What can I do with a very low GPA?

bluebottle

I am finishing my physics Bachelor's of Science degree.

I got 50-70% grades in every course from first year to fourth year. Also, I never got any research experience. I have neither academic or non-academic distinctions. Nothing special at all - I was just a thoroughly mediocre student.

I guess no one in the physics field would want to hire me. What specific careers in what fields should I try to pursue instead?
Or should I enrol in a technical program at a community college, in order to get some practical skills?

Blablablabla

Hmm well what's your GPA? Don't be scared, you're anonymous

Anyway, I have a low GPA too, 2.9. But according to my calculations, I'll have a 3.6 by December so it's not that bad. (I did horrible my first year)

I guess my real question is, what are you looking for in the community college exactly? I ask because I'm currently at community college.

bluebottle

I don't know precisely because some of my grades aren't in yet. Also, I'm finding different GPA scales depending on the university so I don't know. Suffice to say, I have a 60something average.

Who would hire me?
So I'm thinking I'd need something extra, and that would be a community college diploma in some practical field. Is that the best option? Is that the only option?

However, I'm kind of overwhelmed by the number of different programs at any particular school, and I don't have a particular leaning toward any single one.

wukunlin

Have you thought about teaching? as in high school or elementary school.

azdavesoul

I tend to prefer practical advice so I would suggest technical programs. There are many companies that prefer degrees even if they do not relate to the business, but a Physics degree may not be considered as useful.

StatGuy2000

Before I offer you any advice about what you could do career-wise with your current degree (with a low GPA), you need to ask yourself why you had done so poorly in university. Is it because of poor study habits? Or lack of studying? Lack of motivation during your studies? Or is it simply due to the difficulty of the material (in which case physics was not "right" for you)?

bluebottle

Yes. And I do not want to teach. It would be painful for me and painful for the students.

A combination of ALL those reasons.
But it most definitely the last reason too: by the third year I realized that physics wasn't right for me. I was in over my head. But I felt like I had to perservere because I couldn't afford to change my major so late. And, I have no idea what else I should've been studying.
I'm not a hands-on person, but I've been feeling like maybe I should've enrolled in community college from the first and not bothered with the super-academic life of university.

Now I'm gonna get my bachelor's of science degree and I don't know what I'll be able to do with it!

StatGuy2000

First of all, the problem with you is not that you had made a mistake in attending university -- the problem IMHO was persevering in a field that simply wasn't right for you, and therefore have earned a degree (barely) that is not right for you.

Now, moving forward, you must make some basic decisions. What are you actually interested in doing? What motivates you? Only you can answer that question for yourself. Once you decide that for yourself, then consider applying to community college, either to study to complete a practical skill set in keeping with what you want to do, or as a first step in working towards a second degree.

Once you are in community college, then you must work on improving your study habits and be prepared to work extra hard (otherwise, you will only be wasting more time in community college). It is vitally important that you take your education extra seriously from this point onwards.

bluebottle

I'm going to have to figure out what I'm interested in. :/ there's so many options for college programs.

So is this basically the only avenue open? I really have to invest another 2-3 years studying?

Thanks for the advice, StatGuy2000.

turbo

Don''t invest more years of your life in college programs, unless you are willing to turn your academic performance 180 deg. Lots of potential employers wouldn't care anyway. Just my opinion, but that's my experience.

You can learn a lot and find niches by getting out and working. Try to get better and better at your job, and pretty soon you'll be a pretty valuable asset. A college degree is not an "end". It may be an asset, but it is not an "end" to be attained. There are lots of people in high-end positions that do not have degrees... They have lots of experience and the smarts to apply that experience.

phylotree

Just to add that those people do have long tongues too. "Lies" can be white and black. Truth is never always true.

twofish-quant

If you don't know your GPA, then this is a problem because I can't tell from this discussion whether you really do have a problem or if you are just panicking over nothing.

A 60-something average tells me nothing about your GPA. I probably have something like a 60-something test average, but I went to a school that is notorious for hard tests.

A 1.3 GPA is very different than a 3.1 GPA. Anything below 3.3 and graduate school looks bad. However, if you have anything above a 2.5 than outside of graduate school, no one is going to care about your GPA, and that's not a constraint.

Also have you tried to make use of career services (i.e. try to get interviews with someone).

RoshanBBQ

Just apply wherever you want to work and see what happens. Do you lose much by applying? No, not really. In other words, until you verify you're in trouble (i.e. employers regularly reject you due to your GPA/resume), there is no reason to ask for help getting out of trouble.

StatGuy2000

In some countries (including a number of universities in Canada, including the University of Waterloo unless they have changed their grading system since my friends graduated) do not use the GPA method -- only a percentage and a letter grade.

To the OP, are you a student in the US, or elsewhere?

bluebottle

Yes, but I'm afraid that my mediocrity academically will keep me from getting hired in the first place

You know, there are a bunch of on-line university-affiliated GPA calculators, but they all seem to give a different result. And there doesn't seem to be a "universal" GPA to percentage chart.
But I don't wanna go to grad school. Are you saying that physics employers won't ask to look at your transcript? I find that hard to believe. Especially since i have no research experience and it's not like my professors will be singing my praises in any reference letters.

Not yet. but I plan to asap. :)

Yes well, I'm looking ahead ;S The prospects look grim so i'm bracing myself... by asking questions first..

Canada. I used the term "GPA" just because I thought GPA was basically a way of describing your weighted average.
Mentally weighing things out, I'm saying I have a high-50/low-60 average.

Dickfore

Here's a statistics from AIP http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends...ts/emp2010.pdf

meldraft

I really have no idea how your system works, but one thing people often do in Europe is get (another) master's degree. The cool thing is that (at least here) you can more often than not do as an MSc something quite irrelevant to your first degree. If there is something you believe you can be really good at, it might be an option. It's much easier to convince an employer that looks at your transcript, if you have good MSc grades. Plus, if it's going to boost your confidence, maybe it's worth it.

That said, my experience is also that employers tend not to look so much on your grades, as in other things you may have done in your life, in order to get an idea of what kind of person you are. If your CV suggests that you are an active and creative person, they won't worry so much because you got 60 in every exam and not 70.

The only thing were your grades can really matter is grad school, and that is not always the case. Even though I had good grades, my supervisor wanted all applicants to do a qualification assignment in order to see what we could really do in a real-world problem, and that is what mattered in the end

Just keep in mind that the only thing that good grades tell an employer is that you know how to study. Most employers don't care too much about that attribute though

Edit: One more thing, you said that noone in the physics field would want to hire you, but I'm getting the impression that you do not wish to be hired as a physicist either. Is this the case?