Average MA GPA

[asleepawake]

Hi,

I'm wondering what you would all consider an average and a good GPA for a terminal MA applicant to a PhD application. I've been told not worry about my GPA at the grad level, and I know other things are obviously more important.

However, as an MA student I have intentionally taken courses with very difficult professors. If you've ever use myedu (warning: there's no unseeing), you know that you can look up grade distribution by course. I've taken most of my classes with professors who give out only a handful of As, while I know that other professors give out almost all As and require far less work. I imagine this is the same elsewhere. I think my GPA looks pretty good right now, but this semester I am taking all difficult classes, and I'm pretty sure that it will drop at least a bit. I understand that different professors grade differently, and that this is a part of the process, and I'm not trying to complain or suggest it is unfair. I will continue to choose professors who challenge me. I don't want a gold star for showing up! I just realize how inaccurate a GPA is for measuring how much I've learned and I guess I want assurance that adcoms know this too.

I'm not expecting to have a terrible GPA or anything, but I hate having to worry about it.

Thoughts?

Edited November 17, 2011 by asleepawake

[rupert42]

I don't know about your degree specifically, but when I was looking at Ph.D programs for Management the average Graduate GPA that was admitted was a 3.8 at most the schools I looked at. I think the Graduate program is a good way for most student to make up for some of the wrong they had done in their undergrad and show admission commities they can do the Ph.D. Most admissions comminties will look at your Graduate program as a measurement for how well you will do in a Ph.D program, but it doesn't hold a whole lot of weight unless the Ph.D you're seeking is in Psych or something along those lines where an MA or MS is required to be admitted. Hope this helps....