<p>If you take only bunch of easy classes that are not related to your major/concentration, will this look bad for the grad school and thus lowering your chance of admission?
What if you took unrelated classes, work for a few years in an industry related to you major, and then apply for grad school?</p>
<p>Did you already finish your upper division classes? Because during my senior year I took pretty much upper division major classes.</p>
<p>/shrug I took all of one course my entire senior year related to my field. Mainly though, this was because I had taken virtually every upper division course in my specialty.</p>
<p>/Canas8762</p>
<p>nope, I only finished my major requirements. I’m an arising senior</p>
<p>Will grad schools understand the downward trend in gpa? Mine took a big hit this semester because I’m taking a lot of upper division courses and they are really tough.</p>
<p>bump (10 char)</p>
<p>You need to take a reasonably rigorous schedule, at least in your first semester. Grad schools are looking for intellectually ambitious, hardworking people so if you look like a slacker, the admission comm is not going to be impressed. Most grad comms don’t have access to second-semester course selection or transcripts, however–you find out about admission and fellowships some time between February and April, depending upon the insitution, and after that you just need to make sure you graduate.</p>
<p>So if you want to loaf around, do it in the spring.</p>
<p>If you are planning to work before applying to grad school, then the spring semester of your senior year will be visible to grad admissions comms as well. However, if you’ve been working in a related field, that experience would also factor in, probably in your favor.</p>
<p>^Thank you for your help.
One more question, do you think working in a research lab in fall semester will offset the “slacking”? It’s becaues I just want to focus on the research while I’m having an easy time in classes</p>
<p>I agree with yg7s7. I’ve heard a lot of advice. And a lot of people have said that adcoms actually don’t even look at your transcripts, in fact it’s better to take fewer credits and do research than have a heavy course load.</p>
<p>I’m planning on taking 13 credits this upcoming Fall, out of which only 7 will be rigorous engineering/physics courses while the rest will be degree requirements etc. I’ve done this deliberately to have more time to do research.</p>