Want to Apply to Grad School But GPA Is Super Low

[itsjennetic]

Hello fellow users,

I am a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I received my undergraduate through the Liberal Arts College and majored in Individual Program of Study in Neuroscience, a major that I tailored with my research professor since a neuro degree wasn't actually offered yet at U of I for undergrads. I graduated with a 3.2 GPA due to a lot of personal events and stress that occurred during my undergrad, along with being diagnosed with anxiety/depression at the end of my junior year. Despite my low GPA though, I do have about 3 years of research experience in a neurophysiology lab.

I am currently living in the Bay Area, CA and my stress levels have stabilized since graduating about 6 months ago - I am currently studying for the GRE and looking at graduate schools to apply to. I am also very interested in furthering my studies internationally. I'm very worried that my low GPA will have a huge negative impact on my application. The schools I am looking at applying to are:

- Berkeley and UCSF (I know these are a huge stretch)

- U of I in Chicago and U of I in Urbana-Champaign

- Rush University

- Northwestern University

- University of Washington

- University of Minnesota

- University of Toronto

- McGill University

- University of Edinburgh

- University of Glasgow

- Trinity College Dublin

I feel like I am aiming too high for these programs, but I am extremely interested in their labs and they deliver high-quality education for postgrads. I am feeling pretty intimidated though, any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for listening.

 

Edited June 16, 2016 by itsjennetic

[MathCat]

I'm assuming you'd be an international applicant for Toronto. I don't know your field, but I know that generally speaking, U of T does not admit a huge number of international students. Frankly, with your GPA, I think it's a very long shot. You would need some stellar letters of recommendation to overcome your GPA. 

[charlemagne88]

Is a 3.2 really that low!? I mean I'm not a nero science major by any means, but I understand the area to be a lot more difficult than say, a major in Elementary Education for example. Couple that with the fact that your undergrad institution didn't even offer the major in the first place but you sought it out anyways via individual studies says a lot about you -be sure to highlight that in your statement of purpose/personal statement. I'd say I agree mostly with what people above have said... you'll need extraordinary LORs and possibly a high GRE score to compensate, but you might find that you will have some success regardless of your "low GPA." I had a 3.61 GPA, good LORs, but a mediocre GRE and I got accepted. I think admissions decisions are based on every component of your application; not just one thing will disqualify you. That being said, you are always competing against other applicants; a rejected application one year could be accepted the next, just because of who's applying. Good Luck to you! 

[sjoh197]

If you are looking for advice on whether those programs are attainable/good for you... you will probably have more luck posting this down in your field's sub-forum. You're more likely to get views from people with the same degrees or career paths as you. 

[itsjennetic]

Ah thank you! I am new to this much appreciated.

[ExponentialDecay]

Can I ask, what is the practical reason for which you want to "further your studies internationally"? Neuroscience isn't the sort of field that cares about international experience, and your PhD really isn't the time to go exploring other cultures and all that crap. You should be trying to get into the best program that meets your career goals, and in neuro those are mostly in the US. Entering the US market with a foreign PhD will also make things harder, for a host of reasons.

If you want a study abroad experience, get a master's. You will probably need one anyway with that GPA.

[sjoh197]

Also... not exactly related to your experience... but there is a sub-3.0 acceptance thread in the lobby. And while you have a 3.2 gpa, that thread has a lot of great advice on how to accentuate certain parts of your profile, and overcome a lower gpa for your field. 

[itsjennetic]

11 hours ago, ExponentialDecay said:

Can I ask, what is the practical reason for which you want to "further your studies internationally"? Neuroscience isn't the sort of field that cares about international experience, and your PhD really isn't the time to go exploring other cultures and all that crap. You should be trying to get into the best program that meets your career goals, and in neuro those are mostly in the US. Entering the US market with a foreign PhD will also make things harder, for a host of reasons.

If you want a study abroad experience, get a master's. You will probably need one anyway with that GPA.

Ah I'm not sure if I conveyed my thoughts correctly... I meant that I am open to programs outside of the US as long as they align with my research goals, not that I am actively seeking to specifically get abroad experience. But you make an excellent point about re-entering the US with a foreign degree, so that is definitely something I should consider. Thanks for your feedback!

Edited June 17, 2016 by itsjennetic