cause I wanted the job of my dreams designing aircraft. Nobodys gona hire a medocree looser that doesn't excell in math. So how Important is a good GPA when looking for a job? If this is an example of your work you might put in some extra hours of study in English. Just using a spellchecker would help. Nope, the low math grades pretty well disqualify him from engineering. There are plenty of places where he could make a good living with the 2.3, however. The only thing that would help is if he is one of those "worked through school". If family paid, or there were loans, forget engineering. This is not a criticism per se but is given to you to show that the whole package is important. Peter's advice is very sound. That said, are you planning to design military aircraft? Peter has no clue at all. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Who was it woh said..."The world is run by C students" or something to that
effect? Oxmoron1 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|