College Discussion

Go Back   College Discussion > College Admissions and Search > College Life
Register FAQ     Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
Welcome to College Discussion at College Confidential, the Web's leading discussion forum for college admissions, financial aid, SAT prep, and much more! You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, etc. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.
   College Confidential is dedicated to providing the best free college admissions information available on the Web, through our many articles and this discussion forum.

This welcome message goes away when you register and log in!
Discussion Menu
Discussion Home
Help & Rules
Latest Posts
NEW! College Visits
NEW! Stats Profiles
Top Forums
College Search
College Admissions
Financial Aid
SAT/ACT
Parents
Colleges
Ivy League
Main CC Site
College Confidential
College Search
College Admissions
Paying for College
Sponsors
 Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-07-2008, 03:41 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: VA->College of W&M
Threads: 11
Posts: 156
So, what exactly is a "good" college GPA?

I just finished my freshman year at a very respectable public college. I'm expecting my cum. GPA to be around like 3.2 to 3.3, even though I took rather easy classes this semester.

Although I know CC isn't a very representative sample, I feel like I'm behind or something for no reason--even though I don't know even know how much GPA is going to affect my future (isn't it really only good for the first job, then it's experience after that? heck, I don't even want a 9-5) I have never had any plans to go to Harvard Law School, be some I-banker at Goldman Sachs, or anything outlandish that requires perfection...so I'm just wondering, what is a "good" college GPA? And what does the GPA even really determine/entail?

I hate to be so numbers and grades focused, but it just seems like I am already.
NolanDW is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 03:46 PM   #2
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Threads: 28
Posts: 717
on a 4.0 scale, assuming that your Uni doesn't inflate grades...

average = 2.5-2.7
decent = 3.0
good = 3.5
great = 3.7
excellent = 3.85

IMO. I think that first years average 2.62 at my school.
Russell7 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 03:58 PM   #3
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Threads: 7
Posts: 392
On a 4.0 scale, a 3.7+.

You need a 3.7+ to get into a good law school, med school, PhD program so I didn't pick it arbitrarily.
BerkeleySenior is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 04:41 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Threads: 47
Posts: 3,943
If you're not planning on one of those things, a 3.0+ is generally considered "good."
GoldShadow is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:14 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: W&M '08... and now the real world?
Gender: Male
Threads: 16
Posts: 2,324
as GoldShadow said... above a 3.0 will generally be fine for anything employment related. If you have significant grad school aspirations, then grades become more important.
soccerguy315 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:17 PM   #6
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Threads: 0
Posts: 275
It's going to depend on a lot of things, including the school, the course of study, and what you want to do with it.

If you really want to compare yourself to others and you don't have any benchmark in terms of what you might want to do after college, I'd go look around your college website and see what kinds of grades will get you various kinds of academic honors. That will give you some idea of what the school thinks is a good GPA. I think you'd probably do better to ask yourself how much each grade reflects what you think you really could have done in each class. Taking tougher classes will probably reduce your GPA -- and not only is there nothing wrong with that, but taking chances in your education will probably result in you being a better-educated individual at the end of it all.
nontraditional is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:35 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Miami, FL
Gender: Male
Threads: 71
Posts: 1,311
Berkeleysenior, you do NOT need a 3.7+ to get into med school lol
burgler09 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:41 PM   #8
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Threads: 17
Posts: 43
A GPA means little. Any GPA above 3.0 will do. How well you do on the LSATs/MCATs/GMATs and how smart you sound when you open your mouth during the interview is what counts.
Moire is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:42 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Miami, FL
Gender: Male
Threads: 71
Posts: 1,311
^^^ exactly, although gpa is pretty important.. you have to have a decent gpa, but if youhave above a 3.0 you'll get accepted somewhere if you have a good MCAT/LSAT/DAT and interview well.
burgler09 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:43 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Threads: 84
Posts: 2,850
Quote:
you do NOT need a 3.7+ to get into med school lol
Actually you kind of do. If you google average GPA for medical school you will find that most State medical schools have average GPAs for accepted students of over 3.6 to 3.7+.

Our State medical school the minimum to apply is a 3.0 but they state that you are unlikely to be competitive or even be offered an interview with a 3.0.
swimcatsmom is online now  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:44 PM   #11
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Threads: 28
Posts: 717
Moire, that isn't true. The LSAT is weighed the same as GPA and there are GPA cutoffs for med and stuff that are well above 3.0.

The lowest GPA to be accepted to dentistry at my school last year was 3.6 and that's only because he had a very difficult major.
Russell7 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:45 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Miami, FL
Gender: Male
Threads: 71
Posts: 1,311
those are AVERAGE gpa's that means they accept lower students. If you needed a 3.7+ then they average gpa would be around a 3.8-3.9
burgler09 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:45 PM   #13
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Threads: 17
Posts: 43
A few years ago I used to post in this other message board, and there was a girl who claimed she had a 3.9 GPA from a decent school. For some reason none of us could comprehend, she was unable to find a job after graduation. She seemed foreign to the idea of having to show anyone her resume; she claimed she didn't even have one. A few hundreds posts later she revealed she had ADD, her 3.9 GPA essentially rendered meaningless.

Last edited by Moire : 05-07-2008 at 05:51 PM.
Moire is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:51 PM   #14
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Threads: 28
Posts: 717
agreed swimcats... here are the admission stats from my school last year for med and dentistry. Mind you, it's a Canadian school, and we're a bit more competitive up here, but not by a ridiculous amount...

Dentistry
Undergraduate Medical Education - Doctor of Dental Surgery Admissions: Statistics

Medicine
Undergraduate Medical Education - Doctor of Medicine Admissions: Statistics
Russell7 is offline  
Old 05-07-2008, 05:55 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Miami, FL
Gender: Male
Threads: 71
Posts: 1,311
That looks like the UColorado admissions... unless you really look into the stuff and actually talk to other applicants and know whats going on it is useless to just try and look at numbers and know what's going on. I don't care enough to debate it because truthfully, it doesn't matter enough to me.


Any students interested in professional fields I recommend going to the Student Doctor Network, www.studentdoctor.net if you are interested in learning more.
burgler09 is offline  
Reply


Thread Tools

 


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:57 PM.


Copyright 2001-2008, CollegeConfidential.com, Inc., All Rights Reserved
SEO by vBSEO 3.1.0