Poor grades will hurt your
job search, but research and lab experience can
transform a student with average grades into a
desirable employee.
Experts say grades are an
important indicator of job performance but not
a perfect one. By contrast, research experience
at a university or national laboratory demonstrates
your capabilities and gives potential employers
a chance to discuss your strengths and weaknesses
with your research supervisor.
"That sort of experience can
make a person with mediocre grades a better candidate
than a person with great grades," said Dr. Kelly
O. Sullivan, manager of the university relations
and fellowship programs at Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory in Washington
State.
Great grades by themselves
don't guarantee job performance. Some students
struggle in the classroom but blossom in a laboratoryor
vice versa. Employers want to know whether classroom
knowledge translates into job skills.
"If they had a 3.0 and a
lot of research experience, that would be better
for me than a 4.0 and none," Sullivan said. "People
who have great grades can come into a research
setting and fall flat on their faces. They may
not be so good at applying what they've learned
in the classroom."
Debe Deeb Williams of the
University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign agrees that great grades
aren't as much of a "no-brainer" in landing a
job as students might think.
"If you don't have a stellar
GPA but you have on your resume that you supported
50 percent of your education, or that you're a
single parent, that's factored in," said Williams,
director of placement and student services at
the university's School
of Chemical Sciences.
Other mitigating factors to
lackluster grades include work experience, research
publications, stellar references and leadership
positions in campus or civic organizations.
Students seeking entrance
into graduate schools also benefit from strong
letters of recommendation and undergraduate research
experience, especially if they're pursuing admittance
into an esteemed research university.
"Typically the minimum grade
is 3.0, but it can fluctuate a little," Williams
said. "I've seen a very widespread range of grades
who have been able to get into grad school."
Mary Harty, an academic adviser
at the University
of Washington department of chemistry, said
that graduate schools typically place a higher
priority on students' essays and references than
on GPA or GRE scores.
"They're looking more at,
`How do you present yourself?' and 'What do people
say about you?'" Harty said. "They want to build
a scientist."
Graduate schools and companies
want students who can handle themselves in the
lab. A student with a 3.2 and lots of research
experience may have an equal chance of getting
into graduate school as a student with a 3.95
and no research experience, Harty said.
She said an employer's preference
would probably depend on the particular job opening,
but students who have a 3.2 and research experience
would be quite competitive with students who have
a 3.95 and no lab experience. She added that companies
tend to value team players over anti-social students
with perfect grades.
But Harty cautioned that students
are not helping their job options when GPA's dip
below the 2.8 range.
In fact, some companies require
applicants to meet a minimum GPA requirement.
"The highest I've ever seen
(companies look for) is a 3.5 or 3.0," Williams
said.
Those employers tend to provide
some leeway. A student from a rigorous institution
might be able to squeeze through with a 2.8, she
said. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated
by Battelle
for the U.S. Department
of Energy, requires a minimum GPA of 2.5 for
post-bachelor's positions and is considering raising
that to a 3.0.
"It's a matter of wanting
excellent preparation," Sullivan said. "We're
a prestigious facility, and we feel like we should
have pretty high standards. We want the stars,
the best people coming here."
Sullivan prefers research
experience in a national laboratory setting to
a university setting, partly because supervisors
away from your university may offer a more neutral
assessment of your skills.
"If you've done two semesters
of research at a national lab, that can make a
huge difference in how the application is perceived,"
she said. But she added that if you have two years
of research experience with a professor at the
University
of Minnesota, for example, "they're no slouch."
Experts say that undergraduates
should supplement their grades by selling other
strengths in their resume, recommendations and
interviews.
Among experts' tips:
Spend
some time deciding who you want to recommend you.
Students should consider what each professor or
supervisor can add to their recommendation letters.
Letters should supplement each other rather than
repeat the same information.
Distinguish
yourself from other students.
What about you or your experience is unique? Do
you have a minor in philosophy? Do you have research
publications?
Highlight
all work experience.
"Even if they worked at the Gap,
that says at least they can work with people,
deal with irate customers, that they are trustworthy
and handled the cash register," Williams said.
"If they worked in Subway, they followed health
codes. In chemistry, they must adhere to OSHA
(Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
requirements."
If students worked one summer
at the Gap but then snagged an internship at Eli
Lilly and Company the next summer, they can
show that they built experience and skills over
time. -- If you have a dream company, find out
if they have a GPA cutoff. "If you're not close
to it, you may not be able to work there as your
first job," Williams said. "GPA is an entry-level
issue. After that it's, `How good is your job
performance? How well do you get along with people?'"
Don't
obsess about grades.
Sullivan knows few students
are likely to follow that piece of advice, but
she says it's worth a try. "Instead of arguing
for that extra credit, why not focus on learning
the material and getting the most out of it?"
she asks. "Hopefully the grade will come naturally
out of that."
Rachel Smolkin is a Washington-area
freelance writer. She previously worked as a national
reporter in the Washington, D.C. bureau of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade and covered
issues such as health care and education. She
also worked at Scripps Howard News Service as
a national education reporter and as the Washington,
D.C. correspondent for The Albuquerque Tribune
in New Mexico and the Birmingham Post-Herald in
Alabama.
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