atlas Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hello, I'm in a PhD program and this is my second semester. My first semester was hell. It was really time consuming, particularly with two classes. I spent most of my time studying for the two classes. I waited until the end of the semester to turn in assignments for the less time consuming third class (which was fine), and I didn't have as much time as I would have liked for that class. Long story short, I end up getting an A- in the hard classes and a B+ in the less hard class. I was a bit disappointed, but that's life. My GPA is fine, though. Lately my prof. from the class I got a B+ tried to tell me this wasn't a very good grade. I agree I wish I'd gotten an A or an A-, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time worrying about it. I got B's sometimes in my master's degrees and this has not hindered me at all. I have never gotten a letter of rec. simply from a prof. either. I always get letters from previous thesis committee members because they know me better. Anyway, my question is, should I sit around feeling guilty and bad about a B+? It seems ridiculous. Has anybody here gotten B's in PhD programs and experienced any problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hupr Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 From what I understand grade inflation in doctoral programs means that anything under a solid A is problematic, and if it happens more than once or twice, you may end up with a terminal MA. This may vary depending on the department, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Higgins Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I think the reply above is a bit over-stated, but generally points in the correct direction. My view on this (based on teaching in two doctoral programs) is that an A is a strong performance, and A- is an OK performance, and a B+ is the minimum acceptable grade. If you're counting on this course for funding applications, or expecting to work with this professor down the road, you've got an uphill battle. But 1-2 B+ grades in the course of a PhD is not a big deal. Certainly nothing to "feel guilty about" - just keep moving forward! From what I understand grade inflation in doctoral programs means that anything under a solid A is problematic, and if it happens more than once or twice, you may end up with a terminal MA. This may vary depending on the department, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaykaykay Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 well I guess you can ask your advisor about this issue. but what I hear is that you just have to keep your A- average for the good standing. the race is over. if you can keep enough profs to support you there is no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlas Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Actually the grade point average I have to maintain at my university is a B+ (every university is different but most say 3.0), so I guess if this professor didn't know that I had gotten A-'s in my other two classes, he might think I was somehow in jeopardy of something. My GPA is fine for my first semester (as far as I am concerned). My PhD class is actually quite large. There are other students I have talked to that also got B+ in other classes. And a large majority got A-s. So that's why I wasn't really focusing on the B+...There wasn't much I could do last semester because of the intensiveness of the other two courses, so I guess I just have to move on and try harder next time. I guess I came away somewhat unscathed, though. I didn't fail anything despite the serious stress I was experiencing last semester. Other students, who had the same course load last semester, also remarked on how one class seemed to get neglected because of the intensity of the other two classes, which were required to take. I tried to explain this to the professor also. Thanks for the information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost in transition Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I got B+in my master's program and was despondent..i had hard vacation. but what's the point of regretting and even crying if the grade is irreversible? so i just took six more credits than my department requires to take before graduation..it somehow ameliorates my low GPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polisciphd Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Has nobody told you that grades in ph.d. programs don't matter. As long as you continue to make progress, develop solid relationships with the people who will be on your review and dissertation committees, and pass your prelims, you are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eigen Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 PhD Comics for Every Occasion! Grades Don't Matter #1 Grades Don't Matter #2 That said, I'm sure it is somewhat field dependent. In most STEM fields, B's are "meh", B+/A- are average, and As are good. I got a B+ my second semester, and it didn't really faze me at all- and hasn't really effected how any of the prof's view me. Even the one that gave it to me thought I did fine in the course, from what I can tell. Everyone cares much more about the research, publications, etc. waddle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellamobradley Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 In a lot of programs, you can kind of think of it as a rescaling of grades. Grad school A = A Grad school A- = B Grad school B+ = C Grad school B = D Grad school B- = F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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