Undergrad stress

[Penelopepie]

I’m really stressed as an undergrad sophomore in CSD... my program does like gpa checks to make sure we’re at a 3.0 or higher but we were told that if you don’t have a 3.4 by the time you graduate then there’s no point in applying  it just causes me a lot of stress and anxiety. I was told but upperclassmen that they most likely say that so we can shoot to do well so we don’t have to worry but as long as we do well on the gre and have volunteer, shadow, and extracurriculars we should be okay and also good LOR. Is that true?? Can someone help take my anxiety away lol

[bibliophile222]

If you do a little digging (very little, actually) on this forum you will see 50+ threads about having a low GPA, with many people giving reassurances that they got in somewhere with a lower GPA. You will also see threads on schools that only look at the last 60 credits or only the major GPA.

Granted, if your GPA is too low you may have to apply multiple years in a row, retake classes you did poorly in, and/or aim for killer GRE scores and LORs, but it can be done. If you're trying for a highly-ranked program then yeah, you may need a 3.8 or higher to be competitive, but it's a known fact in this field that program ranking has little to no significance once you get out into the real world. You can do it! Don't let the naysayers get you down, especially when you still have so much more time in your undergrad to improve your GPA if you need to.