<p>I am jr pursuing a history major (with a possible double major in German) with a European concentration. The main concern I have, now that I starting to look at graduated schools is of course GPA. Right now my major gpa is a 3.5 and overall a 3.0. I am just debating how much a 5th year and a double major would actually help me get accepted to a decent graduate school. </p>
<p>My GPA has been on the rise ever since I switched majors spring quarter of my freshmen year, when I found out Engineering really (and I mean REALLY) wasn’t for me. A 5th year offers me a chance to continue to raise my Overall GPA and of course get the double major, but is that generally frowned upon that I didn’t graduate in time? If I do graduate in 5 years my overall GPA should be around a 3.2-3.4 (depending on how well I do). Outside of the class room I will have Vice-pres and President of the German Club, member of the University marching band for 1 year and 2 study abroad trips (10 weeks in Salzburg Austria studying German langauge and 1 academic year in Leipzig Germany studying German language and classes in German). </p>
<p>I was wondering if with a sub par GPA (3.2-3.4) and those extracurricular activities if I would a good candidate for a PhD or Masters program. I have had several professors say that if I even needed a letter of recommendation, they would be glad to provide one. Also I haven’t take the GRE yet.</p>
<p>Basically what I am rambling on about is, do I have a shot at graduate school if I do well on the GRE, get the double major in 5 years and bring up my GPA somewhere between 3.2-3.4</p>
<p>Doctoral programs do not care about extracurricular activities. You should focus on major GPA, test scores, awards, research experience, and honors thesis projects.</p>
<p>The double major will probably only count to the extent that it directly relates to your major - i.e. if you are going after German History perhaps. The time spent should not really count against you, and the GPA boost will certainly help - 3.0 is a bare minimum and under 3.5 can keep you out of some programs. Extracurriculars do not mean a thing in grad school - undergrad they wanted excited and involved students, grad they want research-focused workhorses.</p>
<p>Focus on the research in your last year (or two) - get involved with one or more significant projects with a goal of publishing somewhere, preferably as first author.</p>
<p>Make sure that at least one of your letter writers addresses your gpa as it relates to your previous stab at engineering - most schools will not begrudge you a bad freshman year in another major if you have done well since. In your letter make sure you touch on how well you are doing now and show some connections to future research excellence.</p>
<p>Do you have a prof that you could sit down and talk this over with? You could ask him what grad schools are looking for in your field. Believe me, what brought your general GPA down will be noticed as not relating to your field. Make sure you do really well on your GRE’s. Forge good relationships with 2-3 profs because most schools need 2-3 LOR. </p>
<p>I agree with the other poster who recommended doing a senior thesis. </p>
<p>Sticking around for an extra year will cost you some serious money so make sure you really think it is necessary. It might make much better sense to go for your masters at a less recognized school & do really well and apply to a better school for your PhD. Remember though that you usually don’t get funded for your masters. Probably a good idea would be to apply to both masters programs & PhD programs. That way if you get accepted to a PhD program right off the bat you would eliminate the non-funded masters program. </p>
<p>Most people apply to 7-10 schools from what I have observed. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>First of all, I’m glad to find someone else who is in my same position (somewhat). I am also a junior majoring in history and looking to focus on modern German history. </p>
<p>As far as your situation goes, I think it all depends on which schools you are looking at applying to. I know that with my stats (3.6 overall GPA, and 3.6/3.7 major GPA, some research experience, good LOR’s, 4 languages other than English, and w/e I get on the GRE) I am planning on applying to schools such as Georgetown, BU, BC, Michigan, and some others, mainly for a PhD. </p>
<p>Which school are you attending now? I ask because I attend a not so well known state school in the Midwest and am hoping that when it comes to my admissions, the reputation of the school will not make a huge difference. </p>
<p>Again, I believe your admission will highly depend on the schools you will be applying to as your stats seem fine to me.</p>
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<p>In addition to GPA and GRE, it will also depend on your statement of purpose. You will have to specifically demonstrate what you want to study and why. “Modern German History” is too broad. </p>
<p>You will also need to provide a solid writing sample (preferably an original research paper related to your field) to demonstrate that you can research and write at a high level.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the quick responses! I will try to answers some of the questions right off the bat :).</p>
<p>First I do have good relationships with a couple professors, letters of recommendations shouldn’t be a problem what so ever. I just haven’t spoke to them about graduate school, mostly due to the fact that I am slightly embarrassed to ask them when my GPA is residing in the gutter.</p>
<p>Right now I am attending Ohio University, who has a very strong graduate history department, especially when it comes to contemporary history. I have experience with research, after winning a -very- small research fellowship regarding the status of the Tempelhof Airport (the airport the US used in the Berlin Airlift) and in our junior composition class I wrote a 24 page paper on the forging of a West German national identity through the 1954 World Cup victory in which I received an A from one of the stingiest professors when it comes to grades. Mostly I am interested in Contemporary Cultural history, but also things dating back to the middle ages such as the Hanseatic League.</p>
<p>I would love to apply for the Honors Thesis class, but there is a University wide standard that to be eligible for it you must have a 3.5 overall and in major GPA, so that leaves me hanging. They don’t generally make exceptions for these kind of things do they?</p>
<p>“I would love to apply for the Honors Thesis class, but there is a University wide standard that to be eligible for it you must have a 3.5 overall and in major GPA, so that leaves me hanging. They don’t generally make exceptions for these kind of things do they?”</p>
<p>Never hurts to ask and definately talk to a professor from your department. It is possible they will let you do an independent study so you could write a thesis. You could then send this with your grad school applications. You wouldn’t get an honor’s diploma, but it would show that you are capable of doing a thesis and show them that you have independent research skills. Good luck!</p>
<p>1) Languages are uber important for History PhD programs. The more, the better. Your minor in German is significant enough to put you at an advantage. Especially your intensive summer coursework and time spent in Germany. I won’t worry about putting in a 5th year, just to finish that German major.</p>
<p>2) GPA IS important, especially coming from undergraduate level, but the schools will recalculate based on relevant classes (i.e. your history/culture/etc classes). So your final GPA will be quite competitive.</p>
<p>3) If doing honors is not possible, get independent study done so you can do a significant research project.</p>
<p>4) TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS NOW. Why? 1) You need to plan for your summer and senior year. You might be doing some research over this summer so you can start writing in the fall or so. 2) If they know you’re interested in graduate school, they will bend quite a bit to help you out, including grades if you’re talking more classes with them. Don’t make it too late for them to do anything to help you with the process.</p>
<p>Focus on things that you CAN control- your writing sample (original research, if you can insert some translations, that’d be really awesome) and statement of purpose. Define your research interests and issues at hand as you write the essay in the fall.</p>
<p>History MA doesn’t sound necessary for you at this point unless you don’t want to be in the academia or a job that involves a lot of research. If you’re applying for history MA just for the fun of it or teaching history in high school, you’re competitive enough. But you may want to consider applying to European/German Studies MA programs if you want to do more language or coursework.</p>