The sub-3.0 GPAs ACCEPTANCE thread

[DarkCharisma]

On 1/1/2016 at 11:42 AM, Jo said:

In regards to my academic performance in undergrad, I have aspergers and possibly a learning disability. I'm just afraid to address it in my personal statement because I'm worried they will read it and toss my application as a whole. I am planning to get diagnosed with a learning disability and if I do get into grad school, I plan to be on accommodations. The reason I have good people skills is because I have learned them throughout life. But when it comes to academics, I am very weak. I really want to work in the Counseling field because I have had experiences in the past. I don't want to end up working at Burger King or as a Custodian because 20 grad schools rejected my application. I'll tell you this. I never got in probation or got any F's in any classes. After my Masters, I think I will stop there and get my LPC.

 

Everyone is absolutely right, we are all here on similar boats. Nobody wants to judge you unwarrantly , but in order for you succeed, you have to acknowledge while unfortunate there are all these conditions that limit you, nothing will change even if you get accepted. The reasons obstructing you in the past will continue to be the reason until you overcome them, that's more than just addressing it. We all have something, but its fair in the sense that nobody gets to choose what they have, there are people who live worse, and we all have to rise above it. Your biggest weakness and source of rejection isn't going to be your GPA, personal conditions,or anything superficial; its the mentality that accepts having weaknesses enables you to be a weak person. Programs that accept you, companies that employ you are responsible for what you can offer to other people, before that you need something to offer; once you have that then find something where you can commit and show it for a respectable length of time—thats when your dream schools will accept you.

Edited April 17, 2016 by DarkCharisma

[Jo]

Well, there is some good news, but before I get into that, I have to say that my GPA is going to either bump up very little or stay the same. But this is what I predict to be my final GPA:

Overall- 2.99

Final 60 hours- 3.05

Major GPA- 2.37

I'm going to go the nondegree route and take the classes in the graduate program I want to go into. I'm planning on getting a 4.0 Grad GPA and I am going to reapply to that program I took courses in. I plan on getting to know my professors very well so that they will write me compelling letters of recommendation.

Now I want to ask this. If my undergrad GPA really happens to end up being a 2.99, will that haunt me later on? One of my friends who got into a PhD program told me that if I show that I can perform well in grad school and make nothing below a 4.00, that I might have a chance of getting admitted into their program. This plan is my last plan. I'm still going to apply to more Masters Programs. If all fails, I have my safety net. 

[ExponentialDecay]

4 hours ago, Jo said:

Well, there is some good news, but before I get into that, I have to say that my GPA is going to either bump up very little or stay the same. But this is what I predict to be my final GPA:

Overall- 2.99

Final 60 hours- 3.05

Major GPA- 2.37

I'm going to go the nondegree route and take the classes in the graduate program I want to go into. I'm planning on getting a 4.0 Grad GPA and I am going to reapply to that program I took courses in. I plan on getting to know my professors very well so that they will write me compelling letters of recommendation.

Now I want to ask this. If my undergrad GPA really happens to end up being a 2.99, will that haunt me later on? One of my friends who got into a PhD program told me that if I show that I can perform well in grad school and make nothing below a 4.00, that I might have a chance of getting admitted into their program. This plan is my last plan. I'm still going to apply to more Masters Programs. If all fails, I have my safety net. 

A low UGPA isn't great, but the fact that your major GPA is so much lower than your cGPA is a huge red flag. A low cGPA can be overcome because adcoms don't usually care that you didn't do well in classes unrelated to your field. But if you're a C student in your major, that raises the question of whether you'd be capable of succeeding or why you'd even want to attend a grad program in that subject.

[Jo]

7 hours ago, ExponentialDecay said:

A low UGPA isn't great, but the fact that your major GPA is so much lower than your cGPA is a huge red flag. A low cGPA can be overcome because adcoms don't usually care that you didn't do well in classes unrelated to your field. But if you're a C student in your major, that raises the question of whether you'd be capable of succeeding or why you'd even want to attend a grad program in that subject.

I had some issues in undergrad. I know the subject very well. I can talk about it to people. But I had some issues that got in the way of me doing well. Depression was one of them as well as having an undiagnosed Learning Disability. But I do not want to go back to undergrad. Undergrad was a nightmare for me. I'm happy that one school allows you to take classes as a nondegree student. I'm fine with that. I can show that I know the topic very well. And if I have to make a presentation in front of a professor who is part of the committee, that could increase my chances. Maybe I can explain in his/her office about what I was going through in undergrad and how I am a changed person and that the low GPA should not matter. To tell you, I thought I was doomed to work at McDonalds or at a grocery store the rest of my life until I found this school that lets you take classes in the program as a nondegree. Now, I can prove myself and show them that I am a hard worker. But still, I'm applying to more Masters Programs, hoping there will be a miracle that I will get a chance to be in a Masters Program. Keep in mind that one school I am applying to this summer allows you to make an appeal. So there is still a chance. 

[Vort]

I had a 2.81 and got accepted into Alaska and Ball State without assistantship money. Currently have a 3.5 GPA in my masters. 

[Denominator]

I overcame a 2.6 uGPA.  It can be done.

accepted to two top 10 phd programs with full funding.

[F.graminearum]

I just got accepted at NDSU with a 2.94 GPA.

[Cheyanne]

On ‎4‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 8:15 AM, ExponentialDecay said:

A low UGPA isn't great, but the fact that your major GPA is so much lower than your cGPA is a huge red flag. A low cGPA can be overcome because adcoms don't usually care that you didn't do well in classes unrelated to your field. But if you're a C student in your major, that raises the question of whether you'd be capable of succeeding or why you'd even want to attend a grad program in that subject.

I'd would like to know if you have any recommendations for a BSc Soil Science major with a low GPA (below 3.0) and GRE score of 150 - Verbal; 152 - Quantitative.

Basically, I'd like to know if you know of any Grad schools out there that would grant admission to such a student and at the same time charge moderately low annual tuition fees.

If it helps, I graduated from college in 2012 and have been working in a non-profit UN agency for the past 4years. GRE test was taken a year ago and only once.

[ExponentialDecay]

35 minutes ago, Cheyanne said:

I'd would like to know if you have any recommendations for a BSc Soil Science major with a low GPA (below 3.0) and GRE score of 150 - Verbal; 152 - Quantitative.

Basically, I'd like to know if you know of any Grad schools out there that would grant admission to such a student and at the same time charge moderately low annual tuition fees.

If it helps, I graduated from college in 2012 and have been working in a non-profit UN agency for the past 4years. GRE test was taken a year ago and only once.

I'm kind of stuck wondering what gave you the idea that I know anything at all about soil science. I don't even know what discipline that is. Biology? Geology? You should probably ask someone on one of those forums.

I can only say that you should probably retake the GRE and do about 10 points better in each area, and that if you're looking for cheap grad school, the US is not your target market.

[AspiringGC]

I sort of belong here. 

My current uGPA is a 3.215, I have another year left and realistically believe I can raise it to a 3.3/3.4. If I do what I believe I can for the next year, I could probably get my last 60 units to be around a 3.5.
My major GPA is another story at a 2.531, which I have no excuse for besides struggling with Organic Chemistry and Biochem and working too much some semesters. I can possibly get it to a 2.74, which involves receiving As in every single major class I take until graduation. 

Because my last 60 and cumulative GPA are actually good, I'm not sure if I should even mention my Major GPA in my personal statement or not. 

 

[MathCat]

3 hours ago, slaybackc said:

I sort of belong here. 

My current uGPA is a 3.215, I have another year left and realistically believe I can raise it to a 3.3/3.4. If I do what I believe I can for the next year, I could probably get my last 60 units to be around a 3.5.
My major GPA is another story at a 2.531, which I have no excuse for besides struggling with Organic Chemistry and Biochem and working too much some semesters. I can possibly get it to a 2.74, which involves receiving As in every single major class I take until graduation. 

Because my last 60 and cumulative GPA are actually good, I'm not sure if I should even mention my Major GPA in my personal statement or not. 

 

If they don't ask specifically for your major GPA, definitely do not draw attention to it. Your major GPA being lower than your cGPA is really not good, so you don't want them to focus on that.

[AspiringGC]

14 hours ago, MathCat said:

If they don't ask specifically for your major GPA, definitely do not draw attention to it. Your major GPA being lower than your cGPA is really not good, so you don't want them to focus on that.

Okay, thank you! That's what I was thinking, I just didn't want to seem like I was avoiding it either. So, I'll just see if any schools require just my Major GPA and then I'll explain in those PS's but leave it off in others. 

[rupavu]

I'm currently finishing up a BS Biochemistry degree with a minor in Spanish. My overall GPA is really shitty: 2.38. I had an incident of sexual assault on campus and didn't deal with that in the best of ways. And after that, I wasn't able to pick myself up and just stopped applying myself.

Now, I'm a fifth year, finishing 15 credits part time and will graduate on May 2017. At this point, I have no clue what I want to do but I think going for a Master's before applying for Pharmacy school would be a good option to further myself in this field.

During my undergrad, I did 2 years of organic chemistry research and received 2 grants, but no publications. I also TA'ed for labs during my time there. And I'm completely fluent in Spanish and actually have a 3.3 GPA for my minor. My biochem GPA is shitty. 

This year, I'm hoping to work hard and redeem myself and try to whatever I need to do get into grad school. I am pharmacy tech certified and will start working soon, to gain professional experience. As well, I'm doing a medical interpreter certification course because I'm interested in the medical field. At this point, I don't know what my prospects for grad school are, much less for pharmacy school. I live around great universities such as UNC and NC State and don't know what would be the best option to "start fresh" in terms of GPA. 

Any suggestions as to what the next steps would be to redeem myself? 

[bhr]

The biggest problem you face (and this is universal to this sub) is the poor major GPA. What is your junior/senior GPA in major? How have you done in your upper level courses? A strong finish to your academic career will usually help overcome a bad year or two, but 15 credits isn't going to be able to redeem a 2.0ish major GPA.

You have an incredibly difficult personal narrative (that is sadly not unique at all), and you should reach out to resources at your campus for help. There may be an ability to retake courses or remove bad grades received after your assault. There should be someone on campus that can help you navigate this process. You may even be better off going full time, since you'll be able to get more financial aid, and use that to retake some poor grade courses.

[allibai3]

Is there anyone that had a low undergrad gpa that applied to clinical psychology phd program and was accepted?

[CivilTwilight]

Are masters programs really more forgiving of GPA? My cGPA is 2.96, my major GPA is about the same, my degree is in mechanical engineering. I have some research experience but nothing earth-shattering so I know getting into a PhD program is too much of a long shot, so I want to try for a MS. The 3.0 GPA cutoffs are really making me feel discouraged though.

[Vort]

2 hours ago, CivilTwilight said:

Are masters programs really more forgiving of GPA? My cGPA is 2.96, my major GPA is about the same, my degree is in mechanical engineering. I have some research experience but nothing earth-shattering so I know getting into a PhD program is too much of a long shot, so I want to try for a MS. The 3.0 GPA cutoffs are really making me feel discouraged though.

 

I was accepted into a physical science program with a 2.82 but not with funding. It was worth it to go because it would open up more opportunities. I have a 3.5 in graduate school now. Looking to go for my PhD. 

[CivilTwilight]

19 minutes ago, Vort said:

I was accepted into a physical science program with a 2.82 but not with funding. It was worth it to go because it would open up more opportunities. I have a 3.5 in graduate school now. Looking to go for my PhD. 

Cool! Would you mind telling me more? Did you have work experience or was this right out of school? How was the school ranked? How many places did you get accepted to?

[ahjohnson]

Looking for some advice in regards to GRE scores.

I got my B.S. in Civil Engineering from a top 5 state school, with an overall GPA of 2.69 in Spring 2015. Low GPA due to family issues that started during my 3rd year and continued off and on until I graduated. I am only applying to one professional master's program (yes, just the one) because there is one school in particular that has curriculum I'm most interested in (in Engineering Management) in my preferred format (Distance) and while it would be nice to have personally and helpful professionally, it is not necessarily required for my career advancement. The PE exam is more important for that, which I might have to delay if I start this program.

I've worked as an engineer for the past 3 years and have excellent letters of rec, 2 professional and 1 from my senior project advisor. I just took the GRE last week and these were my "unofficial" scores: Verbal - 160, Quant - 158. The program's middle 50% for both are: Verbal - 153 to 160, Quant - 156 to 164. My quantitative score is the one I'm worried about.

Should I just go balls to the wall and study harder for the Quant stuff, and retake the GRE? Do you think it's worth it? I'm asking because my husband is unemployed right now, so money is tight.

[Vort]

On 9/18/2016 at 9:25 PM, CivilTwilight said:

Cool! Would you mind telling me more? Did you have work experience or was this right out of school? How was the school ranked? How many places did you get accepted to?

 

Well, no, not that good of a ranking. It's about average. I applied to three, got into two, both without funding. I should have taken the other becuase they offer a PhD and the school I decided for only has a M.S. I didn't know I wanted to go for my PhD and only found that once I got deep in my research in my M.S. degree. My GREs were not that great... about 50% percentile. The reason I got in was because of outstanding letters of rec at people at the top of their field. I graduated from the one of the best in the world so I had access to faculty at the top of their league.

 

[vjbhatt]

I graduated with a GPA of 3.06 (last 60 hours 2.95) - BSc in Aeronautical Engineering. 

To get around poor GPA,

• I got 2 years work experience working with the engineering department at a Major Airline.
• Continued with my research project and published a paper + presented (as first author) at a reputed conference in my field. 
• Started building my own software for energy system design at a university level. Went live about 6 months back and generated a descent response. 

Now here's the deal, I want to switch my major to Mechanical Engineering focusing on energy systems research . My work experience is management heavy and my final year thesis which I presented was on Aerodynamics and CFD. I have absolutely no excuse for my poor GPA. I got a B on my final research project for missing a deadline by 2 days (yes my uni was very strict on that). The only plus side is I got B+/B's in all thermodynamics and propulsion courses related to my future course of study and a great LOR from the professor who taught me. The other 2 LOR's are okay. 

Question, How to address this in my SOP? 

[AllThingsBrain]

A couple of people have posted about post-baccalaureate programs, and I wonder if those would be a good option for me. Do they really allow you to average your grades from a post-baccalaureate program in with your undergraduate GPA? Don't you have to list a GPA for each school separately?

About me:  38 years old, looking to make a career change into neuroscience from a somewhat related background of computer science and bioinformatics. I have a 2.75 cumulative undergraduate GPA--so low because of F's I got my freshman and sophomore year while failing to cope with depression following a traumatic experience (I'm never sure if I should specify that it was a sexual assault). This resulted in two consecutive academic suspensions, the second of which required me to leave campus and take classes at a community college for a semester. I resolved the problem and returned to complete my degree. If the two semesters affected are excluded, my undergraduate GPA is 3.4. My last-two-years GPA is similar. If someone's looking at my transcript, they'll see I wasn't a B student but got A's mixed with some C's--because I have ADD and hadn't yet learned the time management skills to stay on top of assignments for multiple classes at once. I also didn't do especially well in my computer science major, which reflects that it wasn't my choice of major.

Since then, I have made a 15-year career mostly in academic research environments, and I have 10 academic publications (authored 1 and co-authored 9). I also took a single non-degree graduate class in genomics and got an A, so I guess I technically have a 4.0 graduate GPA. I got GRE scores of 170 Verbal, 164 Math--is that competitive for a top program?--and I think my references are strong. I've taken advantage of opportunities to study neuroscience-related topics in my work and in the genomics class, but I've never actually taken a neuroscience course. I do think my research experience, my software development skills, and my small amount of management experience would be generally useful.

With this record, I applied to 6 PhD programs last year and didn't get in or even get an interview anywhere.  I've identified that one thing I could improve is making personal connections with professors before applying. Other than that, I feel like I'd be submitting essentially the same application again, so I'm wondering if I need to try something different.

In my specific situation, does anyone think a post-baccalaureate program would be a good idea? It would allow me to build my neuroscience background and hopefully demonstrate some great grades. However, it would be expensive to take a year or two off of work or working part-time, and also the time expense is not trivial given I am already so late getting started on my desired career. Should I really be able to get into a PhD program directly instead? If I do apply to a post-baccalaureate program, is it important to choose one that emphasizes courses and grades rather than being purely research-focused (as the one located near my family is)?

Any success stories from applicants a ways out of undergrad with low GPAs?

[LoveMysterious]

On 11/27/2016 at 0:24 PM, AllThingsBrain said:

A couple of people have posted about post-baccalaureate programs, and I wonder if those would be a good option for me. Do they really allow you to average your grades from a post-baccalaureate program in with your undergraduate GPA? Don't you have to list a GPA for each school separately?

About me:  38 years old, looking to make a career change into neuroscience from a somewhat related background of computer science and bioinformatics. I have a 2.75 cumulative undergraduate GPA--so low because of F's I got my freshman and sophomore year while failing to cope with depression following a traumatic experience (I'm never sure if I should specify that it was a sexual assault). This resulted in two consecutive academic suspensions, the second of which required me to leave campus and take classes at a community college for a semester. I resolved the problem and returned to complete my degree. If the two semesters affected are excluded, my undergraduate GPA is 3.4. My last-two-years GPA is similar. If someone's looking at my transcript, they'll see I wasn't a B student but got A's mixed with some C's--because I have ADD and hadn't yet learned the time management skills to stay on top of assignments for multiple classes at once. I also didn't do especially well in my computer science major, which reflects that it wasn't my choice of major.

Since then, I have made a 15-year career mostly in academic research environments, and I have 10 academic publications (authored 1 and co-authored 9). I also took a single non-degree graduate class in genomics and got an A, so I guess I technically have a 4.0 graduate GPA. I got GRE scores of 170 Verbal, 164 Math--is that competitive for a top program?--and I think my references are strong. I've taken advantage of opportunities to study neuroscience-related topics in my work and in the genomics class, but I've never actually taken a neuroscience course. I do think my research experience, my software development skills, and my small amount of management experience would be generally useful.

With this record, I applied to 6 PhD programs last year and didn't get in or even get an interview anywhere.  I've identified that one thing I could improve is making personal connections with professors before applying. Other than that, I feel like I'd be submitting essentially the same application again, so I'm wondering if I need to try something different.

In my specific situation, does anyone think a post-baccalaureate program would be a good idea? It would allow me to build my neuroscience background and hopefully demonstrate some great grades. However, it would be expensive to take a year or two off of work or working part-time, and also the time expense is not trivial given I am already so late getting started on my desired career. Should I really be able to get into a PhD program directly instead? If I do apply to a post-baccalaureate program, is it important to choose one that emphasizes courses and grades rather than being purely research-focused (as the one located near my family is)?

Any success stories from applicants a ways out of undergrad with low GPAs?

Yes! Do a post-bacc! I think you need a little bit more evidence to show that you can handle the academic course load. I did one while working full-time, no problem. Other than that, your application seems really really strong. I'm honestly shocked that you didn't receive one interview. That makes me think that maybe something was wrong with your SOP, or you had a major typo in your applications or something. I don't think you should acknowledge your sexual assault - adcomms don't want to hear about that kind of baggage. Just acknowledge that you were a different student back then and move on. Taking some more classes will help show that you're a better student now. Did you only apply to top-tier programs? 

 

[Simeon]

My name is Simeon.

I hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

For my undergraduate degree I finished with a third class (CGPA = 2.36/5). WES converted that to 2.79/4

In my final year, I carried out an award-winning project in low-cost robotics where a robotic arm was designed using locally sourced materials. An IEEE paper from the project can be found here. Other fields in which I have interests and have made contributions including conference papers and a poster are Strategic Foresight/Future Studies (paper at the ATPS 2012), the African Maker Movement( poster at FAB 10 2014  , paper at ICCIG 2015 ) and Climate Change.

I scored 332/340(V165,Q167,AW3.5) in GRE and 114/120 in TOEFL last year.

I was primarily interested in a multidisciplinary masters like Robotics

However it seems my poor grade has prevented me from being admitted for a research Masters.

Last year I applied to seven US schools(Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Worcester, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and St Louis) but got no admission offer.

I am currently open to other Western countries in addition to the US.

Is there anything I can do? Do I stand any chance this year?

[Simeon]

1 hour ago, Simeon said:

My name is Simeon.

I hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

For my undergraduate degree I finished with a third class (CGPA = 2.36/5). WES converted that to 2.79/4

In my final year, I carried out an award-winning project in low-cost robotics where a robotic arm was designed using locally sourced materials. An IEEE paper from the project can be found here. Other fields in which I have interests and have made contributions including conference papers and a poster are Strategic Foresight/Future Studies (paper at the ATPS 2012), the African Maker Movement( poster at FAB 10 2014  , paper at ICCIG 2015 ) and Climate Change.

I scored 332/340(V165,Q167,AW3.5) in GRE and 114/120 in TOEFL last year.

I was primarily interested in a multidisciplinary masters like Robotics

However it seems my poor grade has prevented me from being admitted for a research Masters.

Last year I applied to seven US schools(Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Worcester, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and St Louis) but got no admission offer.

I am currently open to other Western countries in addition to the US.

Is there anything I can do? Do I stand any chance this year?

I should also mention that I am currently 26 and will clock 27 in May!!!