Grad School and Your GPA

Your GPA is an important part of your grad school application, especially if you are still pursuing your bachelor's degree or have recently graduated. Why is the GPA important? Because GPA provides the admissions committee with an objective way to measure your self-discipline and intellectual ability and to compare you with other applicants.

The higher your GPA, the better your chances of getting into the grad school program of your choice. Most grad school programs require you to have a minimum GPA of 2.7 to 3.0 in your major. If your GPA is lower than this, you probably have little chance to make it into a grad school program. Even a GPA that meets the minimum requirements may not be good enough to get you admitted. If you have a borderline GPA, a note explaining any anomalies may be helpful. For example, if you had health or family problems that affected your grades one semester, attach a short note to your application outlining the circumstances.

It's also never too late to improve your GPA. Your grades during your junior and senior years of college, when you are taking more classes in your major, have more weight than those of earlier years. So if you had a little trouble adjusting to college life and your early grades reflect this, improvement in later years may compensate.

Your GPA is less important if you have been out of school for a few years. You are still likely to need to submit a transcript from your undergraduate college, but other elements of your application, such as your personal statement and work experience, will be more important at this stage than your GPA.