I’m graduating (college) in about a year and it looks like i’m going to have to go back and redo school so i will have a good enough gpa to get into the school I plan on getting into. The advisors at my current school aren’t very helpful, apparantly this type of thing doesn’t happen very often, so I’m not getting much feedback. One thing I would like to know is how the school(s) I apply to will look on my 2nd college run, even if I do get a good GPA out of it, anyone with any experience in this, your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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What’s your current gpa?
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What schools and programs are you applying too? (This makes a huge difference as to whether or not a second go at it is worth it)
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Are you planning on changing programs if you go back? or stay in your current field? (changing programs is usually not looked down upon all that much, since it can be sparked by a lot of things…but redoing the same thing will likely work against you).
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You may want to consider “Continuing studies” programs (if applicable and available). The premise is that you take whatever courses you require and are lacking after graduating to get into whatever program you’re applying in to. Basically, you avoid having to take breadth requirements again, and fill in x number of courses.
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Let’s say you’re trying to get into a professional field (Law, Medicine, Dentistry, etc.) can you do a stepping stone program before applying to these programs. (It’s common to do a Master’s first, and then apply to a professional degree. 1) it’s generally easier to get into a master’s program since it’s more field specific, and less competitive…and 2) if done this is usually looked at with greater emphasis over your undergrad marks when applying to professional schools. (I personally hate when people do this…because I’m an academic at heart, and love research. I think this cheapens the value of research (and the researcher) and diminishes the quality of the findings since there’s usually little motivation and interest in the findings.)
Hope this helps
ND
Try and get into a graduate program and strive for a 4.0 GPA. Prospective employers will think your low college GPA was due to immaturity which you can then show that you have overcome. I never heard of anyone re-doing college to get a better GPA so that they can get a better job. Take some business courses too. I don’t think a reasonable return on investment will be achieved on the route you are suggesting.
Are you planning to actually go back to school and re-do the entire four years?!? Just to get into one grad school versus another?
Dude, get a grip. Just go to your second-choice school and deal with it. It’s not going to make all that much difference in the long run anyway, believe me.
I’ve never heard of anyone redoing their undergrad work, but I can tell you how I’d look at it as an employer: like the guy was an idiot. Sorry to be harsh, but that’s the truth. You should have done it right the first time.
There is no way that I’d hire someone who went back to do it again, versus someone who just made the best of his situation and got on with life. And I think that most grad school admissions people will feel the same way.
Char is right, if I looked at a resume from someone who went back for an undergrad “do-over”, I’d think “damn, what an idiot”. Someone who maybe had shitty or mediocre undergrad grades but kicked ass is grad school (or no grad school but kicked ass in previous jobs) would be much more impressive.
That says “yeah, college maybe wasn’t the best effort of my life, but I got my shit together since then and figured out where I’m going in life”.
A do-over pretty much would say “I partied and fucked off so much the first time, I decided to do it again. Hey, it’s not like was MY money anyway.”
I’m looking to get into med school, and will graduate wiht a business degree with a 3.2ish. I was thinking if I went back I could keep my core requirements, and in 2 years have another degree with better grades. I’ll do whatever it takes to get into medicine, I was considering a master’s program as well, thank you all for your advice, I’ll certainly look into your reco’s, like I said, I get little to no help from my advisors.
If you want to go into medicine why did you major in business? I know you can major in anything you want as long as you score well on the MCAT but it’s a hell of a lot easier if you were a science major. Anyway, I agree with others that say you should see if it’s possible to get into a different medical school from the one you originally hoped for…that said I know how difficult it is to get into med school without a rediculously high gpa so…perhaps graduate work somewhere could help or get a job for a few years. You can’t get your mba without previous work experience as I’m sure you know.
Don’t do undergrad again. Do you have all the prereqs for Med School? If you do, you’d be better off doing a Master’s degree in Biology or Chemistry (with a good GPA). Same 2 years, but now you have an advanced degree rather than 2 undergrad degrees. Also, if your MCATs are good, apply to several med schools (including some lower tier ones) now - you might get in and won’t have to do the extra degree. Once you go to med school and do well, the undergrad degree will be less meaningful. You do have better opportunities coming out of top med schools (better internships and residencies, fellowships, etc.) but doing well at a second tier med school still makes you an MD at the end. In a few years, your performance and continuing development become much more important than where you went to school.
Good Luck
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First of all, realize that much of your acceptance will be based on your MCAT scores. If it’s like law school, this may account for up to 75% of the decision.
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Schools tend to look at the direction that your grades take over time and not just the raw number. If you have been increasing over time it will look much better than deterriorating grades.
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Compare yourself to your school’s overall average. Ivy league and other “good” schools have a tendency to inflate grades, which will be taken into account by the graduate programs. For example, my experience says that the typical GPA average at your standard university is about 2.7 or so, but at Duke it was over 3.1. So a 3.1 at a pretty good school may very well be better than a 3.2 at one of these inflating schools.
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Go out and get some work experience. I know that many schools consider taking at least 2 years off a plus.
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Don’t re-do your degree. Instead, you could consider spending an extra semester or two and pick up a second major or some graduate credits. That will look like a positive instead of the negative do-over stuff.
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Finally, put less emphasis on the school ranking. There is a saying at medical schools: “You know what you call the med student with the lowest GPA? - Doctor.” Sure, you might not be able to get a job at the Mayo clinic your first year out, but hey, neither will about 99.96% of the other students. Besides, I’ve heard that it is better to go to a lesser school and get better grades than it is to go to a stretch school and do relatively poorly (even if you did learn more) since employers simply look at rank and scores.
My two cents anyway.
Where do you live? I know some universities in Canada where it’s possible to get in with that GPA. Queen’s for example doesn’t seem to have a set GPA score, other than stating that those with higher GPA’s will have a better chance at getting accepted, and those below 3.0 have a slim chance of getting accepted. Memorial has 2 classes, where everyone above 3.5 is lumped into one group, and those above 2.75 are lumped into another group; albeit the first group has priority over the second grouping. McMasters doesn’t even require the MCAT to be written, which it shouldn’t be anyway since it’s a standardized test.
The point? I dunno, look around for schools that don’t require a stellar GPA in your province/state since the amount of seats availble to those residing in the same province/state is greater than if you live outside of that area. The requirements are almost always lower as well if you live in the same area as the school you apply too. I know it’s like that here in Canada anyway. ALso if you don’t get in anywhere, I would do the graduate program thing like someone else said, and if you don’t get into a grad program, apply to something like physiotherapy or OT. You’d atleast have a job aferwards. A redo just seems like a bad idea to me unless you can’t get into any program at all.