Is your college GPA abysmal? Are you worried this will keep you from being able to attend graduate school? While a low college GPA will limit your graduate school options, it does not necessarily mean you have to kiss your graduate school dreams goodbye. Here are some suggestions for how to compensate for a low undergraduate GPA in your graduate school application.
Be realistic. Many of the top graduate programs will do an initial culling of the applicant pool based solely on their GPA and GRE scores. A low average undergraduate GPA for admitted students can bring down program rankings, and many of the top programs receive far too many applications to truly be able to consider each application individually. If your GPA does not make the initial cut, then you will not be considered for admission. Before you send in your application, call the program and ask them if there is an undergraduate GPA cutoff. Make sure the programs you apply to are willing to evaluate your application as a whole.
Don’t ignore your bad grades. Graduate schools will see your undergraduate transcript as part of your application, so if you have a low GPA, be prepared to explain why. Most graduate school applications have an additional optional essay where you can explain any extenuating circumstances related to your application. Use it to explain your low grades! Some applicants have poor undergraduate GPAs due to outside family or medical issues beyond their control. Other applicants may have come into college pursuing a major that was too challenging or did not interest them and gotten low grades in their first two years that brought down their GPA. (How many pre-meds did you know coming into college? How many of them switched to English majors by junior year?) If your low GPA was due to extenuating circumstances, such as family or medical issues, or because you spent the first two years of college trying to be pre-med and failing many of your graduate schools may be more willing to overlook a low GPA, provided the remainder of your application is strong.
Distinguish between your major GPA and your undergraduate GPA. Graduate schools are generally most interested in how well you handled classes in your major, since that is the field you will most likely be pursuing in graduate school. An English department, for instance, may overlook some bad grades in science if you did exceptionally well in all of your English courses. If your major GPA is significantly higher than your undergraduate GPA, be sure to point that out in your application.
Still worried about your low GPA? Check back soon for more tips on how to compensate for a low GPA.
Im 28, have aspergers, in 2.8 in mass communications, didn’t take any internships, cant do sales and marketing professions. Would like to work in writing, science, or film, but I think I killed my chances and depressed about it everyday. Any suggestions?
Dear Trey,
You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself! There are more than a few options available to you to increase your chances of being admitted to a graduate school of your choice. If you’re worried about your GPA being too low to be admitted, you should consider doing some post-baccalaureate college coursework. Post-baccalaureate is a fancy way of saying going back to undergraduate school after having already earned an undergraduate degree. Most graduate schools do have a minimum required GPA to be admitted; that minimum GPA is usually a 3.0. What this means is that you are not too far off from what is required to be considered a viable graduate school applicant.
Community Colleges and Junior Colleges are a great place to start when you are rebuilding a resume. If you’re interested in writing, take English composition classes or creative writing classes. This will not only boost your GPA and prepare you for the kind of coursework you can expect at the graduate level, but also satisfy the necessary course requirements required by most English graduate programs. The same goes for science or film. If you’re interested in film, taking a film theory class; if you’re interested in science, study chemistry or biology. The first step is to decide what you want to study at the graduate level; the second step is to begin molding yourself into a competitive applicant by studying pertinent topics and doing well in class.
As far as extracurricular activities (internships, work experience, etc.) is concerned, if you do decide to do post-baccalaureate work, that will give you plenty of time to line up your credentials. What you should do is obviously dependent on what field of study you decide to pursue; for example, if you’re interested in science, apply to be a lab tech, or if you’re interested in film, write a review or produce a short film. Whatever you do, work towards your goal of studying it at the graduate level and, ultimately, doing it professionally.
There are plenty of schools with resources dedicated to helping people with Asperger’s. Though we are not experts on the topic of attending college with this kind of diagnosis, there are a number of blogs and information and support sites with great advice. You can find one great FAQ here.
I hope this helps, and let us know if you have any other questions.
Bill
Actually its 2.7, 2.8 is my gpa with post grad classes.