Hello all,
I am a rising senior in undergrad studying mechanical engineering, and I am looking to go to grad school after graduating. My current GPA is a bit low, at 3.08 (major GPA is 3.13). However, I had one terrible semester due to a death in my family, and when I remove it, my overall GPA jumps up to a somewhat more respectable 3.22. Will admissions committees give me a pass on the low GPA and consider my higher GPA if I write this in my personal statement, or am I stuck with my lower GPA?
I concentrated in robotics during undergrad, however, I recently decided that I would like to go into the energy field instead, so I want to go to grad school to get some better coursework in the field. I am looking for a simple coursework master’s degree (no thesis) in a mid-level school (USC, UVA, UMN-Twin Cities, Wash U in STL are all possible schools I am looking into). GRE score is decent, around 90th percentile in each category.
My biggest concern is my GPA. If anyone has any advice, doesn’t necessarily have to be with regards to my situation specifically, but even any information about the admissions process for potential masters engineering students would be very helpful. Thanks!!
I’m not in your field, but I know that in the humanities, a 3.0 is usually the minimum someone needs to be admitted. If that rings true for engineering, then you’ve at least passed that barrier.
To be honest, a 3.22 doesn’t seem too much better than a 3.08. It’s still below the level of a “competitive” GPA from what I’ve heard. If it were a lot higher (maybe in the 3.5 range) it would be different, but in my opinion, I don’t think it’s necessarily worth wasting precious space in the personal statement for (and space is definitely precious!). You also have great GRE scores, which will help.
Hopefully people more experienced with engineering programs can chime in, but from my humanities perspective, I recommend playing up your research and experience in your personal statement (hopefully you have relevant experience). You also mention that you’re changing specialties, so that might be an issue, too. Grad school is generally more specialized than undergrad and programs want to see you focusing on the field you’re applying to. I’ve heard of people changing from history to literature getting admitted conditionally to PhD programs (they had to do a year of coursework in English or something to get admitted unconditionally), but maybe it’s easier to change specialities in engineering. I’d recommend looking into this more, maybe by browsing grad cafe or doing other kinds of Google searches.
So, while I can’t offer you very pointed advice, I would say that, in my opinion, you’re not completely out of the running (assuming you have strong research or other kinds of experience).
Good luck!
If you are applying to a non-thesis Masters and are willing to self-fund the degree, you will find that many schools have lower admission requirements than for their thesis-MS programs. Whether the schools you cite are a reasonable option is not clear. You might want to apply to one or two less selective programs where you have a higher probability of getting in.
Thank you for your responses. I just want to clarify that all I’m really doing is switching from Mechanical Engineering robotics concentration to Mechanical Engineering energy concentration. All the core classes are the same, just a few electives would be different with different concentrations. Not as drastic of a change as something like history to literature. I don’t believe I would need any remedial courses.
On the other hand, I believe competitive engineering degrees are a bit lower than competitive humanities degrees. From reading other posts on this website, it seems many engineering students have been admitted to master’s programs with GPAs in the 3.1-3.5 range, putting me in the middle of the pack. Again, I’m not looking for anything top level. Just a few tier 2 schools.
My main question here is, are admissions committees willing to consider your personal statement to a significant degree? If I explain my circumstances that caused my lower overall GPA, will they consider the higher conditional GPA that I give? Or is my official transcript GPA the only thing that matters to them?
I too had a rough time during undergrad. My mom was diagnosed with cancer at the end of my senior year of high school and passed away first semester of my senior year of college. Due to these circumstances, my GPA was not stellar (>3.0, but not by much). I took a few years off of school to work as a lab manager in a research lab, during which I gained experience and publications. I applied to PhD programs and carefully crafted my personal statement explaining what happened with my mom during undergrad and what I’d been doing since then. I was offered interviews at almost all of the programs I applied to and was admitted to every program where I interviewed (all top in my field). There is no way that I would have been admitted to these programs if they didn’t take my circumstances into consideration. I’ve never been on an admissions committee, but I think this is proof they at least consider it. I am in the life sciences and can’t speak for the engineering field, but I’d guess they are similar. Also, you mentioned that you’re looking for a non-thesis based masters, which if you’re willing to pay for it, are less competitive.
GPA and GRE scores are just a few metrics that admissions committees use. I always like to say that your GPA/GRE scores will keep you out, but they won’t get you in. What is most important to grad schools is your research experience, with publications being icing on the cake. Recommendations, a good personal statement, and strong research statement are also important.
Do graduate programs consider extenuating circumstances? Yes, of course. Do they give people “a pass?” No. It’s not an all or nothing thing, like they pretend the semester never happened and take your recalculated your GPA without the semester. It’s more qualitative than that - it’s an additional piece of information that they take into account when evaluating your package.
If you’re applying to master’s programs, your GPA is okay, and acceptable for admission to several programs.