<p>This question is directed towards either older undergraduates, alumni of U of M, or people who hire for companies and employers. What would you consider to be a good GPA in LSA? 3.0? 3.3? 3.5? And I'm talking about people in social science and humanities based majors (so not considering typical science or math majors)</p>
<p>Also, when applying for jobs, does major GPA factor in at all, or just overall GPA?</p>
<p>s LSA (Social Sciences and Humanities)
3.00-3.29 = average
3.30-3.49 = above average
3.50-3.69 = good
3.70-3.84 = very good
3.85-4.0 = excellent</p>
<p>CoE & LSA Hard Sciences (Chem, Computer Science, Math and Physics)
2.70-2.99 = average
3.00-3.29 = above average
3.30-3.49 = good
3.50-3.69 = very good
3.70+ = excellent</p>
<p>4.7! My god! Lol</p>
<p>MLD, with a 3.7+, we are talking a very legitimate shot at MIT PhD programs. A 3.5 GPA from the CoE will pretty much open any company door for a student.</p>
<p>lol, ok. I was poking fun at your typo. But that’s good to know I have a benchmark to shoot for now.</p>
<p>“lol, ok. I was poking fun at your typo.”</p>
<p>Don’t the words “Super Moderator” under my name strike fear in your heart?! ;)</p>
<p>damn… I never noticed the Super before</p>
<p>I apologize Mein Führer</p>
<p>It is ok, I don’t expect Engineers to have strong reading comprehension skills!</p>
<p>This certainly doesn’t apply to every CoE major with 3.7+ GPAs, but the ones I know are not any smarter than most of the other students I know. I’d say it’s a difference in determination, not intelligence. I wouldn’t call them MIT PhD candidate material (I have a hard time seeing some of them as TAs). Not sure if it used to be much harder, but as long as you allocate enough time for work and don’t procrastinate, it’s not that difficult to get a good GPA anymore. Hell, I pulled a 3.8 this semester even with procrastinating a lot, but that’s partly because upper-level courses are graded less harshly than lower-level ones are (also partly because knowledge is cumulative). </p>
<p>However, I agree with what you said about company doors, though I’d say a 3.0+ and good interview skills/a well-written resume will open up most doors for you, given CoE’s currently great reputation. I guess it depends on which doors you’re trying to open.</p>
<p>For social sciences (psych, etc.), in my experience, I would say anything above 3.5 is good, while > 3.9 warrants notice.</p>
<p>It just comes down to can you do Calc 2 or not, lol.</p>
<p>Ken, would you say GPAs increase as you take higher level courses? It sounds like that is what happened with you.</p>
<p>And to Mein Fuher, books are stupid.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>What about for Ross? What kind of GPA’s would be good/excellent etc. and what GPA would give you a very strong shot at getting recruited on campus before you graduate (when the companies recruit on the campus)?</p>
<p>“Ken, would you say GPAs increase as you take higher level courses?”</p>
<p>There are too many factors to consider to really answer this question accurately. Some people are ready for college-level work immediately after HS, while some people take a while to adjust. Knowledge - at least in CS courses - is cumulative, so what you learn during your freshman and sophomore years will make your junior and senior years easier. Fresh/soph projects are much simpler and have very defined instructions, but you also know less. Junior/senior projects are much more open-ended and require you to learn on your own, but you also know much more by then. Juniors/seniors devote more time to non-academic activities (job apps, etc.) than fresh/sophs do. It totally depends.</p>
<p>Even if you haven’t done well during your first year or so, there’s still a very good chance that you can get 3.5s+ during your last two to three years. Like I said, I think it’s more a matter of determination/procrastination than intelligence - this is undergrad, after all. Some people just take longer to adjust. Some people actually don’t think it’s worth it to put in the amount of time necessary to achieve >3.5, and so they are fine with less (I know many people like that). To be honest, a 3.7 or even a 3.9 won’t make much more money than a 3.4 or 3.2 will, if that’s the only distinguishing factor (though it definitely makes a difference when applying to grad schools). Work experience + interviewing skills + resume > GPA, assuming you have at least a decent GPA.</p>
<p>Most upper level courses are graded less harshly than lower level ones are, but that also depends on the course. I took a course in which only 3 people received As (out of 30, I believe, or so the professor said, though it was actually an easy course for me). I took another course in which almost everyone received an A (yes, an engineering course!). I guess in some sense, in terms of the curve, GPAs probably increase as you take higher-level courses.</p>
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<p>good for what?</p>
<p>Grad school</p>
<p>What about in Pre-Med? How possible is say a 3.75?</p>
<p>Classes i’ve heard are beasts: Orgo, BIOCHEM</p>
<p>Also, is it true that UMich doesn’t offer Human Biology as a major… that means there is no Anatomy, Physiology, Immunology classes for premeds (things that are gonna come up in Med School). I might be wrong</p>
<p>Those classes are available through the med school.</p>
<p>As an undergrad?</p>
<p>Yeah. Lots of undergrads take them</p>
<p>You don’t have to take those classes though do you? I heard anything besides the bio, chem, and other basic premed requirements are overkill.</p>