Applicants worry about low GPAs impacting admissions

“Hey, I’m a University of Toronto student graduating soon with degree in Chemical Engineering. My gpa is low 2.5. I had some health issues in final year that brought some of my grades down and ending up with me graduating a semester later due to writing the final exams as deferred. I have a co-authored paper published in ML field, one year work experience in BI / ML, ML finance algorithm projects which have generated me some profits, won a global university hackathon (GCL). I know my gpa is quite”

“My gpa is garbage due to life stuff (2.5-2.6) but I have 3 rec letters, one on the way, and a somewhat strong resume. I have volunteer experience, leadership experience, but i didnt do much on campus with clubs and such. I also have two bachelor's at 20, so i hope that helps. I am also a published writer. Im aiming low with schools. Any recommendations on how to improve my resume and chances before I graduate in May? Thank you! submitted by /u/No_Preference_9080 [link] [com”

“Hi, my GPA in my engineering program at Cornell was a 3.1 I got into an engineering masters in the same field at UPenn and now have a 3.7 GPA. Penn is still T10 for my program. 4 years of research experience, 2 conferences, 1 senior thesis, 1 master's thesis in progress, and 1 manuscript forever in progress as my undergraduate PI ties the loose ends for that project, and 2 more papers that I am working towards and expect to get two co-authors or second author at the bare minimum. I did my ma”

“Ok here’s the rundown: applying to speech-language pathology MS programs, I have my undergrad in psychology, my gpa is not good at all. I took post-bacc levelling courses, gpa was better, 3.3. I have a year working in the field, and volunteer experience. I have an LOR from my clinical work experience , and one professor who just agreed to also write me a letter. What can I do to have a strong application?!?! Struggling with my personal statement, do I mention my terrible gpa? if so, how? questio”

“I know this has been asked before, but I just want to give my specific case. I have a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from a non-US college and a US master's degree in Computer Science. My GPA in my bachelor's degree is not great. When converted to a 4.0 scale, it would barely be a 3.0. But I worked hard in grad school and got a 4.0 for my MS. I want to apply to PhD programs in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research . I DO have research experience that I can show,”

“hi!!! long time lurker, first time poster, so i apologize if this is the wrong place for this. i recently graduated with a BA in psychology this may and am planning to apply to master’s programs for fall 2027. i have been absolutely spiraling over the application process and would really appreciate some honest advice from people who have been through psychology graduate admissions/have had a similar situation! for some additional context, my interests are primarily in trauma psychology! particul”

“Which schools did you guys get accepted to, and how many years of work experience did you have? + did you have gre results? submitted by /u/Odd_Usual167 [link] [comments]”

“I graduated recently with a biology BS and a relatively low GPA of 3.25, mostly due to poor performance in my first two years. While I was able to get some research experience and could probably get a decent LOR from my PI, it was only for about 8 months and didn’t involve any sort of independent project or presentation. I haven’t been able to land a job after graduating either. Is being admitted into a PhD program at all realistic with such a low GPA and modest research experience? Would I have”

“I graduated with Honors in English and Philosophy, completing an honors thesis in the process. I’m applying to graduate school now for next year. Given that I have a GPA of 3.30, no GRE, and a so-so writing sample, are my chances of getting an assistantship position toast? Should I take the GRE (even though it’s optional for the programs I’m applying to)? I’m applying for masters programs in philosophy and social work. Any advice/personal anecdotes would be greatly appreciated. submitted b”

“Hello I wanted to ask what my chances of getting admitted into a thesis-based program in Masters of Engineering are for the Fall 2027 semester (for context my gpa is 3.33/5). For months now i’ve been researching and applying to supervisors in universities in Canada and so far i applied to about 10 universities and a rough estimate of about 700 supervisors, my strategy is to do some light research about their work and try to connect it to mine, but so far it hasn’t been too effective. Most of the”

“I wanted to put this out there as gpa is only one part of your application. If you have a strong SOP, recommendations and work/volunteer experience, you definitely have a chance. There are also some fields (especially professional programs) where 4.0 gpas don’t equate to skills required of a certain profession, such as soft skills of listening and empathy in a position that requires it. I’m saying this as a person who took 7 years to graduate from their undergrad due to certain circumstances and”

“I'm currently a sophomore planning to transfer externally into NYU for junior year, and I'm interested in CAS Data Science. My GPA right now is around 3.4, and I'm a bit worried it might not be competitive enough for this major specifically. Does anyone know roughly what GPA or academic background is typically needed to get into this major as a transfer student? submitted by /u/SYsyleo [link] [comments]”

“I’m 26F and my undergrad GPA is a 3.35. I earned my BA in Psychology, and although my GPA wasn’t great, I was very involved on campus and was admitted to a master’s program at UPenn. My MS is in Education, but unfortunately, my master’s GPA was even lower than my undergrad GPA. 😬 While doing my masters, I did Teach For America and taught for a total of 3 years. I recently left teaching and am now transitioning into corporate/education-adjacent roles. My goal is to build significant leadership e”

“I’m currently in my final year of undergrad and starting to think about applying to course-based / professional master’s programs in analytics, including some online programs like Georgia Tech’s analytics master’s and programs similar to Duke’s MQM. My biggest concern is my transcript. During my first and second years, I struggled academically and actually failed a few courses, including some quantitative courses. Since then, though, my grades have improved pretty significantly. In third year, I”

“Hello all, I’m halfway through undergrad and recently calculated my GPA to be around a 3.6 by the end of my 3rd year. I kinda bombed my first semester of my first year, but I wanna get an MA and then eventually a PhD in political science, and I already have some research under my belt and plan to do more. Does my GPA kinda screw me if Im looking to get into an MA program first? Would I even have a chance of getting into a PhD program? Need some advice. Thanks. submitted by /u/Far_Cat”

“As the title says. I graduated with a BS in CS back in 2022 and since then I was: full stack engineer -> data analyst -> senior analyst -> data scientist. My recommenders are 2 deans within the community college system where I had a professional relationship and 1 professor who was my PI when I was doing undergraduate research. I will be going for a data science masters or a math masters, but my main concern is my GPA. I have already been told by 2 unis (UCs) that the low GPA was somewh”

“I'm applying for MBA programs next year. I have a 3.8 GPA from a low ranked non target undergrad and a 3.4 GPA from a highly ranked target university where I did a one-year masters degree. My Gmat score is slightly above average for the schools I'm applying to. Will my weaker GPA at the more prestigious and rigorous master's university count against me? It could be seen that I did well in a weaker environment in my non-target undergrad but was average/mediocre in a competitive enviro”

“I have a very bad GPA from my home college 2.7 in electrical engineering (due to exam anxiety) but for my masters in USA, I got 3.9 (R2 university). I have a really strong research profile and strong recommendations. My profile summary is :- Over 2000 citations Published over 25 (5 A* Conference in AI (First Author), 10 Q1) papers (First author 10 papers) Two Patents on AI 6 Years of Industry Experience in AI domain One (framework) github repo earned over 600 stars and industry adoptions I am lo”

“I graduated with a master’s in CS with a pretty low GPA (3.2). I had a rough first semester and got a C in one class, which really hurt my GPA, and I never fully recovered from it. I also got another C in a group-project-heavy class that didn’t go very well because I was the only person who was doing all the work for that stupid class which affected the entire course grade. Since then my grades have had a upward trajectory. I know people often say that getting Cs in a master’s program is unusual”

“I’m a Chinese undergraduate student going into my third year, and I’m currently quite anxious about graduate school admissions. After my first two years of university, my cumulative GPA is 2.98/4.0 , while my GPA in core/major courses may be around 2.5/4.0 . I’m majoring in chemistry. I do have some research experience, though. I’m currently working in an organic chemistry lab and may continue there until I graduate. I also recently finished more than a year of research experience in a biochemis”

“hi guys! I’m going to have a 3.4 GPA when I graduate from my undergrad. it’s a psych major with neuro minor and I want to apply to neuro grad school. my only class that I failed many times was calculus and it brought my gpa down ALOT (i used to be in engineering but obviously not anymore lol). However, my neuro, bio, chem, and psych classes were As and B+ around the board. Do you think it’s possible to get into a decent grad school with this GPA? I also have some lab internships I did, and I mig”

“hi guys! I’m going to have a 3.4 GPA when I graduate from my undergrad. it’s a psych major with neuro minor and I want to apply to neuro grad school. my only class that I failed many times was calculus and it brought my gpa down ALOT (i used to be in engineering but obviously not anymore lol). However, my neuro, bio, chem, and psych classes were As and B+ around the board. Do you think it’s possible to get into a decent grad school with this GPA? I also have some lab internships I did, and I mig”

“hi so i’m graduating undergrad this upcoming year. I was wondering if the GRE can offset my low gpa. I have extensive research experience and a publication in my name. My professors have told me my research experience is good enough for a good school. I also have been told to either apply both job and masters, along w my grad school apps if I don’t get in. I was considering masters to boost and then apply. But do you guys have any advice? i just am worried of taking that gap year… submitte”

“I know my gpa is on the lower side, but I was wondering if my other experiences make up for it? My stats: GPA: 3.43 1 month long internship at a prestigious company 10 week long fully funded research opportunity, and I presented my findings at a symposium 1 TA position I have a few personal projects that I have done that are on my github 2 on campus jobs I have 3 LORs from supervisors and professors I'm applying to the Tandon school of engineering for my MS in the AI track, do you think I ha”