2.5 GPA as an undergraduate freshman in my first quarter at UCLA. How screwed am I for the most prestigious graduate school programs? (Princeton, Caltech, Harvard)

[IdiotAlert]

I was cocky my first quarter at UCLA because I thought that I can not attend class and still get perfect grades. I've heard of people doing this at Caltech and at other schools, and I thought that I was similar to them in intellect. I got a burning grade of a C in multivariable calculus 1 and a B in a basic astronomy course and a passing grade in physics 1 (barely passed). This bummed me out since I thought that I was one of the best and now I had to face the stupid consequences for my actions. You know, I was utterly depressed over not getting accepted into any of my reaches as a high school senior last year and I'm still depressed about it. I wanted to transfer to Caltech or Princeton when I'm an undergraduate sophomore but those hopes are possibly dashed because of the poor grades. Most people on Quora are telling me to stay at UCLA and apply for graduate school, but I feel inferior to the people who got into the top-tier schools (Harvard, Yale, Caltech, MIT). One person even told me that the coursework at Caltech would be too hard for me, but I doubt that is true. So I got a 2.5 GPA at the end of first quarter, and I'm probably struggling to get good grades in my second quarter classes (Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, an Astronomy course intended for sophomores). I don't know what my grades will be in those classes but I hope that they will be all A's. I'll take 5-6 courses next quarter to make up for those bad grades and get my GPA to possibly a 3.5 and I'll take a few summer classes this summer to get that GPA up to a 3.75. Am I screwed for the graduate school admissions? What about transfer admissions? If my writing is unclear, I am sorry. I am in a depressed and hopeless mood right now. 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Traniac342

[ArcaMajora]

Forewarning: I'm in the humanities so I can't quite speak to how grades play a role in STEM PhD admissions, hopefully someone in your field answers. I do relate emotionally though somewhat and I was once in a similar boat as you during my first days as an undergraduate.

Take a breather. I want you to remember that this is your first/second quarter as an undergrad. The time adjustment period from high school to college is a variable for everyone. Some take multiple quarters, some can do it within the space of that one quarter, some may need the entire year. I know the grades are hurting but take a deep breath and remember the grades are set in stone. They're the foundation you have to work with. A 2.5 is not optimal (especially for the caliber of schools you're listing here), but my impression of the landscape of graduate school admissions that your research experience, potential, and the trajectory you're heading into coming out of undergrad is the most important aspect of admissions. The GPA is just one part of the application package (and if it's above a 3.5-3.7+, possibly a formality? STEM might have far different dynamics so pls, pls, pls, consult those who are in your field). It's good that you're considering graduate school this early on, but remember that the 1st year is a very formative stage of your undergraduate career. Use the time you have to figure out if graduate school or transferring is the right path for you. Take your time, breathe, and explore the possibilities. It's the best time in undergrad to keep your options open.

A 2.5 isn't the best foundation to start with, but the silver lining here is that it's early on in your undergrad career to turn it around (I imagine performance in more advanced courses will count for more). GPA during the Fresh/Soph years tends to be very pliable, so naturally a 3.5-4.0 in the succeeding quarters will likely put the numbers up. Please definitely try to hunker down and do well in your classes. As an undergrad, attendance and engagement are absolutely key in getting high grades in classes. I don't think I would've done half as well if I ghosted most of them, and also in missing classes, you do miss valuable chances to possibly interact with professors/other graduate students in your field. The classes do not have to be 100% your world during undergrad (and highly recommended they don't become the dominant force, you'll definitely want other experiences to supplement them), but they are an important part and they establish the foundation of your engagement within whatever fields you want to go into for graduate school. Make each class session, office hour, and your time in college count.

I can't speak for transfer admissions, I don't know if I've ever seen a case for a UC to private school transfers happen (UC to UC and CSU to UC and vice versa itself can be tricky to navigate). UCLA is a very fine institution however. An undegrad degree from there is itself a considerable cachet across many contexts and as far as I know, it's a well-respected school across many fields. However, I don't want to discourage you from transferring to another school if it's in your heart and interests to do so, but do keep in mind the difficulties of doing so from an institution that's built as a 4-year.

Graduate admissions... that's another ballgame. Right now, it's very early on in your undergraduate career to really properly determine your chances (and grad schools admissions themselves are... something else). I have to stress that graduate admissions are not determined by GPA alone, especially if you're applying to doctoral programs in your field. What matters, generally speaking, is research experience, your fit with the schools you have in mind, and your drive to be able to pursue a graduate degree within your chosen field. Tbh the best place to start getting your feet wet for that kind of experience is undergraduate research opportunities and taking the time to network with other professors and graduate students. When it comes to grad school (professors especially), they hold the keys to the kingdom and your professors are going to be the ones writing letters of recommendation for you. Above all else tho, scope out opportunities for undergrad research in your field and see if it's something you enjoy doing.

In grad school admissions (and tbh in life in general), self-comparison is the easiest way to wreck confidence. Please don't self-compare. I can't deny, yes it is painful not to get into reaches as a high school senior and see others get into the schools you want. (fun fact: my current final decision rejected me for undergrad and happily enough UCLA too lol). It sucks, I got pretty despondent and hopeless when I was getting rejection letter piles from PhD programs. However, focus on what you yourself have right now. You yourself are attending a very fabulous school. You have reason to celebrate being there and you have opportunities there. That helps me when I get hopeless. I let the emotion run through and I don't deny it, and then remember the successes and triumphs I had getting to where I'm at.

Remember to breathe and experience undergrad first. Graduate school is a commitment that takes a village, figure out first if it's something in your heart of hearts that you want to do.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Ranmaag

[Ternwild]

On 3/1/2019 at 4:48 PM, Traniac342 said:

I don't know what my grades will be in those classes but I hope that they will be all A's. I'll take 5-6 courses next quarter to make up for those bad grades and get my GPA to possibly a 3.5 and I'll take a few summer classes this summer to get that GPA up to a 3.75. 

I AM in STEM, however, and the truth is, I think you just got a big bite of humble pie.  In physics, I met a number of guys just like you.  They came in thinking they were Einstein's gift to physics.  What they didn't realise is that the hard courses didn't hit until the second year.  What happened to them?  Most of them transferred into other majors before the end of their Sophmore year (we started with 210 in my 1st year course and graduated with 17).  Now, I'm not sure what degree you're shooting for, but with astronomy, physics, and calculus I'm gonna gander you're hoping for physics or astronomy.  The biggest mistake you can make in physics is assume you know what you're doing.  Because as soon as you believe you know what you're doing, physics is going to kick you in the balls and show you how wrong you are.  I have a GPA of 3.76 in physics and I worked my ass off for it.  I managed to get this GPA while securing myself 4 C's, over 4 years.  One advantage you have over my 4 C's is that yours were in the first quarter.  When you apply to grad school, they're gonna see your first quarter.  If this a trend, you're done for if you think you're getting in a top 20 school.  But (and this a big "but") if you can pull your overinflated head out of your ass, you might just pull through.  For one, stop thinking you're a god's gift to UCLA STEM.  Number two, stay humble and work hard.  You can explain in your SOP that your first semester was just you adjusting to college life and you turned it around.  If you can prove to them that you got near a 4.0 in the last 3 years, the graduate committee will likely completely ignore the first one or two quarters. 

Additionally, there is a whole lot more to your application than your GPA.  For example, start studying for the subject GRE two years in advance.  Take some practice tests or even actual subject GRE exams (you can choose to send your best score).  Try to get your subject GRE over 900 (990 is a perfect score, something I was not able to achieve--didn't start studying early enough).   Not impossible.  Get your Quantitative score on the General GRE over 167 (with 170 being perfect).  But, most of all, if you are in a STEM field, the BEST thing you can do is research.  Find out what you love most about your subject and get into a research group IMMEDIATELY and start working on publishable research.  Publications is important in your grad application (my downfall in not completing any before graduation, though I did all 4 years of research).  Get your research out there.  Attend conferences and present posters.  Try to apply to grad school with an idea of what you want to research in and the more focused your UG research is on the field you want to get into, the better your chances of getting accepted. 

In F17, right after my UG, I got accepted to Cornell and WashU (both top 20 schools), but didn't attend because I was convinced I could do better and I didn't really like the research there.  In F18, I applied to 5 better schools and got rejected from them all.  That was my humble pie.  Now I'm almost 2 years out of UG and the further I am away from my research, the less competitive I am, as you can see from my signature.  So, to summarise, don't be cocky and think you deserve to go to a better school (like I did F17/F18) because grad committees will pick up on that, for sure.  Get into a research group in a field that interests you that does publishable work and hammer out as many papers as you can, and share your research.  And study that subject GRE.  With all these, your first semester is irrelevant.  Everyone has bad semesters. 

You hope to transferring, however?  I think that's done for.  Focus on grad school, now.  My words may come off as harsh or too straight forward, right now, but hopefully it gets the message across and you can buckle down and turn this ship around. 

 

P.S.: If you want to know what scores/GPAs typically get into these universities, search for the school and the program in the results page.  I've seen people with 3.6 GPAs get into MIT because they had so much research.  Also, start working on getting strong letters of recc from professors by working hard in their groups.  I, personally, worked in 3 concurrent research groups. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Ternwild

[thecodemachine]

Dude, @ternwild , consider chilling out. This kid isn't saying he currently thinks he's god's gift to physics. He's saying he made a mistake and he's worried about his future. This is someone in distress so take it easy on hiim/her.

@Traniac342 , I didn't get into my reach schools for undergrad. But I didn't give up. It bothered the hell out of me. So I tried to 'prove my worth' and ace college. But I found that straight A's is difficult with a math degree. When the best I could achieve was As and Bs, I felt like a failure. Then I had a messy year of failing grades and felt even more like a failure. I felt like my Caltech/MIT dreams were trashed. But I got back up and graduated. I started my career and always felt like an underdog because I knew my potential but I never got that elite tech school stamp to prove it. 10 years out of college and it still bothered me that I didn't get into my reach schools. But I didn't give up. I applied for grad schools. But this time, everything was different. I hired an admissions consultant to guide me. I had a great income to spend on prepartion. During my career, I had completed a difficult professional certification, written books, and massively matured through corporate work experience. When I took the GREs, I prepared and aced them because I was in a good place in life and didn't feel pressured. Through this whole application process, I didn't feel pressure to get admitted. If I didn't get in, my life was already great and it didn't matter much. I got admitted yesterday to an elite tech school and I imagine I have more admits coming my way this month. It's an amazing feeling to be finally vindicated. My gpa was 3.1 for undergrad homie with plenty of Fs, C's, and Ds. But as my admission consultant told me, "time heals all wounds." I'm not going to give you advice but I hope that you go an talk to a professional counselor or psychiatrist (available at your school for free). What my transcipts from high school and college didn't say was that I had a mood disorder and chronic stomach problems disrupting my life behind the scenes. It took me years to understand how to live a normal life but by then, I was a working professional and my grades were 'trashed'. What I realized later in life, was these health issues made my GPA, and my accomplishments that much more significant. That you couldn't evaluate me on the same spectrum as people without disabilities. Hustle and Persistence paid off for me. And I believe my best days are always ahead of me. Health and wellbeing before ambition, always. 

 

[IdiotAlert]

Never mind. I screwed up my second quarter because of depression, but I'm getting over my depression and I'm starting to have better studying habits.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Traniac342

[Zanelol]

Hey bro, UCLA is a fantastic university, and you shouldn't get down on yourself for going there. I know there are plenty of other students that would love to be in your place right now. Keep your head up and realize that life isn't all about GPAs and academic prestige. Life's a journey with ups and downs and these superficial concepts do not define your worth.

Furthermore, enjoy your life while you're still young. Self-fulfilment doesn't stem from stress and heavy work-loads; it stems from a well-balanced life wherein you always feel you're doing what you love to do.

Cheers

Edited April 11, 2019 by Zanelol

[43pennsylvanian]

I'm in the humanities so I don't know if this helps. But in my first year, I bombed my Survey of Western Art final and I got a C for that class. I was paranoid and I didn't know what to do. But it did not stop me from taking upper-level courses in Art History. I changed my studying style, be more stringent. And by the end of my junior year, I was offered to do an honors thesis with my professor in the Art History department.

Even though I studied Art History and Communication, I still had to take Computer Science and Calculus, and I still got an A for both of them. Somehow they are not that difficult for me like for other people. 

On the other hand, my friend got a C+ in her Organic Chemistry in her freshman year but an A in Survey of Western Art, and she is a STEM major. She really tried in her next two years and eventually she was offered a research position in her senior year (at my school this is only offered to the most promising students). So, these two years make all these differences.