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05-07-2008, 03:41 PM
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#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. | 
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05-07-2008, 03:46 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 03:58 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 04:41 PM
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#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." | |
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05-07-2008, 05:14 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 05:17 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 05:35 PM
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#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 | |
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05-07-2008, 05:41 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 05:42 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 05:43 PM
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#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. | 
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05-07-2008, 05:44 PM
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#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. | |
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05-07-2008, 05:45 PM
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#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 | |
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05-07-2008, 05:45 PM
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#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.
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05-07-2008, 05:55 PM
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#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. | |
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