Bad year...how to recover?

jjrree · August 9, 2011, 11:15pm

Hello all.

I am going into my senior year of college. I managed to have an excellent junior year, getting a 3.8 and 4.0. I also took summer classes, where I took 9 credits and got all As. The classes taken this past year and over the summer were all relevant courses to my major.

I transferred to a university after my freshman year, where I earned a 3.0 GPA after two semesters. I messed up big time during my sophomore year, getting a 2.7 and then 1.9 GPA. I also took some summer classes just to bring my GPA up to a 2.0, but it doesn't make up for the 2 Ws and 4 Fs I have on my transcript.

During my second year, I had a few family issues, financial issues, and was pretty unhappy in my choice major, on top of transferring to a new school. It really was just a bad year. None of the courses I took were really that relevant to my major, and I realized I wasted a lot of time/money with that year, and have a crappy transcript now to show for it.

Now that I'm more certain of what I want to do and really pleased with my major choice. I have some good experience under my belt as well in terms of internships, jobs, and volunteer work. I really would like to go to graduate school for Student Affairs or Education Administration, but I'm afraid that this awful year will make that goal impossible. I have decent GRE scores but plan on retaking again this year. Anybody have any tips for what to do during my senior year to make up for a really bad sophomore year? What can I do to maximize my chances at grad school since my GPA is pretty bad?

pinkfury · August 9, 2011, 11:20pm

I also had a cursed sophomore year where I had no idea what I really wanted to do. You're not alone in this. Sophomore year is the most confusing time for most students. I'm in the same boat as you, I have 1 W and 3 F's on my transcript and none of those classes really have anything to do with what I'm into now. So I would like to know as well how hard of a time someone with F's on the transcript may have....should we even be considering grad school at this point?

jjrree · August 9, 2011, 11:48pm

Yeah, three of my Fs came from math courses for a science major (Calc, Biostatistics, etc). I do have one in a somewhat related course, but again, it was still outside of my major. I've definitely got a clearer mind and am a much, much better student, but unfortunately I'm less than hopeful for getting where I need to be in the future, just because of this one bad year.

pinkfury · August 10, 2011, 12:11am

If you are confronted about your grades just tell them the truth...and do the BEST you can from now on and ace that GRE. That should at least show that you're capable of being beast.

vitiatethis · August 10, 2011, 2:11am

I had 2 Fs from econ and 1 from english and my major is heavy bio, one of adcom said nobody cares about those grades when they looked at my app. You said the F's came from courses unrelated to major - that's good for you.

polarscribe · August 10, 2011, 2:12am

Keep doing what you're doing and you have more of a chance than you think. Many graduate schools consider only the junior and senior years in GPA calculations.

Take a gap year - that is, do not apply for Fall 2012 admission, because if you apply this fall, your transcript will only have the junior year's grades to offset your earlier struggles. Ace your senior year and you'll have two full years of strong, upper-division grades to prove that you're capable of graduate-level work. It will show your sophomore year to be an anomaly. You can also use that gap year to pursue internships or work in the field, further strengthening your application.

I have a ton of Ws and Fs on my transcript and only a 3.08 overall GPA, but had a very strong final semester, used my gap year for an internship and ended up being accepted and funded at several top schools in my field.

pinkfury · August 10, 2011, 3:58pm

Well jjrree I hope you're as relieved as I am. :)