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When I was in high school, I took some college courses, and did terribly. Junior year, I took calc III and got a B+. That wasn't so bad. My senior year, I took diff eq, theoretical linear algebra, and a com sci course (my first programming class) and got D-, D+ and F, respectively. Needless to say, I got rejected by all the schools I wanted to go to, and ended up at the local college. I retook those classes so that my GPA isn't in the toilet. But the D-, D+ and F are still there. I went through a terrible period of depression my junior and senior year. I had no real friends, and my parents hammered me with dissatisfaction and verbal abuse everyday. It still p*sses me off just to think about it. How will this impact my chances of getting into good grad schools?

I think I should highlight the fact that I'm a junior, and I need to start studying vocab asap. It would be nice to get a word list specifically designed for the GRE. I checked out a barron's vocab list from a public library with 800 words. I looks old (I'll check the date later), but do GRE word lists change throughout the years, or can I stick with a word bank from 4-6 years ago?

I've been doing research for a professor for more than 2 years. But she is a very busy professor, and the project I'm working on has progressed very slowly. Even though I was moved to a new project, I find it pathetic that after 2 years, I still haven't produced any results that are of any significance. I feel almost afraid to ask her for a LOR in the future, because looking back, I've done NOthing to impress her as an independent researcher, and this will probably hurt me. Another thing that I've always wondered is that almost all undergrad research assistants report to some sort of middleman, who in turn reports to the professor. With this relationship, the professor can't really get to know the undergrad unless I visit her office hours a lot with questions from literature or something. What are some good ways to let the professor get to know you more?

I'm doing research for him and taking his class at the same time. He's so smart that almost every time he explains something I find perplexing, I eventually say something like "ahh, I see" when I had no freaking idea what he just said, and he looks at me like "you have no idea what I just said, do you?" On a personal level, he's very easygoing. But I really want to impress him for the LOR. I don't think I'm that stupid. It's just that I'm just starting to learn about reaction kinetics, polymer weight distributions and whatnot, so I just have to study hard and get used to his pace. It's hard for me (or anyone for that matter) to grasp something that I just saw the first or second time. So the reason I posted this is because I want to know if this is what a lot of other undergrad/grads feel about their professors. I used to think I'm a better fit doing a PhD. But now, I feel more like I just want a job.

sweet. I'm going to move right before I take the GRE.

"plus your major GPA(which is a lot more important) is SUPER high" thant's debatable. I'm just paranoid because when I was in high school, I got completely screwed by college apps.

My English is terrible. Whenever I take a test involving reading and vocabulary, I freak out. I will do my best to get my reading speed up. Meanwhile, where can I find a good, long list of GRE words that won't let me down? I would also appreciate any advice regarding what to read that would be best for preparation for the reading sections. thanks!

I appreciate the feedback, but I'm still skeptical. I talked to my faculty adviser today, and told her my best possible gpa by grad school app time is ~3.57, and she told me that this is a good GPA, but there are certain top schools that have thresholds below which they just screen the applications and weed out the ones that aren't your typical golden boy. (paraphrasing) She suggested UT-Austin, which is a top 10. I think it will be a really high reach for me. There's a 75% chance I'll have a publication by the end of this semester. Also, I'm going to try to make a poster and attend some conferences to get some exposure. Lastly, I've been working close to 30 hrs/wk in the labs, even though I only get paid for 20/30 of those hours. If I can keep this up, I bet I can get some pretty good data. I obviously want to go to the best school I possibly can. But at the same time, I don't want to get eaten alive and feel like a fool. I don't handle rejections very well. People say it's nothing, but getting rejected is probably among my top 3 worst feelings.

"admitted applicants typically have average GPAs between 3.7 and 3.9." that's what I'm asking. they list the min GPA cutoff as 3.0 or 3.5, but what are the real cutoffs for the avg applicant to actually stand a realistic chance of admittance. It would be nice to get a figure for the top 5, top 10, and top 20.

that's what I'm saying. What's a safe GPA and GRE score cutoff?

I'm a chem e major in my third year. research experiences aside, the highest my GPA will be by the time I apply for grad school is cum:3.55 major: 3.79... I had the opportunity to do well in all of my classes, but I've had a bad habit of overwhelming myself with the amount of classes I take, as well as other excuses that won't be worth mentioning. I'm afraid my GPA will automatically disqualify me from the really good schools. What are people's impressions on undergrad GPA and how they're looked at in the admission process? thanks

After reading a few words into your post, I thought you were a spambot. lol. Thanks for the info. But from what I hear, there's a certain GPA threshold above which all applicants within that range are weighed equally. for example, the difference between 3.75 and 3.8 could be neglected because they're both above 3.7... And the thing is, I have a feeling 3.7 is somewhat of a bare minimum in the top schools. (I obviously want to go to a top school, who doesn't?) I think 3.55 would be in the bottom 20% of the applicant pools in a lot of good university, if not bottom 10%, meaning I would need to do spectacularly on the GRE, have outstanding LORs, and a solid research background.

Hi, new here. -----------------GPA I'm chem e, third year, large state school. I've done research in the past, but it's only been recently that I've started to get really serious about it. I'll probably have a publication (if not 2) by the end of this semester. But that's not what I'm worried about. My GPA will be somewhere between 3.5 and 3.55 by the time I apply for grad schools. Major GPA would be somewhere around 3.8... I want to go to a good grad school, preferably a small private school that's not in the middle of nowhere. I've yet to do any research on faculty member with whom I would like to work. But for now, based on my GPA, what feedback can I get on the caliber of schools I can apply to? -----------------LOR I'm currently in my third year, and I have 2 probable sources of LOR (my research profs). I have a choice of trying to get an internship for the summer, or pick up another research project with another professor. My faculty adviser offered to write me a LOR, but that was 2 years ago, and I haven't really talked to her in... 2 years... If I decide research, industry experience can still be done down the road. For now, I'm wondering where I should get my third LOR. any advice is appreciated. I will consult my adviser, but I always want to hear from more people. thanks P.S. I'm interested in PhD