On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 10:02:55 -0800, "Tarver Engineering"
wrote:


"James Cho" wrote in message
. com...
As important as High School GPA is in being accepted to colleges, from
what I've heard. A Career Services person here at ERAU said that an
LM guy in charge of hiring looks for at least a 3.0 GPA, and prefers
at least 3.3.

That way LM gets all white collar type engineers, none of whom have ever
worked. This can be problematic in aerospace, as piloting is an inherently
blue collar activity. (ie operating equipment)


There was an old saying in the military, "if the minimum weren't good
enough, it wouldn't be the minimum." I'll confess, reluctantly, to
graduating from college with a 2.01 GPA (2.00 required for
graduation.) All I needed was an undergrad degree to get a commission
and got to USAF pilot training. (That was when there were a lot of
requirements and a low number of qualified candidates--the situation
is reversed today.)

I'll add, however, that once given the opportunity to compete, then
job performance becomes a big factor. When I got the chance, unlikely
as it might have seemed based on my undergrad performance, to go to
graduate school, I got serious. 4.0 for first MS, 3.95 for second.

Pilots, despite what engineer Tarver says, are inherently systems
managers, not blue collar equipment operators. While I was at
Northrop, the ex-mil aviators on the payroll where definitely "white
collar". The engineers were more rumpled polyester double-knit, plaids
and stripes sort of Goodwill eclectic. Maybe it was because the SME
("Subject Matter Expert") category of employee got paid better than
the engineers.

Bottom line, however, is that when you come right out of college in a
competitive world, the recruiter has only limited info to base a
decision on. If there are a load of folks with no work experience,
qualified degrees, and not much more, then GPA is going to be
decisive. Higher will always be better than lower, even if that isn't
necesarily indictive of potential.

You've got to get hired first before you can demonstrate your
creativity, tenaciousness, management skill and dependability.