Low GPA, am I done?

Tristesse
Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:48:17 +0000

What circumstances led to your “low” GPA? Did you slack off in your courses, feel regret, and are now trying to cover for lower grades in the hopes of attending a prestigious university and the school’s never finding out about your previously lousy work ethic?

Or, are these circumstances as you’ve said, personal issues that hindered you from doing the best you could in school?

Colleges and universities aren’t looking for students with impeccable records. They’re looking for students with character who, the institutions desire, may have impeccable records (and who may have connections and a bit of money, but that’s another story).

The last time I checked, admissions officers know that students are human. Students aren’t invincible. They are susceptible to unexpected events, urges that go against their better judgment (“I’ll watch that movie now. Homework can wait.”), and even the occasional B. Shocker, I know.

What’s my point? A GPA of 3.3 isn’t going to cause your world to come crumbling down. By extension–and I know this shall sound like blasphemy or some idealistic thought that can’t possibly be true in reality–attending a lesser known but equally rigorous institution won’t cause your world to come crumbling down, either.

I can’t answer your questions because I don’t work for the admissions departments at Chicago or NYU, so I don’t know their expectations. Why don’t you call them?

When you ask about “transferring,” do you mean redirecting your focus to another “dream” school? Or attending a less well-known institution and then transferring into either Chicago or NYU?