Random Rants LIII: F My Life

[hobbsyoyo]

I have now been told this twice in recent days:

"Sorry, but they didn't select you for the internship. You were my first choice for the job but the decision wasn't mine to make. Condolences."

It's frustrating to make and develop contacts within companies that seem to help but really can't do much but put in a good word for me. I am pretty sure it's my gpa, and only my gpa, that is keeping me from getting an internship. I have all the experience these companies want (and then some) but my GPA is lowish (3.2) so I think they are passing me up for people with higher GPA's and (likely) far less experience. It's frustrating as hell.

Looks like I'll be staying in Rolla this summer.

 

[Antilogic]

As much as that hurts, those are good contacts to keep in mind for later. You can come back in a couple years (hopefully with an extra couple tenths on that GPA) and ask for a full-time position, focusing on your growth and new experiences since this summer.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I won't have a couple of years - next year is my last year and thus this summer was my last chance for an internship. By the time I graduate, my GPA will have moved down a few tenths rather than up so it's going to be that much harder to get full-time jobs. From what I gather though, competition for internships is much more fierce than it is for full time jobs and I'm also about to be promoted to leadership on the sat team so that'll help. Thanks for the advice

 

[madviking]

the danny brown concert was all fine and well but holy crap the crowd there were terrible. for some reason the crowd over half high schoolers (or at least people who like they should be in high school) and worse yet most of those high schoolers were drunk af. people were always trying to push to the front all during the show and i wanted to punch them. the two ugliest girls i'd ever seen right in front of me and my friends were moshing until i placed a good elbow into one of their backs. two different guys went onto the stage and one of them got put into a headlock and dragged out of the venue. this experience has made be not want to go to another non-18+/rap concert. also why wasn't the concert 18+ to begin with? i mean holy crap i would not like my children go to a danny brown concert unless they were 18.

 

[The_J]

Nothing really bad can happen, can't it?

Agreed on coffee and/or ice cream tomorrow afternoon .

Not sure about the circumstances though, because she'll most likely go back to her home country in 2 months :/.

...and what does she want?
No idea.
What do I want?
No idea.
Can this even work out?
No idea.

Yeah, thanks. My brain is the only part of my body which doesn't want to get screwed.
bäh, bäh, bäh.

 

[Antilogic]

I won't have a couple of years - next year is my last year and thus this summer was my last chance for an internship. By the time I graduate, my GPA will have moved down a few tenths rather than up so it's going to be that much harder to get full-time jobs. From what I gather though, competition for internships is much more fierce than it is for full time jobs and I'm also about to be promoted to leadership on the sat team so that'll help. Thanks for the advice

Even then, I'd keep that contact in mind. If you really wanted to work for those guys but they gave you a "we like you, but not now" answer, you might be able to convert that later on if you get into a job you hate for a couple years and you want to switch. My brother has gone through two other jobs before he starts his third on Monday, and I'm keeping some stuff on the backburner as well.

 

[Phrossack]

...and what does she want?
No idea.
What do I want?
No idea.
Can this even work out?
No idea.

Yeah, thanks. My brain is the only part of my body which doesn't want to get screwed.
bäh, bäh, bäh.

Ask her out to dinner, or to go for a walk, or anything. It doesn't matter, just get things started somehow.

 

[LamaGT]

I won't have a couple of years - next year is my last year and thus this summer was my last chance for an internship. By the time I graduate, my GPA will have moved down a few tenths rather than up so it's going to be that much harder to get full-time jobs. From what I gather though, competition for internships is much more fierce than it is for full time jobs and I'm also about to be promoted to leadership on the sat team so that'll help. Thanks for the advice

I was wondering, what's supposed to be a high GPA? Also what are the average grades you're getting for a 3.2 GPA?

 

[madviking]

I was wondering, what's supposed to be a high GPA? Also what are the average grades you get with a 3.2 GPA?

3.2 gpa means you get some a's but mostly b's. it's not a bad gpa (better than mine heh). i know some people who are pushing 3.9 but they're in stupidly easy majors.

4.0 = all a's
3.0 = all b's
etc.

 

[Kennigit]

A high GPA is what the HR department decides is the qualification for the job.

Looking for graduates with GPA 3.5+
Looking for graduates with GPA 3.0+
Graduate schools often have GPA requirements like 3.3+
Graduate fellowships often have GPA requirements like 3.7+ (fellowships are not HR dependent, but academia is a very competitive and very rigid institution. Not that I necessarily disagree with having such strict requirements, but that's the world they have)

grade scales differ school by school, but 3.2 is "supposed" to be ~87-93%. It's a A-/B+ average officially.

 

[LamaGT]

3.2 gpa means you get some a's but mostly b's. it's not a bad gpa (better than mine heh). i know some people who are pushing 3.9 but they're in stupidly easy majors.

4.0 = all a's
3.0 = all b's
etc.

How hard is it to get an A? Here it often happens that out of a theoretical maximum of 10 the most teachers will give is either 9 or 8, with a passing grade of 6. It's got to be one of the most broken grading systems in the world.

 

[Kennigit]

grade distributions are typically like 30% A's, 30-40% B, rest a mix of C, D, F, or withdrew from the class.

In my experience, it roughly stays similar to that. if a teacher gives 10% A's, he gives like 50-60% B's.

The "average" gpa for a course is typically 2.7-3.3, but it gets skewed on the distribution. Giving like 5% F's bring down the average a lot. If you ignore the bottom 5%, like a 2.7 class average is exactly the same as a 3.3 class average (since often you'll see the 3.3 class average was exclusively A, B, C, while the 2.7 class average could be 95% A, B, C, but then 5% of people failed)

depends entirely on the course what a passing grade is.

 

[The_J]

Ask her out to dinner, or to go for a walk, or anything. It doesn't matter, just get things started somehow.

Guess I should've posted the rest of the raves thread:
She asked me out (yeah, happens o_O), we've been for dinner, movie, etc., and nearly ended up in bed on Saturday.
She'll most likely leave the country in 3 months (if she doesn't get a job here), and says herself that maintaining a relationship with such time/space differences is rather impossible. I'd agree on that.
But I'd be rather in for a real relationship (in contrast to just fun). She too. But it's just not doable, as far as I can see.
What to do?
No clue. At all.

Other point is that I'm also not sure if we really fit to each other (other note: She's like 25% or so older than I am). I like her, for sure. I can imagine more. But yeah...uh...

I also met one of her former housemates today. Flirted a bit. I'm sure I could have got her number or could have invited her for something.
And I think I could also have some realistic chance with one of the girls from my language course.

This sucks right now.
What the hell.
Never thought I could have *that* type of problem.
gah!!!

EDIT: Good that I have again psychotherapy on Tuesday :/.

 

[Takhisis]

So you're awarded your marks not based on how good you were by yourself, but on how good you were compared to the rest of the class? That's completely idiotic.

 

[Kennigit]

So you're awarded your marks not based on how good you were by yourself, but on how good you were compared to the rest of the class? That's completely idiotic.

not exactly but sort of. But it's not idiotic, every test of any sort is weighted towards what the expected performance is and what the performance of the people taking the test ended up being.

It's more that things just don't get defined well in advance because it's difficult to predict exactly how things will shake out.

It wouldn't be realistic to expect people to get a 90%+ on a quantum mechanics test. A 70% may be an "A" (or, more realistically, a 50-60%)

It is expected that a multiple choice test with a couple written answers for an introduction to psychology test will have students get 90%+. But what if the highest scores on the intro to psych test were also pretty "low" (like 75%)? You have to look at whether it's the students fault (i.e. no, the test was fair, people just did bad) or whether the test was very difficult and it was unrealistic to expect people to make a 90%.

You're studying law right? In the US to get your license to practice law, you take some exam that most certainly a passing grade is <70%.

 

[Camikaze]

Grades in Australia are generally divided into Fail/Pass/Credit/Distinction/High Distinction. It's kinda in the name that they're handed out on the basis of how you compare to others. You must distinguish yourself from others in order to get a HD.

 

[sophie]

i know some people who are pushing 3.9 but they're in stupidly easy majors.

I resent that remark.

 

[Tahuti]

Grades in Australia are generally divided into Fail/Pass/Credit/Distinction/High Distinction. It's kinda in the name that they're handed out on the basis of how you compare to others. You must distinguish yourself from others in order to get a HD.

We kinda consider honour's degrees to be ridiculous, especially if it is for a relatively prestigious field like Physics. That said, universities love to cuddle HD students, but it has no value outside academia.

 

[Takhisis]

not exactly but sort of. But it's not idiotic, every test of any sort is weighted towards what the expected performance is and what the performance of the people taking the test ended up being.

But the grade should be dependent on how many questions you got right, otherwise you can be a complete bum and get a B or even an A-.

You're studying law right? In the US to get your license to practice law, you take some exam that most certainly a passing grade is <70%.

May Thunderfall save me from becoming a lawyer! I only intend to become an interpreter.

I resent that remark.

Hey, he doesn't know you.

 

[Kennigit]

But the grade should be dependent on how many questions you got right, otherwise you can be a complete bum and get a B or even an A-.

Yes, those people are called Mechanical Engineers