What was the lowest GPA you ever heard of someone getting into graduate school with?

[badstudent]

I have a Bachelors degree in Psychology with a 2.5 overall GPA (3.1 in my major). I graduated from college in 2009. I'm currenly working as a research assistant at a neuroscience lab. I eventually want to get my Masters in Experimental Psychology. I live in NYC and am looking at CUNY schools.

I am working for a professor at Brooklyn College. He has suggested me to take several graduate-level courses as a non matriculated student and do really well in them. Do you know anyone with a sub-3.0 GPA who got into grad school through the back door?

[newms]

Hey badstudent, people have got into grad school with a sub 3.0 GPA. See this thread that's been ongoing for 2 application seasons now: It's filled with lots of experiences of people who had sub 3.0 GPAs and got into grad school (through the back door and the front door). I think the graduate-level courses are a good idea, but more important is to pad your research experience. Have you had any papers published?

BTW When are you planning to apply?

[barber5]

Here is the story of a cs professor at my undergrad

http://3dpancakes.ty...d_with_low.html

A quote from his homepage is:

"I have the lowest undergraduate GPA (2.4/4.0) of any professor I've ever met, but some of my colleagues came close"

Edited June 13, 2011 by barber5

[starmaker]

I had a 2.5 as an undergrad (from a big-name university), and I got into an MS program with a prestigious scholarship from the college. I got into the other MS program that I applied to in that round, as well.

In the year and a half between finishing my undergrad and submitting my MS applications, I worked full-time as a junior researcher in industry, took five non-degree classes (in which I got decent but not outstanding grades), had two peer-reviewed publications as second author, was president of the women in CS group at the place where I took all but one of my non-degree classes, and won a conference attendance scholarship.

I'm applying for PhD programs this fall (I'll be submitting applications 4.5 years post-bachelor's), and have continued building up my credentials. They are pretty strong if you take out the undergrad grades. We'll see how I do. I'm also going to apply for some fellowships. If you don't ask, you don't get, and the time that I've spent working in industry means that I'm not cash-strapped.

[spctle342]

I had a 2.5 as an undergrad (from a big-name university), and I got into an MS program with a prestigious scholarship from the college. I got into the other MS program that I applied to in that round, as well.

In the year and a half between finishing my undergrad and submitting my MS applications, I worked full-time as a junior researcher in industry, took five non-degree classes (in which I got decent but not outstanding grades), had two peer-reviewed publications as second author, was president of the women in CS group at the place where I took all but one of my non-degree classes, and won a conference attendance scholarship.

I'm applying for PhD programs this fall (I'll be submitting applications 4.5 years post-bachelor's), and have continued building up my credentials. They are pretty strong if you take out the undergrad grades. We'll see how I do. I'm also going to apply for some fellowships. If you don't ask, you don't get, and the time that I've spent working in industry means that I'm not cash-strapped.

One of the best psychology professors I've had was someone who had done shockingly terrible during his undergrad. I don't recall the GPA, but he did share it with us, as I think he hoped it would serve to encourage students with less than stellar academic records. Probably around a 2.0. He had no problem getting a doctorate, so there's surely hope for you!