Should I transfer because of my horrible GPA?

What does the 2.7 GPA mean? What is its significance? Is that a failing grade for your school? If not, continue your studies there instead of wasting time and money transferring to another school. Study hard to get better grades. If you're going to apply for a job, an employer might ask why you felt you had to transfer to another school — especially if you're going to make your GPA the reason for it. There's no easier school if you're not willing to adapt and study hard. Schools don't matter. Your performance does.

I graduated in 2009. It took me a year and a half to find a job. I interviewed at many different companies and I cannot remember any one of them asking my GPA or for my transcripts. The companies were interested in what I knew, could I work as a part of their team, was I capable of learning the way that they do things not what my grades were. The real question is are those grades indicative of your abilities as a programmer? Are you struggling to learn the concepts being taught to you? Are you capable of creating the programs that you are asked for? If you are having these problems an easier university will not change that. As a matter of fact it might make it worse. The most important thing here is to focus on your studies. Learn the concepts. This will help you get a job faster than just a gpa.

No, no, a thousand times no! I graduated with a 2.00 GPA[0] from UT CS with multiple Seattle, Bay Area, Austin interviews and / or offers including the big 4 (Google, MS, Amazon, FB) and a bunch of smaller companies (Andreseen Horowitz, Square, LinkedIn, Palantir, Spiceworks, BazaarVoice, Indeed, RetailMeNot, etc). GPA matters at 2 specific times: Passing a company's GPA cutoff. These companies include National Instruments, Intel, maybe nvidia, and a few others. Passing company's HR. This varies from company to company. When I was talking to a distribution company's HR rep she was visually disgusted when she found out my GPA. Tech companies and programmers tend not to care so much. No one (except Google[1]) cares about GPA after your first full time job. In regards to undergrad CS ranking, UT Austin CS is tier 2[2], UH is tears running down my face. Compare companies from the most recent career fairs at http://cns.utexas.edu/images/CNS/Career_Design_Center/PDFs/Spring14_Career_Fair_Student_Handout.pdf and http://www.uh.edu/technology/advising/career-services/career-fair/participating-companies/.[3] Companies have a limited budget and time. They can only afford to target X amount of schools, and UH will not make that cutoff. UT's alumni network is stronger, CS and otherwise. Because of the quality of companies at the career fair, a lot of my friends move out to the west coast. I moved out here as well, and I've run into many UT alumni here in other industries as well. I'd guess that UH's alumni network is not as strong. If I want to apply to another tech company, I can typically ask a friend to get my resume past HR. So what should you do now? Stick with UT. If you're a freshman and/or sophomore you might be able to salvage your GPA to a >3.00. In either case, you need to make your resume standout. Now that you're free from chasing GPA, take classes that really interest you and start building something! I had a crap GPA, but I filled out my resume plenty of other stuff: plenty of internships at big and small companies undergraduate research leadership position in a student org plenty of open source work[4] Other suggestions: a mobile app that you can showoff to recruiters, create a startup, get active in student orgs. It's ok to have a bad GPA, you just have to prove yourself in other areas. GPA is not meaningful to anyone except HR for new grad positions. [0]: It actually was a 1.98 at the graduation ceremony and I took online filler classes afterwards to raise my GPA to 2.00. [1]: It doesn't weigh for / against their decision, but they still ask for a transcript even if you've been out of school for 5+ years. I still made onsite (but no offer) with my embarrassing transcript. [2]: In my opinion, tier 1: MIT, Berkely, Stanford, CMU. [3]: Fall is more competitive and typically has better companies. [4]: My resume has a GitHub link and plenty of engineers have commented on it. I have plenty of contributions to big, well known projects and a few popular* ones of my own. Dumping your schoolwork onto GitHub is a waste of everyone's time. * "Popular" is a stretch, my projects have a few hundred stars but it means people at least use the stuff I create.

I have studied computer science in 3 different universities (NUS, NTU in Singapore, and University of Auckland in New Zealand) by taking exchange program. I don't think the course work in another university will be easier, because the courses content will not change much. You know, computer science is the science, and you learn principles of algorithms or data structures in Texas doesn't mean you can escape those courses in a lower rank university unless you go to an institution which focus on skills rather than science (I don't recommend to do so). NUS is one of the top university in computer science. It ranks at 8th in the world in computing. But I don't think the courses from University of Auckland is easier than NUS although NUS offers more challenging assignments. Their course contents are almost same, and you have to learn the same thing if you want to be qualified as a computer science graduate. Therefore lower rank university may not make your study easier, On the other hand, better university may have better facilities and resources to assist your learning. Moreover, in a better university, you can meet more intelligent students and find brighter career opportunities (You may noticed that good university always have relationships with good employers). I learned a lot of cool programming techniques from NUS student during exchanging, that is a advantage to be in a high rank uni. Final choice is yours, but if I am you, I will choose Texas. Work harder, and you should be fine. Also, finding a job with good pay after graduation does not strictly bind to your GPA. Employees care more about your experience, I think you can take some intern and part-time programming job before you graduating. If you don't have any practical skills, grab some books from Amazon and learn them. Actually, engineers need to continue to learn in their whole life, or they may lose their job. If you have no interest in this engineering life or have no passion in technology, you can consider to switch to an another major if your time agrees. Good luck to you study.

I'm a hiring manager.  The best thing you can come out of college with is a portfolio of projects.  Ideally these should include something you've built yourself outside of class (or maybe as a self-directed thesis class).  GPA is not remotely as well correlated with talent and productivity as the simple act of getting something done. If you really want to impress, put a URL on your resume that points to a live system you've built, and a second one to the DVCS repository where the code is. If you transfer now, it will look like you dropped out to do something easier. If you can complete the program you are in, that will look better on a resume, but the difference is much less important than achieving something to show off.

Speaking from my Canadian experience.... no  IMO... Its expensive, time consuming, frustrating and every university is a business (a business makes money to cover its costs and survive by my layman's definition). It will take you longer to graduate and you will still have the same degree at the end of the day. Instead of moving and changing schools (potentially retaking courses you have already done), try studying in a different manner or seek to improve your skills in the areas that trouble you.

I did not know what a GPA was until I was kicked out of University. I never went to classes, so I was forced to go to a community college, where I got my act together and maintained a 4.0. I got back into University after convincing a counselor to accept a certain course as an 'equivalent'.  His office was full of pictures of horses, and I got him talking about it.  He initially said the course was not a match, but after our enlightening discussion on horses, he made an exception with me. This ought to tell you that everything is not about GPA, but also about street smarts, politics, and personality.  It's your choice! Just keep a passion to excel, and you will!

Flunk out. Your interests are unaligned with your academic obligations.  It will be the same at any school. Take this opportunity to suck what marrow you can crack from the dry bones of the academic establishment but otherwise, just give up. Take advantage of your school's equipment, from networked conference rooms to recording studios to electroencephalographs.  You can do this by ambushing the faculty in charge, and detailing a hypothetical extracurricular project.  The details, here, are important. Write an outline. If they refuse you, tell them your GPA is a 2.7, and your days are numbered, and beg. Form study groups.  Crash study groups. Crash labs. Form labs. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.

Get a copy of your transcript.  I work as a private tutor, and I recently advised a client in your situation to transfer.  Unfortunately, I seem to have given her some very bad advice.  (See a screen shot from her transcript below).  You might as well stay at UT: It's a more prestigious school; and it seems they are going to see all of your grades whether you transfer or not.