Need feedback on my academic record

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Dimensionless
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:04 pm

Need feedback on my academic record

Post by Dimensionless » Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:22 pm

I have a Bachelor's degree in Physics. I finished it at a different institution than that which I started, walked out with 2.9-3.0 GPA (45 credits). At my previous institution I had a great deal of credits (in engineering) and I did not do good at all. Long story short, my undergrad was not a good trial. However, I managed to get into a master's program in Nanoscale science and have done really well in it (3.9 GPA) and I'm about to finish it soon (confident in keeping the GPA high) + alot of research experience.

I plan on applying to a couple phd programs in nanotechnology and the minimum graduate admission requirements are a 3.0 GPA in the last 60 hours of undergraduate work. So I have a couple questions: I got my bachelor's degree from a school where I completed less than 60 credit hours, if I include my GPA from the previous institution to reach that 60 credit minimum then it kills my GPA down to a 2.67. Given my good grades in my master's program will this requirement be more weighted towards my master's grades? Should I calculate my GPA based exactly on the order of classes taken with respect to time including my previous institution (even though those classes didn't count toward my physics degree)?

If anyone has been on a graduate admission committee and could give me feedback, I would really appreciate it. Sorry for the length of the post.

TakeruK
Posts: 941
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:05 pm

Re: Need feedback on my academic record

Post by TakeruK » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:55 pm

I had a similar question because I was also applying from a (Canadian) masters program. There was an extra complication that the Canadian schools I was at didn't use the 4.0 GPA system (we got percentages). When I contacted the graduate admissions secretary, they said to just send the transcript and the school will decide how they want to calculate (and in my case, convert) the averages.

Sometimes by default, the application says the "last 60 hours of undergrad" but they would probably want to include your Masters work in there (but most people don't have one). I'm not on any grad committees, but if it were me, I would fill in my GPA from the most recent 60 credit-hours (starting from Masters) and attach a note that I did this (usually there is a box for this on the last page). They will get the full transcripts and if they don't agree with how I did it, they can calculate it the way they want!

kangaroo
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:31 am

Re: Need feedback on my academic record

Post by kangaroo » Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:56 am

Since it's in your past, just gotta deal with it. As long as you aim in the right tier, you should get in somewhere. A top 200 school is doable.

Dimensionless
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:04 pm

Re: Need feedback on my academic record

Post by Dimensionless » Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:15 pm

Thanks for your replies guys. I was also considering some UK/Canadian schools, since they seem to value a master's degree alot more over there.



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