Advice needed for a 3.0 junior at a UC

[ineedadoctor]

I go to one of the lower ranked UCs, and I only have a 3.0. I have a year left, but I am guessing it doesn't matter much as I won't be able to put that stuff on an application really.

1. Is it even worth going to grad school? (if I get in)

2. What should I do to improve my chances?

3. What are schools in the realm of reality, that I'd have a chance of being accepted to?

[the poisoned pawn]

1. Consider if you are passionate for advanced study/research.

2. Do some research & work harder on courses.

3. I can't say. It may be pretty hard to get in a PhD program with a 3.0, but it is totally possible for you to go to a Masters program first to improve your GPA and research experience if you eventually want a PhD.

[newms]

Getting involved in research is the single best thing you could do to improve your chances. If you're not already working with a research group, perhaps you could look around for a prof whose work you're interested in and ask them if you could work in their group for the summer. It will give you a taste of what research involves, so you can see if you really want to go to grad school. Your GPA is on the low side, but it's not impossible to get into grad school with a GPA around 3.0, it's just harder. As the poisoned pawn said, we can't really say where you'd have a good shot at just by looking at your GPA, since there are more important factors, like your research experience and recommendation letters. A somewhat useful resource is the UTEP admissions estimator here: http://www.cs.utep.edu/admissions/ which can give you an idea of schools that you could look at. It's far from perfect, but is useful for seeing which schools are out there. Good luck!

[ineedadoctor]

I believe I'll have an opportunity for research soon.

Any recommendations for schools in CA, MA, NY ?

I have good GRE scores, and will probably have a small amount of research completed along with the 3.0.

[Azazel]

I agree with newms, although that UTEP admissions estimator is garbage. Want a good predictor? Ask professors where they think you will get in.

And do research. It will give you a sense of whether you actually want to go to grad school (extra important for a PhD). Even better, it will likely get you some decent LOR, which are (IMO) the most important part of your application. If you find that you like research, and you want to optimize your grad school chances, you might even consider spending an extra year at undergrad. One year is often not enough to get anything interesting done, or to publish.

On the grade issue:

Edited April 20, 2011 by Azazel