Guidance for a Struggling Rising Junior

[Newmanz]

Hello folks,

I am in a bit of a toubling situation. I am going to a juior next fall and I am concerding about my overall undergrad experience. I attend a well know undergrad university with a good academic reputation.

I came to the school as a biomedical engineer, but I switched to electrical engineering as I relized that I had a passion and high interest for the material I learned in my introductory circuits course. I am a hardworking individual and I put much effort into all of my studies, unfortunately my grades to dot reflect my potential. I currently have a 2.8 GPA overall, I still need to take more courses relevant to EE engineering to post my EE GPA. I am interested in Power Engineering and have found a small number of schools that have the program availible.I am taking summer classes currently to hopefully bring my gpa to above a 3, but with my current progress in these courses, I fear they may even lower my gpa. I have no research experience or job experience, alothough I will begin research by the beginning of August. I really want to go to Grad School, but I am very concerned about my GPA. I also need advice from you all, so I can make the necessary steps at this point to make myself a strong candidate for grad school despite the low GPA.

Thank You

[3point14]

I am not in your field (behavioral neuro), but I too had a low GPA going into my junior year. I had a 2.9 that I was eventually able to bring up to a 3.14 by the time I graduated. I had a decent GRE, good letters of rec, and a good deal of research experience including my name on a publication (though not in my field). Fortunately, I ended up being accepted to my top choice PhD program. My research experience and letters of recommendation proved o be much more important parts of my application. Of course, a low GPA does make it a little bit more difficult to get through the initial screening rounds, but as long as the rest of your application is above par, it is certainly not impossible to overcome.

[victor.s.andrei]

I currently have a 2.8 GPA overall, I still need to take more courses relevant to EE engineering to post my EE GPA.

Be careful with that strategy. I tried doing the same thing as an undergrad, and it did not work entirely as intended. That said, adcoms will judge your GPA in the context of the school that you attended and the overall course load you attempted. Lower GPAs can be tolerated if they are earned in tough courses (math, science, engineering) rather than "fluffy" courses.

I'm more concerned about your lack of research or job experience. Make sure you work on that.