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What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:34 am
by tiyusufaly
I know there's no official cutoff GPA. But I'm sure there must be some point where your GPA is low enough that you have very little, if any, chance. Specifically, I am asking to get into an experimental AMO / CM program, especially at a top 10 school. Of particular interest are UChicago, Berkeley, Columbia, Maryland and UWashington. Of less personal interest but just curiosity are Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Caltech and Princeton.

I am just asking you guys for your personal gut instinct and intuition. I can't get a straight answer from my department.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:46 am
by twistor
Cutoffs are determined statistically based on the applicant pool.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:37 am
by will
3.8

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:05 am
by Helio
well they always say at least a GPA of 3.0.


they will accept people with higher and lower GPAs depending the other material as well... there is truely no "cut-off" per se. I have seen post of people getting into harvard astro with a B average

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:17 am
by dlenmn
Deuce, deuce and a half.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:55 pm
by bronco199
It depends on a few things, I think, such as - what type of school you went to. A 3.3 from a Harvard/MIT/etc might be as meaningful as a 3.9 from an unknown liberal arts school. Also, the patterns in your grades can change the perception of your gpa. For instance, if your gpa is low because you had one really bad semester freshman year, then got it together, its not so bad. But, if your gpa is low because you consistently get poor grades, thats much worse.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:54 am
by SuperStringBoy
As far as i know they also look that what did you do at advanced physics course like Quantum, Mechanics, Elect, Statistical mechanics etc. If any body can do good in these and did bad at elementary courses on 1st yr i think he can get in..

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:33 pm
by grae313
Get good grades. Think about the grades the admissions committee will be seeing on other applications, and do everything you can to make your application competitive. There is no exact answer to your question, as Will sarcastically pointed out in the second response to your original post.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:37 pm
by tiyusufaly
There is no exact answer to your question, as Will sarcastically pointed out in the second response to your original post.
Funnily enough, I have heard some people tell me with seriousness that GPA's that high (3.8 or so) are required to get into the most competitive schools.

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:14 pm
by Helio
tiyusufaly wrote:
There is no exact answer to your question, as Will sarcastically pointed out in the second response to your original post.
Funnily enough, I have heard some people tell me with seriousness that GPA's that high (3.8 or so) are required to get into the most competitive schools.
there are multiple factors that play in here. GPA is one, research, letters of rec, etc. are another. it also depends if you have connections or not. it is all a huge crap shoot in the end

Re: What's the cutoff GPA...?

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 3:32 am
by grae313
tiyusufaly wrote:
There is no exact answer to your question, as Will sarcastically pointed out in the second response to your original post.
Funnily enough, I have heard some people tell me with seriousness that GPA's that high (3.8 or so) are required to get into the most competitive schools.
Depends on what school you are coming from and the rest of your application. Plenty of people get perfect or near perfect grades. A whole bunch of them apply to top universities. You want your GPA to be competitive with theirs... it's not rocket science. :) Have you perused the profiles thread?