How GPA centric are universities in Europe?

[lolcocks]

Hello,

 

I have a really poor GPA,

49.5%  -  Bachelor of Computer Applications

60% (6.77/10) - Master of Computer Applications

Additionally I have 19 months of exceptional work experience as a business owner, a really strong SOP which serves my business and somewhat good academic reference letters.

And I am applying for Electronics Engineering programs.

 

My first priority was Canada, and I have already applied to 10 Canadian Universities (got rejected from 1). But Canadian Universities are extremely GPA centric. I have a feeling that all 10 universities might reject me just by looking at my transcripts.

 

That being said, I am thinking about applying for universities in Europe. I am already avoiding the competition due to low GPA, such as Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom and Netherlands.

 

I am thinking about applying in Finland, Czech Republic, Denmark and maybe even Russia. Learning a language is not an issue for me, I always wanted to do so.

 

So the main question is,

Are universities in Europe, mainly the countries I am going to apply to, forgiving when it comes to having a low GPA? Will they look at other aspects of my profile?

Edited December 26, 2020 by lolcocks

[tomeu]

Hello! I might shed some light on your problem.

I know for sure that universities in Czech Republic and Russia conduct interviews in 99.9% of cases, and very often also written examination. If you pass the basic screening which basically check your eligibility, you will be invited for the entrance exam - it's an administrative task, not a pre-selection based on merit. So no real emphasis on GPA from the admins, although it differs from uni to uni and also among faculties or even programs at the same university, depending on their requirements.

Denmark and Finland are, to my best knowledge, more GPA oriented than e.g. Russia.

 

On 12/26/2020 at 4:34 PM, lolcocks said:

somewhat good academic reference letters

Forget about reference letters, we do not really care about them in continental Europe, so it will not help you with your application at all.

 

You have another problem - because of your GPA, you might have troubles securing a supervisor. Unless professors look for code monkeys or lab slaves, they tend to be picky. You must either have an excellent research proposal, or convince the professor you are bringing something truly special to his/her lab, some added value.

 

On 12/26/2020 at 4:34 PM, lolcocks said:

Learning a language is not an issue for me, I always wanted to do so.

Well, you are in tough spot. In all the countries you mentioned (unless the program is taught in English), you need to provide language certificate (usually B1 and above) BEFORE you start your studies, and in most cases the language certification is part of your application. Also, please note that in many cases, if the program is conducted in English, you need to pay higher tuition fees.

 

So to summarize - the universities in the countries you mentioned will certainly take a look at your profile as a whole, and will not necessarily disqualify you for low GPA. The rest is up to you.

[lolcocks]

12 hours ago, tomeu said:

Hello! I might shed some light on your problem.

I know for sure that universities in Czech Republic and Russia conduct interviews in 99.9% of cases, and very often also written examination. If you pass the basic screening which basically check your eligibility, you will be invited for the entrance exam - it's an administrative task, not a pre-selection based on merit. So no real emphasis on GPA from the admins, although it differs from uni to uni and also among faculties or even programs at the same university, depending on their requirements.

Denmark and Finland are, to my best knowledge, more GPA oriented than e.g. Russia.

 

Forget about reference letters, we do not really care about them in continental Europe, so it will not help you with your application at all.

 

You have another problem - because of your GPA, you might have troubles securing a supervisor. Unless professors look for code monkeys or lab slaves, they tend to be picky. You must either have an excellent research proposal, or convince the professor you are bringing something truly special to his/her lab, some added value.

 

Well, you are in tough spot. In all the countries you mentioned (unless the program is taught in English), you need to provide language certificate (usually B1 and above) BEFORE you start your studies, and in most cases the language certification is part of your application. Also, please note that in many cases, if the program is conducted in English, you need to pay higher tuition fees.

 

So to summarize - the universities in the countries you mentioned will certainly take a look at your profile as a whole, and will not necessarily disqualify you for low GPA. The rest is up to you.

 

Thank you for your response kind sir. 

 

My low GPA really has put a toll on my mental health.

 

Any idea what exactly do they ask in those interviews? So that I can well prepare myself.

 

What options do I have?

If I have a bad GPA, am I fucked for life? Do I have spent the rest of my life with coding? ?

Is there no way out?

[tomeu]

2 hours ago, lolcocks said:

Any idea what exactly do they ask in those interviews? So that I can well prepare myself.

They will most likely ask you a bit about your previous research, and more in-depth about the research you are proposing, or about your motivation for joining that particular research project/group, and explain how you can contribute. And they will also ask about your motivation for doing Ph.D. -> see the next part of my answer below.

 

2 hours ago, lolcocks said:

What options do I have?

First of all, you should ask yourself WHY do you want to do Ph.D. in the first place. Is it really crucial for you career? Do you want to become a professor one day? What benefit a Ph.D. has for you and for your community?

You can also try studying another masters degree and try to get better GPA this time, so you can choose different school for your doctorate.

 

[lolcocks]

14 hours ago, tomeu said:

They will most likely ask you a bit about your previous research, and more in-depth about the research you are proposing, or about your motivation for joining that particular research project/group, and explain how you can contribute. And they will also ask about your motivation for doing Ph.D. -> see the next part of my answer below.

 

First of all, you should ask yourself WHY do you want to do Ph.D. in the first place. Is it really crucial for you career? Do you want to become a professor one day? What benefit a Ph.D. has for you and for your community?

You can also try studying another masters degree and try to get better GPA this time, so you can choose different school for your doctorate.

 

 

I think this is the point where I apologize because I did not include in the first post that I was actually going for a master's in electrical engineering.

 

I am actually aware that going directly for a PhD is impossible for me considering both my GPA and my intellectual level. A master's in India is not even equivalent to a bachelors in the outside world, on top of which I am changing my branch from pure programming to electronics, making it even more difficult. 

 

 

So coming back on topic, do you think I have a chance for Master's Electrical Engineering?