Embarrassing low GPA

[Bod31681]

 

So I will be going into my senior year this fall. I go to a state school in pa. I have yet to take my GRE but I have an embarrassing low GPA. I have a 3.135. I am going to be retaking a course in the summer time that I got a C in and I will be retaking another course I got a C in next semester. 

During my second year of school, I got really ill. I had/have serve health issues. In addition to having really bad personal issues. 

I want to get into grad school more than anything. I have a nine year old brother who uses an AAC device and is totally nonverbal. I've been involved with speech therapy since he was two. I also work at my local YMCA, I work with children who are pretty at risk and I love my job. It is my passion. I am a member of NISHLA, sign language and braill club and was in a sorority for two years. Any advice?

 

[Crimson Wife]

Look into programs that consider the last 60 units, study your backside off for the GRE, and maybe consider doing the AAC certificate that Cal State Northridge online offers. Address the health issues in your personal statement (you don't need to get specific due to medical privacy) to explain the poor grades but make sure you stress that you're doing better now.

[plume]

Your GPA is not "embarrassingly low" but I felt the same way about mine, so I understand. I also had a health issue my first year of school. Your GPA does not mean you can't get into program—I got into 4 great ones!

I applied to some programs that looked at the last 60 units (my GPA for that is around 3.9) and funnily those were ones I was wait listed at or rejected from. I am not saying you should not apply to schools that look at the last 60. I think you should, and there are other factors that went into play for my rejections (U of A is very competitive anyway, for example). 

I agree with Crimson Wife about mentioning health issues briefly in your personal statement without being specific; I did. In one sentence, mention that you suffered from health issues which lowered your GPA, but I also suggest you counter that statement with proof that when you were healthy you were able to handle rigorous coursework (e.g., last 60 GPA, etc.) You want to take a positive approach when mentioning it. 

I emailed schools before applying bringing this up. Most of them suggested doing well on my GRE. You can see my scores below... they're not great (only my verbal was great), but that is the general advice to show you can handle the academic piece. I am glad I emailed them, and most told me that they take a holistic approach to the admissions process.

As I'm sure you know, use EdFind! Look at % acceptance, average scores, and the range of GPAs they admitted—I think this last one might be the most important. It will be hard to get into schools that only admit students with a GPA range of 3.5-4.0, even if the average GPA is a little lower than another school's. 

I also think that our GPAs mean we have to make other aspects of our application really great! I had excellent LoRs, which I think made a big difference. And I think my personal statement was good as well. 

You can do it!! Good luck!

[SpeechLaedy]

2 hours ago, plume said:

 I also think that our GPAs mean we have to make other aspects of our application really great! I had excellent LoRs, which I think made a big difference. And I think my personal statement was good as well. 

To add to this, some schools may want to know why your GPA is lower. In some cases, I've heard of people mentioning in their SOP what happened (not focus on it, but touch upon it like how you had to persevere through such a tough time - something like that?). However, there are many people who say that you should only keep positive things in your SOP and not include such things. So I wonder if anyone one here has any thoughts to add to that. I'm not sure how colleges receive SOP that include why their GPA or other statistic is low.  

 

Oh and I meant to add that the experiences you have under your belt are really great!! I think that (if you haven't already), you should greatly consider including what you've learned from those experiences into your SOP. Beefing it up and asking many knowledgable people in the writing realm (professors, writing center, etc) to look it over would really help to make a powerful personal statement. All the best!! 

Edited May 14, 2017 by SpeechLaedy

[Bod31681]

Ugh I meant a member of NSSLHA and Braille club. Stupid typos haha. I'm going to look into the AAC program because that sounds great. The head of my department, my audiology professor, my advisor/professor, my boss from the YMCA and my brothers old speech therapist who I shadowed for a day is going to be writing my letters. Im going to be applying out of state, do you think my chances will increase because of that? Also, my family is generally well off so my ability to pay for basically any school is there...

[AlwaysaFalcon]

32 minutes ago, Bod31681 said:

Ugh I meant a member of NSSLHA and Braille club. Stupid typos haha. I'm going to look into the AAC program because that sounds great. The head of my department, my audiology professor, my advisor/professor, my boss from the YMCA and my brothers old speech therapist who I shadowed for a day is going to be writing my letters. Im going to be applying out of state, do you think my chances will increase because of that? Also, my family is generally well off so my ability to pay for basically any school is there...

I actually felt I had better chances applying to grad school out of state. I applied to grad school three different cycles and got in on my third try with two options  ! Go with what everyone has suggested and apply to schools using ed find that accept a range of students within the gre and gpa that fits you. Good luck and don't give up!