<p>Lets say you wanted to get an ms in ece. Would a lower gpa at a tougher school such as say gatech be looked at similarly to a higher gpa at an easier school if other things are similar, or would it hurt you? Should someone even be considering this when they decide where to go undergrad, lets say someone is smart, but not brilliant and a bit on the lazy side.</p>
<p>I understand lazy. Hell, I have senioritis. But you should go to the toughest school you get into and challenge yourself to earn a high GPA anyway. When you apply for grad programs, you will have to compete against people who had high GPAs at the toughest institutions, including some even more difficult than GAtech.</p>
<p>If you go to an “easy” school, you are setting yourself up to fail in the grad admission process. Go somewhere with a rigorous curriculum and at least you’ll have the opportunity to excel if it turns out you’re capable of it.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech has a rep as a tough school, but the data doesn’t seem to back up this assertion: <a href=“http://www.irp.gatech.edu/GradeInflation2003.PDF[/url]”>http://www.irp.gatech.edu/GradeInflation2003.PDF</a> (see page 34, for example). Unless you’re middle-of-the-road, your GPA won’t differ much regardless of where you go amongst similarly-ranked schools. Responding to your final clause, hard work trumps genius in grad school.</p>
<p>I think that they would. I know that international applicants from Australia and the UK aren’t expected to have GPAs as high as US applicants, becasue our grading system is different (85% is a HIGH mark, and I’ve never heard of anyone ever getting more than low 90s for any assignment, let alone a whole class)</p>
<p>Most likely</p>
<p>btw, for reference the other school I’m considering going to is northeastern. It has a good amount of non academic advantages such as being a 20 minutes train ride, rather than a 3 hour plane ride from home, 1:1 male to female ratio vs gatechs 3:1, culture I’m more familiar and comfortable in(north vs south) , probably have some friends going there, a little cheaper due to 14k a year scholarship and lack of many travel expenses, very very good co-op program, although gatechs is great too, and I would probably do it there aswell, but since northeasterns is mandatory I would still graduate with same class of people which is nice, and the class schedule works around it, rather than it working around the class schedule.</p>
<p>but yeah gatech is ranked 5th in undergraduate engineering, whereas northeastern is 57th, and in electrical engineering gatech is also ranked around 5th while neu isn’t even on the list as the list only goes up to 20something. So gatech is far more prestigious and superior academically. Although neu has improved immensely in the past decade and should continue to improve. Oddly enough it has a lower acceptance rate than gatech in past few years. Last years was 39% at neu while IIRC gatechs was around 60.</p>
<p>I also applied to cornell and cmu if anyone was curious but not expecting to get into either.</p>
<p>Also interestingly enough tommorow morning I’m flying to tech to do an overnight, hopefully I’ll have a great time and get a better sense of stuff. Neu doesn’t even offer overnights, which is pretty disappointing.</p>
<p>anyway so I had a great time on the overnight, and 20 minutes ago I was dead sure I was going to gatech next spring. But then I checked my cornell decision. Wow, holly **** I got in. Now I have to decide between cornell and georgia tech. It will be a tough decision, any thoughts?</p>
<p>In your intended area of study, there is NO reason to go to Northeastern.</p>
<p>Best wishes as you make your decision between GA Tech and Cornell.</p>
<p>Yes, they take it into account. Therefore, do well on standardized tests in 6th grade. They impact what courses you will take in 7th and 8th grades, which impacts what high school courses you take. The high school grades largely determine your college. So Prism, my advice is: enjoy middle school next year, but start cracking open the books for end of grade tests.</p>
<p>to lalucha:</p>
<p>I’ve heard of plenty of people gettin 90+. In fact I’ve heard of a few people getting 94-96 average =)</p>