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Originally Posted by srode1
I was involved in interviews for Engineers at multiple locations before retiring from a large multi national company during my career and while each location had specific schools we recruited from, we also accepted and interviewed applicants from other schools. The particular school didn't have as much of a influence on who we hired as experiences co-oping in between years as well as extra curricular experiences that demonstrated drive and leadership. There were some minimum bars like GPA people needed to clear but allowances were made for extenuating circumstances in those respects as well.
Most states have at least one state school that can provide a solid engineering education with hands on adequate hands on experience in the field of choice, and those provide a good value vs out of state most of the time. I graduated from University of Missouri at Rolla (name changed now) but the state school at Columbia was also a solid school I could have attended. Within Missouri there was also Washington University as an option but that was quite expensive and with school be substantially self funded I chose one of the lesser expensive schools and never suffered from the choice during my career. I wouldn't advise anyone going out of their way to choose an expensive engineering school over a moderately priced one because perceived advantage in the job market. Over the course of a career, that just won't matter, it's performance on the job is what drives success in most places as it should.
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I went to Rolla also. It was the Missouri School of Mines then University of Missouri- Rolla then Missouri School of Science and Technology. When I went there is was the Missouri School of No Women....
I recruit for GM. We only hire from certain schools and the student has to have at least 3.0 GPA to be hired by GM. We also recruit out of student groups like Formula SAE.
I try to find the young engineers that have a good GPA, has had good summer internships, and was involved in student projects. If they are into cars even better. I have a lot of software engineering that work for me that also do open track days.
Looking back I was an odd student at Rolla. I had a very good GPA, I was the Formula SAE team captain and driver, the president of our SAE chapter and I was building Hot Rods in my spare time. I had my GM job offer at the end of my junior year.
My simple advice for young engineers is nail you GPA. Your freshman year is easy. Knock out a high GPA. Work on getting a good summer internship. (The good GPA helps). Don’t just join a student group - lead it. It is free to step up to be a leader. It is all time management. I did all my homework at the library before I went home or to the shop. I will say going to Engineering school was the hardest thing I did in my life. While my other friends were parting their butt off taking Art History I was working my ass off. Engineering School is hard. Engineering school is designed to change the way you think. I do not solve differential equations at work. I solve problems.
I have had a dream career, but Engineering School set me up for it. I dreamed of working for the Automotive Industry in High School and my guidance counselor told me I could not do it. I called HR at Ford, Chrysler and GM to ask them where do they hire their engineers, they all asked where I lived. They said the best engineering school in Missouri was University of Missouri - Rolla. I got to Rolla and engaged in my classes. With a good GPA I was able to get a summer internship at GM my Sophomore year.
That turned into a Co-op position then got hired in full time. I went back to my guidance counselor and let her know she gave me bad advice and I worked for GM.
I would be happy to talk to your son. Tell your son to follow his dreams. We need more good engineers in this country.
Mark
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