Question for graduated engineers

DJW11

Hi there,

Im currently a mature student finishing my Mech Eng Degree, Just finished 2nd year. I struggled to say the least, had 5 d grades over the 2 semesters but had some good grades to pull me up.
Missing basics in the maths needed to cope with alot of it was the problem and im addressing that now. My question is this, if I were to manage to turn my grades around for the final 2 years and come out with a high 2.2, 2.1 or dare I say a 1.1, would the d grades be harmful in looking for work or further study? I know its a tough question, but I am aiming for the highest I can get as I don't see the point in saying you have a degree if you only know half of what you were taught. I know where I slipped up, never had a problem doing work for a module when I had notes to work from, books to help re-jig the memory on maths laws etc and a weekend to work on it instead of in a 3hr exam . I would repeat all the d's without a single thought as I'm revising all the stuff anyway but it would be 700ish euro for repeats and it wouldnt raise my QCA much as the new grades would be capped at a C3.

Any input appreciated

chris85

DJW11 wrote: »

Hi there,

Im currently a mature student finishing my Mech Eng Degree, Just finished 2nd year. I struggled to say the least, had 5 d grades over the 2 semesters but had some good grades to pull me up.
Missing basics in the maths needed to cope with alot of it was the problem and im addressing that now. My question is this, if I were to manage to turn my grades around for the final 2 years and come out with a high 2.2, 2.1 or dare I say a 1.1, would the d grades be harmful in looking for work or further study? I know its a tough question, but I am aiming for the highest I can get as I don't see the point in saying you have a degree if you only know half of what you were taught. I know where I slipped up, never had a problem doing work for a module when I had notes to work from, books to help re-jig the memory on maths laws etc and a weekend to work on it instead of in a 3hr exam . I would repeat all the d's without a single thought as I'm revising all the stuff anyway but it would be 700ish euro for repeats and it wouldnt raise my QCA much as the new grades would be capped at a C3.

Any input appreciated

Your degree award is generally only based on the final year results, this is how most colleges do it. So you can get D's every year and then pull out A's and B's in the final year and come out with a first.

I got a few D's in first year, came through it, got B's and C's in 2nd year and then consistents A's and B's in the following years. Straight A's in a taught masters last year also. I learned all about hard work and time management which I didnt do in first year.

DJW11

In UL anyway I'm nearly sure the degree is 25% for 2nd Yr, 25% for 3rd Yr, and 50% for 4th Yr, with my low QCA getting for example a 1.1 will be tough but my logic is, if things finally click over these next 6months off, and i start getting a's and b's all should work out. Yeah time management is vital, been putting in 8am to 11pm and beyond every day since september, so working hard is not a problem, I really love it, just missing too many basics to excel at the moment. Cheers for the input

CatFromHue

DJW11 wrote: »

Hi there,

if I were to manage to turn my grades around for the final 2 years and come out with a high 2.2, 2.1 or dare I say a 1.1, would the d grades be harmful in looking for work or further study?

Short answer is no.

I've never been asked for my grades in college since graduating.

If you applied to a grad scheme you might be, I dunno, but equally if you've a D grade in second year but then finish up with a strong degree it'll work in your favour i.e. you can say I struggled in second year but then really worked hard for the last two years and so on!

Do you just study 5 modules per semester now in UL?

DJW11

thanks for the input catfromhue, yeah 5 per semester, usually. The aeros this last semester had 6, and you may end up with a 6th in terms of a project, but I know when I originally applied back in 2005 it was 6 per semester. Lots of restructuring going on within the department at the moment though with lecturers leaving and what not, some modules made unavailable to take and some new ones introduced

b318isp

My experience is this:

- The grade of degree is more important to employers (1, 2.1, 2.2), not how you get it
- It's only a means to an end
- Most of what you learn for your degree you will not use.
- Having your degree to a certain level (1, 2.1,..) demonstrates to employers that you are capable of thinking/understanding at that level of difficulty. The employer will then decide is that level is appropriate for the job (in conjunction with the type of engineer that you are).

djpbarry

chris85 wrote: »

Your degree award is generally only based on the final year results, this is how most colleges do it.

Not anymore. Continuous assessment is becoming more common. When I graduated from UCD almost ten years ago, my third year marks counted towards my final grade.

Darren1o1

djpbarry wrote: »

Not anymore. Continuous assessment is becoming more common. When I graduated from UCD almost ten years ago, my third year marks counted towards my final grade.

DCU was 10% (2nd year), 15% (3rd Year) and 75% (4th year with 1/3 of this from FYP)

delux

I'd say it doesnt matter too.
I don't think final grades matter much either tbh. There's alot to be said for people who are talented but not academic.
In our company when we interview someone we simply think "can this person do this job". If the person can show they can, end of story. We're too busy to be looking through their grades.

2011

delux wrote: »

I don't think final grades matter much either tbh.

+ 1

I have yet to be asked by any employer what my grades were.
IMHO they were more interested in experience, attitude and how the interview went.

budhabob

2011 wrote: »

+ 1

I have yet to be asked by any employer what my grades were.
IMHO they were more interested in experience, attitude and how the interview went.

This! An honours degree is the main thing.

The only place where grades will be queried or questioned is if you decide to do a postgrad. In most cases a 2.2 with decent experience will be more than adequate for this.

breadmonkey

I can't believe the number of people saying your grade doesn't matter. It's extremely important for your first job. It's all well and good saying that employers will make a pragmatic assessment at interview but it's the grades that will go a long way towards getting that interview in the first place!

2011

breadmonkey wrote: »

I can't believe the number of people saying your grade doesn't matter. It's extremely important for your first job.

For some it may well be. I was just speaking from my own experince.

It's all well and good saying that employer's will make a pragmatic assessment at interview but it's the grades that will go a long way towards getting that interview in the first place!

My interview was before I graduated. It was for a work placement (design office for a large consultancy). At that interview I was asked about my course and any previous relevent experience, not about any exam results. On the basis of that interview I gained work experience for a modest sum. The job offer for the position that I currently hold was made before I sat my final exams. At no point was I ever asked for my results.

Perhaps your experience is different.

miss no stars

I would say it doesn't matter. Even for postgrad, as long as you can show that your 3rd and 4th year results are better you should be fine. If anyone asked, you could be honest and just say you were missing a lot of maths and trying to catch up on that negatively affected your grades, but you taught yourself what you needed to know and excelled from there on... If anything, that would look like a positive..

GradEngineer

breadmonkey wrote: »

I can't believe the number of people saying your grade doesn't matter. It's extremely important for your first job. It's all well and good saying that employers will make a pragmatic assessment at interview but it's the grades that will go a long way towards getting that interview in the first place!

I completly agree with breadmonkey!
The results are of crucial importance in an economic climate where jobs can be hard to come by!

The results / expected results on your CV are often used to filter out CVs before interview!

As soon as you get the job your results almost become irrelevant but until then they are important!

delux

I completly agree with breadmonkey!
The results are of crucial importance in an economic climate where jobs can be hard to come by!

The results / expected results on your CV are often used to filter out CVs before interview!

As soon as you get the job your results almost become irrelevant but until then they are important!

I kinda see what you mean. I see a difference if the CV goes to a HR dept or straight to an engineer in the company. HR, with all due respect, are generally looking at the standard things like grades, previous experience etc.. what else do they know??
But if the CV goes straight to an engineer, as it usually does in my company, then my experience is the engineers don't care about the grade. They'll be interested in what projects the person did(whether in their own time or in a work environment), do they have any relevant skills for this specific job, that kind of thing.

So i can see why people thing grades matter and if they have to go through HR then it probably does matter more.. but it really shouldn't! Those are baaad companies! :eek:
I deal with engineers in lots of major electronic companies in my job and believe me there are alot of bad engineers out there working for household name companies. I do wonder how they got their job

bren2001

The argument seems to be grades or experience.

I've just finished my degree and got a few offers from companies once they found out my grades (they didn't know anything about my experience). So having very good grades will help.

Equally a few of my friends have fantastic experience and got jobs easy enough.

I don't think it makes too much of a difference. If you have very good grades and little experience, companies will take a punt on you. If you have very good experience (including final year project etc.) with poor grades, companies will take a chance. If you have both, you've no issue.

The problem for most people is they dont have great experience or great grades (in my opinion).

This is only true for people who have just graduated.