Don't have the GPA for further education.

Hello everybody, I am a Biology major with a cell physiology emphasis and I am currently in my senior year. My GPA, which is about 2.5, is too low to apply to schools I would want to attend, and I am afraid of what options that leaves me with. I am currently considering doing a minor other than chemistry, just to possibly open up my options if I don’t want to get a job as a lab tech, or something in research. Would pursuing a different minor, such as in business open up my options a little? Too late to switch my major, and I am not really interested in lab work. I may be interested in counseling, psychology work, working in an office perhaps. Advice would be appreciated! Thank you.

Hate to say it, but the situation isn’t really in your favor and you really just have to take what comes to you. Expect to put in some good effort to find a job (a 2.5 is bad for finding a job in-field but it’s still a college degree) and you might want to hide your GPA from your resume. It’ll take some years to salvage a GPA like that, but it doesn’t mean that your desired career path is closed to you - you’ll just have to approach it in a more roundabout way.

Think and be very honest with yourself: why was your GPA that bad? It represents a substantial failure to learn the material properly, and it indicates that you would probably be a poor fit for the schools you would want to attend. If you figure out what it was and correct the problem, you could pursue a thesis-based MS and get your foot in the door in pursuit of the schools you want to go to. First you’d better be sure that you wouldn’t waste the opportunity though.

This is what I would tell myself: This is not a job market, major or GPA which accommodates pickiness. Study harder (and perhaps more effectively) this final year. Be glad for any permanent job with benefits I can get and/or any school I can get into that will advance me.

How far along are you? Soph? Junior?

Thank you for your reply. I understand that my GPA limits me for further education, but I disagree that it has as much of an impact on my job chances. Employers look more for connections, internships, experience, volunteer work rather than GPA. I must also add that I don’t think “substantial failure” is the fair term. I am on track to graduate and I am proud of that. I may not be able to earn the high grades that everybody hopes for, but I do put in work for what I earn.

Most of the question was unanswered as well.

If you’re interested in working in an office, is there an office at school or nearby where you could work part-time, just to try it out? If they can’t pay you, could you do an internship for them? Experience will help when you try to get a job, especially if you don’t have strong grades to tout. If you have room in your schedule to take a course in accounting without sacrificing your grades in your major, that might be a useful course to take. Most jobs in counseling and psychology require at least a masters in that field or higher.