DO I STAND A CHANCE?!

[CessJones]

Hey there, I am currently a Senior working on obtaining my B.A. in Anthropology in California. I want to apply to two graduate programs that require a 3.3 GPA average. I barely fall short. Can my CV save me? I have the following 

• 60+ hours volunteer at a Natural History Museum 
• volunteer in the Forensics Lab
• VP and Secretary for two clubs on campus
• One bio arch field school (second one this summer)
• Skeletal Recovery Workshop with the coroners office
• Maceration Workshop for the graduate students 
• Working 22+ hours weekly

WORRIED.

[brown_eyed_girl]

If the programs you're interested in have a required minimum GPA cutoff and you don't meet it, it's unlikely that they will evaluate your application at all. If they have a suggested GPA minimum, then a stellar record otherwise has the potential to be a game changer. Call the departments and find out which is the case. If it's a hard minimum, I would not bother applying to those places since they will probably not read beyond the GPA.

The exception would be if you think you can do very well next semester and bring your GPA up enough to meet the requirement. I'm not sure what "barely fall short" means, but if getting a 4.0 in your last semester would bring you over the edge then it might be worth it to apply and expect your GPA to rise just enough to meet the minimum. This is risky, though, in that if you were admitted it might be continent on that expected GPA rise.