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I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (controls) in India. My undergraduate GPA in mechanical engineering was good, but my PhD GPA has been low (6.8/10). Will this bad GPA affect my prospects for getting into robotics organisations like Kuka, Mitsubishi, etc in US/Europe location? If so, what can I do in the upcoming 3.5 years to mitigate this low GPA?

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    I am surprised that I cannot find a previous question of the form "Does PhD GPA matter when applying to subsequent industry positions?" I think that's a good question that would get you an answer. As your question's written now, though, it asks nearly 3 separate questions and has some unnecessarily specific information about your GPA. We have answers to the academic question: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/173/… academia.stackexchange.com/questions/107685/….
    – user176372
    Commented May 17 at 17:38
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    Agree with user176372 -- I edited the question to focus it on the part that hasn't been answered before. I also specified that you're asking about R&D positions -- if that's not the case, we can't really help you, you might want to check out Workplace.SE. Finally, I recommend specifying the country or part of the world -- more specifically than "not US".
    – cag51
    Commented May 17 at 18:44

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(U.S. based answer, may be different for other places)

I have never had anyone at any robotics company ask me about my Ph.D. GPA. In the U.S. people care much more about the subject of your research, your impact, and where your articles are published. I don't actually even remember my Ph.D. GPA but it was considered fairly mediocre. It has never once come up. In the U.S. it's seen as a minimum barrier to graduation.

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    In my case, my PhD was research only as was normal in Australia when I did it. When US places asked for my transcript, I got it but it just says "Enrolled in PhD, Enrolled in PhD, .... Enrolled in PhD, Awarded PhD". And no GPA at all because I took no formal classes during it.
    – Peter K.
    Commented May 17 at 17:26
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In the countries whose PhD systems I'm most familiar with there are no grades for a PhD degree. So when applying in those I don't think you would stand out just not mentioning a GPA and it will probably never be asked. It sounds like this will depend highly on the country you are applying for jobs though (and to a lesser extend the country where you obtained your PhD). Might be worth including that information to get a better answer.


It will likely be worst for applying in countries where there is the expectation that a PhD degree comes with a grade and worse still if you have a PhD from there as they will actually be able to judge your grade as mediocre. People are more likely to judge based on things they (think they) understand.

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