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How bad is a 2.0-2.5 GPA?

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P

Plasmid

Member
GAF, im in a pickle. I'm a junior in college right now and i'm finishing up my first semester of my junior year, and it doesn't look too good for this semester. I have a history of doing bad in my fall semesters but doing exceptionally (3.3+ GPA) in the spring semesters. I'm intending to go to graduate school to be a licensed counselor but i don't really have a grasp on how important GPA is outside of an academic setting (besides getting into grad school). So i'm asking, how fucked am i? I'll be taking classes to make up for the shitty GPA & be doing summer intersessions until i graduate to improve.

I'm hoping to finish my undergraduate with at least a 2.725, which isn't awful, but isn't great either. How did your GPA affect your career? Does your GPA really even matter outside of an academic setting? Am i completely fucked over at this point? My residential GPA at the moment is a 2.23, and while that's around average, i feel like most people have a higher GPA than myself (albeit most of the people i know are in the honors colleges). So GAF, am i doomed?
 
P

Paches

Member
GPA doesn't matter as much as having the degree itself, but saying you had latin honors on a resume (cum laude) would help. The different between a 2.7 and 3.3 shouldn't really mean much. I think it will only help if you have something really high that is top 10% of your class.
 
D

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
In the field I went into (finance), GPA was hugely important. I would imagine it differs by major and job field, but a higher GPA is always better as it signals to a potential employer that you are a hard worker and put in the time to do what needs to be done.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
If you score in the top percentiles of the GRE it could be forgiven when applying for Grad school. For regular work, your GPA usually means nothing.
 
R

Riggs

Banned
WhatRobEats said:
Not as bad as Coolio.

Sorry mang.
Click to expand...

bnDtU.jpg
 
S

Shadybiz

Member
Don't worry too much. Employers only want to see the degree. As far as grad school, as long as you do well on the GRE's, you should be okay.

....on the flip side; I graduated with my mba Magna cum laude, and my employers don't give a damn :)
:(
 
S

Shadow780

Member
Don't put your GPA on the resume, rack up as much experience as you can, practice your communication skills, those are usually more important than GPAs.

I don't know about academics field though.
 
K

koryuken

Member
To be honest, GPA doesn't really matter as long as you graduate and go into the work force. It does really matter if you are trying to seek grad school/any additional education afterwards. I graduated with a 3.45 GPA and I remember that the good schools required 3.8 or above.

Honest answer, I don't think you are fucked per say, but you are severely limiting your options.
 
P

Plasmid

Member
Kusagari said:
GPA really means nothing if you're going into a major where internships or actual experience counts.
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I originally wanted to be a therapist, but we have a way of becoming a licensed counselor, mainly because our school doesn't offer a psychology masters (we only do a doctorate, and it's only 5 people a year, along with being one of the hardest doctoral psychology programs in the nation).
 
C

cool_dude_2049

Banned
Hate to break it to you OP but you are pretty fucked. That is a terrible gpa and some people that work at Walmart have a better gpa than you. Unless your job, internships don't rely too much on gpa.


What is the gpa for your major and not overall? That might be your redeeming factor.

If I were you, I would retake a few classes.

That gpa tells me you received a lot more Cs and than As or Bs. Doesn't look to hot for a graduate school, IMO.
 
Avinexus

Avinexus

Member
ilnadmy said:
In the field I went into (finance), GPA was hugely important. I would imagine it differs by major and job field, but a higher GPA is always better as it signals to a potential employer that you are a hard worker and put in the time to do what needs to be done.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm in accounting right now and everything I read says GPA is extremely important for your first job for this degree. Although, they really only seem to mention it when talking about getting jobs at the Big 4 accounting firms.
 
J

J-Rod

Member
It helps getting your first job, but after a few years of experience in your field, it means nothing. Just don't put your overall gpa on your résumé if it is bad. If your gpa for your major is good, put "major gpa" and the score next to your education.
 
N

NewFresh

Member
Can it affect your career? Probably not

Does that necessarily mean it wont? No

I have a few friends who graduated a year before me, all with a pretty terrible GPA (2.1-2.3). The ones who really had trouble were the ones looking to immediately go into grad school. The ones who went off to work have never brought it up. BTW their fields were Biology, Chemistry, and Ecology.

So suck it up, hit the books, graduate, and you will be fine.
 
P

Plasmid

Member
cool_dude_2049 said:
Hate to break it to you OP but you are pretty fucked. That is a terrible gpa and some people that work at Walmart have a better gpa than you. What is the gpa for your major and not overall? That might be your redeeming factor.

If I were you, I would retake a few classes.

That gpa tells me you received a lot more Cs and than As or Bs. Doesn't look to hot for a graduate school, IMO.
Click to expand...

My overall GPA for my Major (psychology) is at a 3.3 i think, while my general education GPA is around a 2.1 if i'm remembering correctly.

I'm particularly good at anything pertaining to psychology, it's mainly Gen Ed that's killing me, i'm planning on retaking a few classes if possible, along with summer school (which helps a lot with GPA and fast tracks your graduation process).
 
S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
GPA matters if you're trying to go to grad school. I'm not sure, as I was a double major with one of those degrees being Psychology, but I'm pretty sure 2.725 is pretty bad for grad school.
 
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NewFresh

Member
Plasmid said:
My overall GPA for my Major (psychology) is at a 3.3 i think, while my general education GPA is around a 2.1 if i'm remembering correctly.

I'm particularly good at anything pertaining to psychology, it's mainly Gen Ed that's killing me, i'm planning on retaking a few classes if possible, along with summer school (which helps a lot with GPA and fast tracks your graduation process).
Click to expand...

Not to sound mean....but this is more worrisome than your GPA.
 
P

Plasmid

Member
SoulPlaya said:
GPA matters if you're trying to go to grad school. I'm not sure, as I was a double major with one of those degrees being Psychology, but I'm pretty sure 2.725 is pretty bad for grad school.
Click to expand...

I'm looking into it and it actually says a 2.7 in overall GPA is acceptable, while a 3.0 in degree specific classes, so i guess i'm not necessarily fucked over completely.

EmmanuelMunoz said:
Not to sound mean....but this is more worrisome than your GPA.
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Are you saying psychology is a shitty major to take? I can understand as there's a huge influx of people taking psychology as their undergrad.
 
E

EricM85

Member
I work for a large business consulting firm, and we get a large number of applicants at recruiting events. As such, GPA is a quick filter when looking through resumes. Anything below a 3.0 is getting tossed. After that stage, most of the candidates that are hired have a 3.5+ GPA with a number of internships under their belt.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Plasmid said:
I'm looking into it and it actually says a 2.7 in overall GPA is acceptable, while a 3.0 in degree specific classes, so i guess i'm not necessarily fucked over completely.
Click to expand...

You gotta get recommendation letters too, on top of stellar GRE scores - some prof ass kissing may be in order.
 
S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
Plasmid said:
I'm looking into it and it actually says a 2.7 in overall GPA is acceptable, while a 3.0 in degree specific classes, so i guess i'm not necessarily fucked over completely.
Click to expand...
Is that the accepted GPA, or the average?

I mean shit, many med schools let you apply with just a 2.5, but that's just "acceptable" to apply. Good luck getting into an MD school with anything less than a 3.6, lol.
 
G

genjiZERO

Member
It kind of depends on what your major and aspirations are. If you are a STEM or some other very traditionally academic major or highly competitive field it's pretty bad (assuming you aren't legacy). But if you are in a more "network" oriented field it might not matter too much.
 
C

cool_dude_2049

Banned
Plasmid said:
My overall GPA for my Major (psychology) is at a 3.3 i think, while my general education GPA is around a 2.1 if i'm remembering correctly.

I'm particularly good at anything pertaining to psychology, it's mainly Gen Ed that's killing me, i'm planning on retaking a few classes if possible, along with summer school (which helps a lot with GPA and fast tracks your graduation process).
Click to expand...

It would be best if you only refer to your major GPA in resumes. More often than not, that's all admissions people care about. However, if your overall gpa comes up, you'd better have a good excuse because that tells me that you don't apply yourself enough. Now if you have extracurricular activities under your belt, it doesn't look so bad.
 
J

jgmo870

Banned
Plasmid said:
My overall GPA for my Major (psychology) is at a 3.3 i think, while my general education GPA is around a 2.1 if i'm remembering correctly.

I'm particularly good at anything pertaining to psychology, it's mainly Gen Ed that's killing me, i'm planning on retaking a few classes if possible, along with summer school (which helps a lot with GPA and fast tracks your graduation process).
Click to expand...

If it doesn't matter which grad school you go to, that should be adequate for lower tiered grad schools. I'd also work hard on trying to find a good rec letter and gaining some experience in the field.
 
K

Kusagari

Member
Yeah, your biggest problem will be getting into grad school.

Once you get in just stop fucking up and make sure to do great always.
 
F

f0rk

Member
What is the US equivalent to a 2:1 in the UK? Most graduate places I've been looking at won't except anything less than a 2:1.
 
P

Pastry

Banned
SoulPlaya said:
GPA matters if you're trying to go to grad school. I'm not sure, as I was a double major with one of those degrees being Psychology, but I'm pretty sure 2.725 is pretty bad for grad school.
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As long as you do we'll on the GRE/GMAT it shouldn't make too much of a difference. I graduated with a 2.88 from a tough liberal arts college, I always wonder how awesome my GPA would have been if I went to a state school. I'm studying for the GMAT right now and planning on applying to grad school in the fall. Not too worried about getting in since I know I will do fine on the test, have work experience post-graduation and will have solid letters of recommendations lined up. I still wish I had a higher GPA but apparently I drank a little too much in college, oops.
 
P

Plasmid

Member
SoulPlaya said:
Is that the accepted GPA, or the average?

I mean shit, many med schools let you apply with just a 2.5, but that's just "acceptable" to apply. Good luck getting into an MD school with anything less than a 3.6, lol.
Click to expand...

I also have to say i'm in mississippi, our standards are pretty shit.

shagg_187 said:
GPA doesn't matter in some places if you're planning to work right away.
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I plan on working in a mental health facility after my undergraduate for as long as need be, there are a lot of places here where i live that take Psychology students that are willing to work in mental health right out of graduation.

e:

i also have to clarify the school has a lot of contracts with mental health facilities to incorporate their work with our grad school's teachings.
 
S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
genjiZERO said:
It kind of depends on what your major and aspirations are. If you are a STEM or some other very traditionally academic major or highly competitive field it's pretty bad (assuming you aren't legacy). But if you are in a more "network" oriented field it might not matter too much.
Click to expand...
Are people even reading the OP? Lol
 
N

Necrovex

Member
jgmo870 said:
If it doesn't matter which grad school you go to, that should be adequate for lower tiered grad schools. I'd also work hard on trying to find a good rec letter and gaining some experience in the field.
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Getting a research position is his only hope for getting into a good graduate school.
 
B

braves01

Banned
Definitely don't put a sub 3.0 GPA on your résumé if you end up trying to get work instead of going to grad school.
 
S

Silas Lang

Member
That's not too good if you are wanting to go to grad school. Pretty sure most graduate programs here require you to have at least a 3.0 but there are a couple of programs you can get into with a 2.75 I believe. It really just depends in the program. I go to a smaller regional university and these are the requirements. Now I believe some programs will make an exception if you score good on the GRE, have awesome letters of recomendation and possibly other reasons. I would check out you school website for your schools specific requirements. In the mean time, just try to do better and retake any classes you did badly in.
 
H

hairypeckpeck

Member
cool_dude_2049 said:
Hate to break it to you OP but you are pretty fucked. That is a terrible gpa and some people that work at Walmart have a better gpa than you. Unless your job, internships don't rely too much on gpa.


What is the gpa for your major and not overall? That might be your redeeming factor.

If I were you, I would retake a few classes.

That gpa tells me you received a lot more Cs and than As or Bs. Doesn't look to hot for a graduate school, IMO.
Click to expand...

this is indeed true... kinda

people who work at walmart might have a higher GPA than you, but then again most of them also majored in something easy...

i had a 2.2 in college and i found a job in my major just fine.

get exp/internships/lab research to cover your GPA

most jobs wont ask for your GPA, they only want to see that you actually have your degree
 
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