hould I be worried about my undergrad GPA?

[Kevin1990]

I'm a 3rd year undergraduate college student about to enter my 2nd semester of my Junior year. I'm eager and aiming to go to grad school for military history, strategic studies, or International Relations. However, I'm a little worried about my GPA and being competitive for many programs. Additionally, looking around and doing more searches on various degrees that I feel would fit my interests and benefit me structurally. Therefore from this I've been drawn to a few programs and degrees offered in schools outside the US particularly in the UK and Canada, at places like King's College London, St, Andrews, Uni of Calgary, and a couple of others, which want to see a very higher undergrad GPA from American students like 3.5-3.9.

My current GPA is 3.3 to be exact, and traditionally that is regarded as very good for an undergraduate considering that a min of 3.0 is considered fine. Many people have told me I should be good going forward and applying to graduate schools with what I have combined with good recs, statement of purpose etc.Additionally, the classes I've taken throughout my undergraduate career have been quite academically rigorous overall. I'm a history major with poli sci minors and I have taken numerous reading and writing intensive classes throughout my academic career. I've will have taken tow languages during my time in college by the time I'm finished. As I've taken up to intermediate level French(which I'm planning to finish at that level this summer), and I'm about to start on Farsi and perhaps fit in German should I find space for it.

Also, I've heard and seen of people getting into top programs with even less 3.0 getting into top grad programs.

So should I be concerned that my GPA is only 3.3? Or am I just stressing out for the sake of it?

[gellert]

You're stressing out for the sake of it. Sure, your GPA isn't super high, but luckily for you, GPA isn't the main thing that gets you into grad school. You'll make most cut-offs with a 3.3, and tbh that's all that GPA matters.

Edited December 27, 2011 by gellert

[Ameonna]

One thing I have learned about the process of applying to graduate school is that it makes everyone second-guess themselves and their own accomplishments to some degree. It's totally normal. Even so, most adcomms look at the big picture, and for that reason, so should you. Study hard for the GREs, make sure that you have relationships with professors/supervisors that will lead to meaningful and substantial LORs, do as much research and as many papers as you can for your chosen field, attend conferences and don't ignore extracurriculars and work experiences. If you present as a strong student overall, then GPA should not be an issue unless it is below cutoff, and even then, usually when a GPA is below cutoff, it means that they will take a very careful look at the other factors I mentioned and consider whether they override low GPA. The cutoff is usually 3.0, so you should be fine!

[emmm]

You can't do much about it now, so make sure the rest of your application is as strong as it can be. There are very few perfect applicants -- and they'll be spread out among all the top programs, so don't worry about them. I'm sure the weak points in my application kept me from being considered by some programs, but other programs took a closer look, and liked what I had to offer. You only need one program to take you (though it is nice to have some choices, if you've chosen your schools wisely and would be happy going to any of them, one's all you need). When you go for interviews, remember to focus on your strengths, and don't apologize for not being "better." I know it's hard not to be super-aware of how you might not be competitive, but they liked your application -- you just have to show them it accurately represents you and what you can do. Good luck!

Edited December 27, 2011 by emmm

[antikantian]

You're stressing out for the sake of it. Sure, your GPA isn't super high, but luckily for you, GPA isn't the main thing that gets you into grad school. You'll make most cut-offs with a 3.3, and tbh that's all that GPA matters.

I agree with this. As possible world PhD-seeking Socrates says, "the unexamined application isn't worth sending," but the over-examined one is just as bad for your psychological health. Wow, that was terrible, but I'm sure you get the point. You can't really do anything about your GPA at this juncture, so it's not worth stressing out over. Besides, if other parts of your application are solid, then GPA won't matter as much, probably.

Here are some statements my friends and I made during the application process many moons ago:

"Omg, I got a B in biology my freshman year? It's over."

"No Phi Beta Kappa? That's not gonna look good. It's over."

"I put an area of interest in my SOP that no one cares about. It's over."

"Magna cum laude? How am I going to compete with those summa over-achievers? It's over."

"60th percentile quant? Damn engineers! It's SOOOO over."

"5AWA? I'm in the humanities! I write for a living. It's over."

"Yep, 3.0GPA because I couldn't adjust to college my first two years. Why even bother. It's over."

"500V? FFS, I'm throwing away my money on these applications. It's over."

All of the above people got into grad school. These little things rarely mean that it's over.

Edited December 27, 2011 by antikantian

[Kitkat]

I have been told that with my field that research experience is also an important factor. The point that I am trying to make here is that if you have other aspects that you have that make your application stronger, and your GPA is your weak point, or one of a couple, then while its not great, they should still look at the application.

[Sigaba]

Kevin1990--

I recommend that instead of stressing out about the grades you've earned, sit down with a copy of your transcript and your course materials and spend a few hours figuring out how/why you got the grades you received. The objectives of this exercise are two fold. First, you want to make sure that you understand the core themes and lessons of a given class. If you do understand a course's main points, that B+ is going to serve you a lot better than you now realize.

Second, you want to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a student and to identify ways to improve the former while shoring up the latter. During this exercise, see where you might have missed opportunities to do better and give yourself credit for exceeding expectations.

In some cases, you might decide that you are who you are as a student For example, you might not do as well in lecture courses where the professor talks to the whiteboard and expects undergraduates to write down everything he says and then do a memory dump in blue books. Or you might just prefer to wait to the next to last instant to write an essay.

In other situations, you might decide to adjust the way you approach certain types of tasks. You might conclude that listening to music while reading decreases your focus more than you previously thought. You might determine that you benefit from making flash cards for the identification portion of exams. You might find yourself benefiting from spending more time with professors during their office hours. (You might decide to trust your instinct and drop a class if you realize you won't develop good rapport with your professor.)

More generally, I think that if you are going to walk the path of a historian, one of the best ways to advance your candidacy to graduate programs is to develop answers to questions like "Why should professional academic historians study war?" and "Why should military historians study professional academic history?" To be clear, you do not have to develop an argument that military history is the most important field of history. (IMO, it isn't--at least not in the study of American history.) But prepare yourself to participate intensely in conversations with, for example, social historians so that they may reconsider long held views on the relevance of war to their research interests.

From there, start developing your views on which aspect of warfare is the most vital. From your posts on this BB, I think your answer is "strategy." But why? Why not grand strategy or operations or tactics or logistics or C³I or civil-military relations or technology or special operations or any of the other many sub fields. This exercise will start you on the road of figuring out how your tree fits into the thicket and how that thicket fits into the larger forest (of military history) and where that forest is on the broader historiographic landscape (i.e. the impact of warfare on the history of region X during interval Y).

[Kevin1990]

I have been told that with my field that research experience is also an important factor. The point that I am trying to make here is that if you have other aspects that you have that make your application stronger, and your GPA is your weak point, or one of a couple, then while its not great, they should still look at the application.

I think I have alot of strong points to the rest of my propsective application in more ways then one. Although I need to wrok on laying them out and identiflying them like one poster in this thread mentioned. Not to mention I know I'll have some pretty good recs, and hopfully a strong SOP as well.

I'm not worried about my overall GPA since 3.3 is considered a pretty good place to be for an undergrad, and from what info I've gathered the same goes for applying to grad school. Although, I'd feel better if I have something like a 3.5-3.7.

I mean I figure if I was making like a 2.7-2.9 then I'd have some problems but like mentioned before a 3.0 or a few notches above is considered fine.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Kevin1990

[popcandy]

This is basically my background- International Politics.

I went to a top 15 school for undergrad, but came out with a less than stellar GPA.. which I knew I would have going into this thing. I basically consider my social life as important as my academic one. In which case, you're doing a good job.. cushioning your GPA.

I am wrapping up a 2 year Master's here in DC, I've already interned at the United Nations HQ in NYC, multiple times for DoD, and have worked full-time at DoD for a year, speak multiple languages, lived/studied in multiple countries, I'm 24. I'm applying to my 2nd Master's this year.

These programs don't care about your GPA so much as you as an overall individual. In the same way G Bush can go to an Ivy with C's and D's, so can you go to a bomb a** school with an average GPA. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

International Politics isn't necessarily a very academic field (in that for Med School it's probably more important to make As than for us).. it's more about your personality and character. If you have the resume, no one cares if you made straight A's.