Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with gpa

Should I stay or should I go? (Education remix)

abkadefgee — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:16:43 -0800

Should I try something new and transfer to a new school for a year, or should I stick around the same old school and raise my GPA enough to graduate? I've spent far too long at a state school in the city where I've lived most of my life and received grades that range from A+ in difficult classes to F in a simple class where I just didn't complete my work. In the process, I've banked a lot of credits and the only obstacle to my graduation is raising my GPA a few points and finishing two last required courses.

Despite arriving as a National Merit Scholar, enrolled in the honors program, I've had too many semesters where I utterly lacked motivation due to factors such as depression, major life traumas, projects which distracted me from schoolwork, and a simple failure to manage my time effectively. These have dragged my GPA way, way down.

In a few weeks, I'll finish an important project and I'll need to make a new decision about school.

I've considered transferring to another school which might inspire me more than the one I've attended, shaking up my world, living in a new place, and enjoying the prospect of a fresh start on my GPA, but I'm not sure where I should go or what the chances are that I would be admitted.

So, if any of you have any experience in admissions or in going through this decision making process for yourself...

Does it seem reasonable or possible that I could finish up as a transfer student at a decent school, in just one year, with a fresh GPA?

Or is the best path to just stay where I'm at, perform excellently in my classes, and finish where I started?

Will maintain high GPA for $ for college

icarus — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:07:53 -0800

I'm a permanent resident in the U.S., not citizen, looking to find some scholarship money to help with financing my degree. This is my second year in college so entrance scholarships are out of the question. I'm a Canadian citizen, independent (married), live and work and go to college in the U.S.

I have an exceptional GPA and the problem I keep running into with most small, local scholarships is they want to know what US high school I attended as well as my scores for SAT etc (I never had to take SAT or any entrance tests, I transferred straight from a Canadian university)

Any suggestions on where I can find merit-based scholarships for US students who aren't citizens?

Fastweb and equivalently spammy websites aren't helping too much :(

High GPA Versus Low GRE

Delfena — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:51:46 -0800

Does a high GPA make up for a low GRE score for grad school admissions? Should I send my scores to schools if they are "recommended" but not required? I'm scheduled to take the GRE in two weeks. I took a Princeton Review study course over the summer, but didn't improve as much as I would have liked. My practice test score is around 1160, but I did receive a 5 (out of 6) on both writing sections. I'm applying to 4 grad schools, and only one of them requires GRE scores. My question is, should I send my scores to the schools that only "recommend" but not require them? If I do, and they end up being low (around my practice score), will my 3.98 GPA and good letters of rec make up for it? Would it look bad if I didn't send in my scores at all? Oh, my field of study is Urban Planning, and the schools I'm applying to are Portland State, NYU, UC Irvine, and the University of British Columbia. (UCI is the one that requires the GRE) Thanks!

ayes and seas or all bees?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:50:03 -0800

Here's a question: What would you rather see on a grade report: a collection of A/A-s and the occasional C, or consistent B/B+s? If there were two students, and their GPAs were the same, and you were the director of admissions of some academic program, who would you pick? I'm in college. My grades have been scattershot, but have been steadily rising, and I've been on the Dean's list last semester, with one of my professors mentioning that I was 'miles and miles ahead of [my] peers'.

I'm concerned about my study priorities, as when I'm short on time, I'll decide to focus my energy on one or two courses, sometimes leaving the others to suffer. More often than not, I'll do fine, but I've had semesters full of As, Bs, and Cs.

I've been reconsidering -- is this a bad idea? Should I try to divide my work, so I get consistently half-decent grades rather than very good grades on the majority of my classes and very bad grades in another? What do you think?

Do you need to know my GPA?

sweetkid — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:50:25 -0800

8 years out of school, does my GPA need to be on my resume? My college GPA was decent (cum laude), but I wonder if I should take it off my resume now that I'm more intermediate-level in my field (project management). Does this help, or make me look more juvenile, or is it irrelevant? TIA.

I ended up with a 4.0 GPA. Now what?

icarus — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:52:14 -0800

I ended up with a 4.0 GPA. Now what? Are there any real advantages? Are there any decent US or Canadian scholarships I could apply for? Any programs/internships I could look into? After being a college dropout for close to 3 years I decided to go back last spring. To my surprise I received an A in every single course and now have a 4.0 GPA.

I switched from my normal program to honors shortly thereafter because supposedly I'm more likely to receive scholarships if I'm in honors.

I'm afraid I'm letting this opportunity slide, mostly, since I'm not sure what kind of options are out there. The advising office in my college is useless, by the way.

Are the numbers enough?

paradoxflow — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:10:17 -0800

Help me realistically assess/improve my (Canadian) law school prospects. First, the basics: I graduated from a Canadian university with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2007, finishing with a 3.5 GPA. I wrote the LSAT in the summer of 2006 and scored a 169, which placed me in the 97th percentile. I don't really have any extra-curricular or volunteer work to speak of, most of my education related off-time was dedicated to fiction/poetry writing. I remain (mostly) unpublished, more due to my own laziness in researching and sending out finished material rather than a lack of ability, but I did get a creative writing concentration for whatever that might be worth (not much, I'm guessing). I could also obtain a few glowing letters of recommendation from professors if that would be a factor, though I would feel weird asking for them so long after having been in their classes.

I had planned to apply to law school in 2007, but didn't for what I'm now realizing is quite a stupid reason. Having found some sample personal statements online, I was pretty intimidated by the range of clubs, volunteer work, and general resume padding experience people were writing about. I felt like I had nothing of that caliber to write of in my personal statement, nothing really to distinguish me from the crowd of other people applying to law schools other than my writing, which as I mentioned, remains mostly unproven. That and I wasn't sure whether I really wanted to do law, or whether I had just been telling people that is what I wanted to do so long that I had convinced myself. I'm resolved now though.

So now I am 24, and will be turning 25 in less than a month. I have spent the last year working at a bakery/coffee shop, saving money, and if I'm being honest, generally slacking off having graduated. My intention is send out law school applications in September/October so that I can start attending law school fall 2009, when I will be 26. I only mention my age incase it might be a factor in assessing my application.

My first question is this: what are the best Canadian law schools that I would be likely to be granted admission to based on my gpa/lsat/lack-of-much-else? I'm becoming more and more aware how important the rank/prestige of the law school I'll be attending will be for finding a job afterward, and I want to get into the best school possible. American law school suggestions would be appreciated too, provided there is a reason I should consider them over a Canadian equivalent. I plan on practicing in Canada once I'm done, though mostly out of convenience, and I have a vague inclination towards intellectual property law in particular.

Second: How concerned should I be about my lack of extra-curriculars, and how should I be thinking about my personal statement? Is there anything I can do between now and when I send out my applications to improve my prospects?

dealing with a low GPA on grad applications?

slow graffiti — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:51:42 -0800

Ways to mitigate a low undergrad GPA for grad school applications? I finished my undergrad degree with only a 3.1 overall, but more like a 3.8 in my major. Unrelated/silly classes that I shouldn't have taken for a grade are mostly the things bringing my GPA down, and it's up to the committees to decide how big a deal that is, but there is one low grade that is of major concern; I did not do that well in stats. I know I need stats to do research and I'll have to take much harder stats to get my PhD, and if I don't do something about that grade, my application will go straight to the trash. I'm confident that I can handle stats, but how do I demonstrate that? If I take stats again from a community college at night to get an A, will that be dismissed because the CC course will be seen as easier? Are there any other options for demonstrating that I'm capable of the work and not as prone to goofing off now?

And as for the personal statement- do I mention that grade in particular? What do I say? I think the best response would be to say "I did lab work and published later in school, which taught me much more about applied statistics than that huge undergrad GE course."
Is there anything else I can do besides highlighting my research and acing the GRE to make up for a really inconsistent transcript?

How can I get my college prof to admit he is wrong, and give me the marks I deserve?

Tachoh — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:52:15 -0800

College prof keeps marking my math tests incorrectly. What do I do? Heya Metafilter,

I am in community college now, planning on going to something a little more serious when I graduate this year.

I am getting a 99% in my math course, doing really well. Recently, however, my mark has taken a hit due to the fact that my math prof marked 2 questions that were correct as incorrect due to the fact that he does not fully understand the answer.

I tried explaining the answer to the question to him in class, but he does not like to be told he is wrong and went around the question. It was clear in his explaination to the class that he did not know how I arrived at the answer I did and said "well, what I do know is that you got it wrong"

Short of actually sitting this guy down and teaching him how to do these problems, how can I get the marks I deserve?

Has anyone else ever had this issue? Should I go to the dean? I really don't want to cause a scene or harm this prof in any way.

Please advise.

3.7 vs. 3.8?

maxreax — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:30:24 -0800

Does the difference between a GPA of 3.7 and 3.8 matter? Sounds like a stupid question on the face of it, I know. I am a second-semester senior currently thinking of dropping two classes and being a part-time student, mostly for monetary reasons. The two classes I would drop aren't particularly interesting, and cover material that I have read before, so I'm not sad at the prospect of losing them.

The thing that's holding me back is this: taking these two extra classes and getting a 4.0 this semester would bump my GPA up to a 3.8 and (if I pass my comprehensive exam with distinction) earn me a degree cum magna laude. Not taking these two classes means my GPA will stay at 3.7 (if I get two As, which seems fairly likely), and my degree (again, if I pass my comps exam with distinction) will be "just" cum laude. The difference would come down to a hundredth of a grade point (3.74 rounds down; 3.75 rounds up).

My problem with this comes on two fronts: one, is this likely to negatively affect my applying to graduate school (for English or Comp Lit)? (My advisors say not really, and I believe them, but if you disagree I'd like to hear why). And two, will I regret not going for the magna cum laude five years down the line? Right now, it doesn't mean all that much to me, but I'm sort of worried that I'll look back and wish I had just done it. I am definitely going to spend my free time doing productive things, so it won't be a "wasted semester" (in which case I'm sure I'd regret it). How much do your latin honors mean to you? Is this the kind of thing I'll feel bad about, or do you usually just forget about it later (if it means anything, I don't even know what my GPA was in high school anymore, and I only remember half of my SAT score).

Hosed.

j-urb — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:17:09 -0800

The LSDAS has my transcripts assembled and it's rather depressing. How much is this going to hurt me? My GPA is a 3.37; however, without the 26 hours of Spanish that I was required to take my freshman and sophomore years my GPA would have been a 3.72.

There are a number of factors why I failed so miserably in Spanish. (1) I had a very poor Spanish teacher in high school (because it was an unruly class we never got much past learning basic vocabulary). (2) The teachers I encountered in college seemed to lack the proper training in teaching a foreign language. It was expected that the class have had foreign language in high school. (3) I took these Spanish classes in my Freshman and Sophomore years when I was less prepared to deal with such a challenge.

I was supposed to take only 16 hours of Spanish (two 5 hour classes, and two 3 hour classes); however it became 26 when I failed the first two introductory level classes (101 and 102). My grades in Spanish looked something like this:

Semester 1: Spanish 101 - F
Semester 2: Spanish 101 - B-
Semester 3: Spanish 102 - F
Semester 4: Spanish 102 - C+
Semester 5: Spanish 210 - A- (combined the final two courses).

LSDAS gives me a 1.80 GPA for these classes which really hurts my overall GPA as you can imagine. In fact, the 26 hours of Spanish accounts for a little less than 20% of my total hours and in many cases would be enough for a major in many disciplines. This is really a nightmare for me. My percentile rank is down at 36% (I had a 3.62 with the 10 hours erased due to retakes) which doesn't make me a very attractive candidate.

I'm really quite devastated by this because I had worked so hard to put this behind me. It wasn't that I was messing around in my Spanish classes, but that I had never been exposed to learning a foreign language before and had a very difficult time with the order of the language. The last teacher I had was actually studying linguistics and he was able to finally explain things to me. It was too late though.

I made the Dean's list the last five semester of my college years. I had almost all A's my last two years had it not been for a Shakespeare class. I got an A and an A+ in capstone courses for both my majors. Seeing this number is such a shock to me because I had what I thought was a 3.62 GPA, and now I'm afraid colleges that evaluate me aren't going to see past the cumulative GPA which is really misleading. I don't think that knowing Spanish correlates to being successful in law school, at least not in the United States.

Is there anything I can do other than write about this in my personal statement and hope for the best? How bad do you think this situation will hurt me? I just feel really really disheartened right now.

What's really funny is that my university allowed for students who had taken four years of foreign language in high school to be exempt from this requirement. So if I had four years of foreign language classes in high school, I wouldn't have had to take the 16 hours to begin with, let alone the 26. I went to a small rural school; however, and all they offered was the worthless two.

valedictorian GPA issues

jmd82 — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:43:58 -0800

Valedictorian/Saluditorian/Class rank GPA issues. My school is having issues similar to the Blair Hornstine saga with a bit of a twist.
We're on the 4.0 GPA scale with APs weighted an extra point (A=5, B=4, etc). In the senior class, we have 3 students who've had all As and taken all 5 AP courses we offer. Problem is that the student with the fewest credits technically ends up valedictorian because the weighted AP classes have a greater effect on their GPA- hence where the Blair Hornstine example comes into place. However, in this case, the credit differences are due to study halls (0 credits) and independent study courses.

I'm curious if anyone has similar experiences at their schools and how have they dealt with it. Make all three students co-valedictorian? Just do away with class rank and create high honors? Some secret formula to determine class rank? Am I overthinking this? Any ideas are welcome.

How do I get over my academic past?

Asherah — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:49:30 -0800

Is is a good idea to be blunt about academic missteps during my undergrad? I'm applying to several BSN/MSN combination programs for Nursing and my undergrad GPA counts significantly. Many schools only consider your last 60/90 units and for me, that means we're looking at below a 3.0. Since then I've taken over 45 semester units of Bio, Chem, Epidemiology, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology etc. In addition to the undergrad GPA, they look at your science GPA (I have a 4.0), clinical experience and leadership experience (I feel I am covered in those areas as well).

Regaring my personal statement(s), how blunt should I be about how my undergrad GPA came to be so low? I really wasn't focused during that time academically and wasn't feeling at all motivated to do well. I honestly didn't think I'd be going back to college for quite a while for further education. Should I simply state that and elaborate why this time its a whole new ball of wax and I have a clear idea of my path and why I want it? Is it really that simple?

Note: I do not want to lie and make up some personal emergency/situation that distracted me, as that was not the case and although it might help me get my foot in the door I just wouldn't feel good about it.

Rock Bottom

Anonymous — Mon, 21 May 2007 11:00:28 -0800

How can I feel better about grades when they're said and done? This semester was a rough one, with relationships, too many credits, and lots of other responsibilities. The result is basically a B/B- average when I usually maintain a 3.5 - so my overall GPA is dropping 0.1 or more. I know, things could be worse, I guess. But it is still a massive hit to go from a 3.51 to a 3.3 something in one semester (halfway through college). It kills me, really. I can't get the semester dropped or anything, because I wasn't clinically depressed - basically, I had some relationship foibles (well, a relationship ended) around midterms, leaving me with some Cs and Ds which destroyed my chances of a great semester. I did what I could to make things better and I might avoid Cs in end of semester grades.

I'm already thinking about taking fewer classes next semester and getting a 3.8+ or something. But it's the summer, so I can't see myself making any progress for a while. Is there anything I can/should do? Also, how much impact does GPA have on life, you think? Having a 3.0 or lower GPA for one semester? I'm rather scared by things with permanent impact, and this seems to be one of them.

Do I have a chance of getting into grad school?

Anonymous — Tue, 01 May 2007 07:50:34 -0800

Do I have a chance of getting into grad school or business school after graduating undergrad with a very, very low gpa? I barely graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science (GPA: 2.1) four years ago. Since then, my two jobs after have been primarily administrative. How much will my GPA factor in if I should apply for grad school? If I do well on my GRE or GMAT? Are my chances of moving up career-wise doomed (aside from a very slow climbing process)?

Calculate my GPA! Fun for the entire family!

markovich — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:05:04 -0800

How do I convert my German university grades to an American GPA? In Germany, the scores range from 1.0 (Maximum) to 6.0 (Minimum), with failure being everything between 5.0 and 6.0. A sample of how the score spectrum is, for an exam that has a MAXIMUM of 73 points:

73 - 70 = 1.0
69.5 – 67 = 1.3
66.5 – 64 = 1.7
63.5 – 60 = 2.0
59.5 – 56 = 2.3
55.5 – 52 = 2.7
51.5 – 48 = 3.0
47.5 – 44 = 3.3
43.5 – 40 = 3.7
39.5 – 35 = 4.0
< 35 = 5.0

I have done 23 Subjects over 4 Semesters. If I add all the scores together and divide by 23, I end up with a score of 1.9. What GPA average would this be in America? What is the *perception* of this GPA? Is it average or is it below average?

If you take into account a difference in the percentages at which you go from score to score, does this change the GPA? What I mean is - to get the highest possible score in Germany, you need to be above 97% or so - in America, do you need the full 100%? To get a perfect GPA, do you need to maintain a constant 100% all the time, or is some fluctuation allowed?

Bad GPA = No future?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:13:32 -0800

I'm a sophomore physics major at a fairly prestigious university (USN&WR Top 25) known for its technical and scientific offerings. My parents currently pay for tuition and dorm housing, with no financial aid. However, my grades have been lower than they expected, and they are now refusing to pay for me to return next year. What are my options? My parents say that they're not getting their money's worth for the grades I'm producing, so they are now only willing to pay if I transfer to the cheaper state school or local community college. My total GPA without this semester is about a 2.5, but it was this semester's mid-term grades that pushed my parents over the edge, a 1.75 (with not much hope for improvement before the end in a few weeks). They also say that I'm wasting my time at my current school, since a bachelor's in physics is useless except as a step to graduate school - and that I can't get into graduate school with my GPA.

My main question is about options. What can I do? If I try to remain at my current school, is it worth it to get a loan and live with the debt after I graduate? There's no way a job I could get would even put a dent in tuition payments. Is a bachelor's in physics in fact useless with my GPA? One of my advisors mentioned that physics majors often went to law school, which is something I've always wanted to do - is that impossible as well? Any general advice would also be appreciated.

How much does your GPA really matter after college?

tozturk — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:33:58 -0800

How much does your GPA really matter after college if you don't plan on doing a stint in grad school right away? Has it stopped you from getting that entry level job? How did you overcome GPA issues? How low is too low? (Ex: 3.0 versus a 2.9 and 3.0 versus a 3.1) Bonus if your experience is related to coming directly out of business school.

Legally bound?

Happydaz — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:33:34 -0800

Adventures in Law School: I have decided I would like to be a lawyer. Problem is, my resume is tooled right now in a totally different direction. My college GPA was a straight-up 2.5 and the first time I took the LSAT I only scored in the 57th percentile (153). Is there hope or am I too dumb to be a lawyer? More information: I'm 24. I've worked newspaper jobs for 3 1/2 years, and met more than my fair share of lawyers. I'm pretty good at researching and debate, and from what I've seen I believe I'd excell in the courtroom. It irks me that so many mediocre people get into law school while I'm worrying about my cruddy GPA. I'm taking the LSAT again Oct. 1 to try and get a better score. Is my GPA going to be a dealbreaker? Should I consider getting a second undergrad degree to fix it?

Can I get into grad school even though I screwed up in college?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 18:33:49 -0800

Let's say I really- like really screwed up throughout college. Do I still have a shot to get into any grad schools? Due to personal circumstances (intense depression related to a nightmarish coming out experience with my parents that continued throughout college, and having made the absolutely incorrect choice of major), I only graduated with a 2.4 GPA from UCSD. Trouble is, I know I can do better.
Only now that I've been in the workforce for a few weeks have I realized just how important it was to get good grades. Many of the jobs I'm interested in with the CIA require a 3.0 GPA.
Is it too late for me? I'm not a slacker, I was just down on my luck for a few years during college, and I know if I got another chance I could do really well.