Hey everyone, so my situation is as follows. I did my undergraduate coursework at UCLA and majored in biochemistry. However, the bad thing is that I ended with a 2.58 overall GPA and a 2.7 major GPA in my last 90 quarter units- basically this is my GPA at UCLA after I transfered. My community college GPA was a 3.2 and overall my combined GPA is a 2.75. Now the reason my GPA is so low is because I took a lot of hard courses together in one quarter. For examples one of my quarters were physical chem, biochem lab 1, ochem lab, and biochem 153b (DNA, RNA, and protein) and ended up with grades such as B-, B-, C, B-. So basically I passed all courses, but rushed it and also had some personal family issues. Unfortunately, I tried hard to find research at UCLA, but I had no look. I am very passionate in the field of biochemistry and trust me (dont look at the GPA) when I tell you that I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from this major. So this is where I am stuck, I have the knowledge and I want to continue to go for a Masters, but my GPA sucks due to these problems. Do you think I am done for, or do you think if I do really well on the GRE I possibly have a chance. I plan on taking the GRE during my gap year before I apply to graduate school. Also, I am going to go into the working field during this gap year to try and get some experience which I can put on my application. Please chance me, any opinion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone. I want to specifically know if I can get into CSU’s like CSUN and others.
Look at the graduate admissions sites and see what they say about entrance requirements. A strong GRE will help but it really depends on whether they look at applications with GPAs below 3.0. Some programs might clearly state that they will consider applicants with GPAs of 2.75 and above or they may have a special probationary status for students with a GPA below 3.0. This would allow you to prove that you can handle the graduate courses before admission to the regular program.
Another option is to take some graduate courses as a non-degree student in the coming year and show thatyou can do the work well.
I would say there is a reasonable chance that you can find a program that will admit you in one way or another but you need to start talking with them.
Wow thank you so much for the great advice I really appreciate it. Also may I ask if I do plan to take graduate courses as a non-degree student does this count as the probationary status. What I mean by this is will they partially accept me, allow me to take classes to see if I can handle it, then fully accept me into the program. How exactly will this help. Thanks again.