Boost Your Aerospace Engineering Internship Chances: GPA and Experience Tips

[Angry Citizen]

I'm trying to come up with a way to sell myself to companies looking for aerospace engineering interns this summer, but there are a couple hurdles.

First is my GPA. Often companies want a 3.0 or 3.2, but my GPA is a 2.77 - if one includes only courses I've taken at my university. Is it common practice to lump the grades one has from other colleges into the cumulative GPA? I would have a GPA north of 3.2 if I included the gen ed courses I took my first year, and the physics/calculus/chem sequences I took in my second, but were taken at other institutions. What about the so-called "major GPA"? I'd have around a 3.0 major GPA if one excludes raw math classes and uses only engineering classes I've taken here at the university. Is that acceptable? What should be considered "major GPA"?

Second is experience. I've never held a job in my life, not even at Pizza Hut. There are some reasons for this, but none of them would sit well in an impersonal interview session. What can I do to ameliorate the dreaded experience catch-22, or would this be a problem at all?

 

[gmax137]

In my opinion the GPA should be cumulative over all your years.

I think it is almost certain the interviewer is going to ask you what other work you have done. Not so much because it matters for the internship but just as a kind of ice-breaker question. If you say 'none' that is OK, but then they are likely to ask what you did during the summertimes, out of curiosity if nothing else. Be prepared to answer. As long as you weren't in prison it's probably OK. If it really is deeply personal you should come up with a polite way of getting past the question ("I read a lot" or something like that). But realize that most interviewees are eager to answer such questions because they're easy questions. So making a big deal out of not answering it may seem weird to the interviewer.

I think most companies hiring interns are looking for people who will:
show up on time
work hard and do something useful
get along with the other employees
get something out of the experience

good luck

 

[AlephZero]

If it really is deeply personal you should come up with a polite way of getting past the question ("I read a lot" or something like that).

That's OK, but expect some follow-up open-ended questions about what you are reading!

The main purpose of an interview is not collecting facts about you (the relevant facts should be on your CV already). It's having a conversation with you to find out how well you "think on your feet" and communicate. Most people''s favorite topic of conversation is themselves, which is why interviewers often start by asking "personal" questions to get you talking before they move on to the real meat of the interview.