<p>I am looking at graduate programs. At my current university I have a 3.2 GPA (with my GPA in my last 2 semesters in my upper level classes being over 3.5) with a 3.5 GPA in my major. Before transferring to my current university I went to a community college with a completely different major, and I had a GPA of 2.6. I did transfer some of those credits over as a gen-eds, and those credits tended to have higher grades than the ones that were for my first major. My question is how much will this affect my chances of getting into a graduate program? Will admissions take deference that after I switched majors that my GPA went up? Or will this be taken against me?</p>
<p>PS I have 3 glowing letters of recommendation from professors in my program, I don't know if that helps me, but it can't hurt.</p>
<p>Thank you for your help.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on your program of study.</p>
<p>Knowing nothing about your major or field, I’d say 3.8 and above for highly ranked schools. However I’d say 3.5 and an awesome resume with relevant experience and glowing professor recommendations will probably be fine for many schools.</p>
<p>This question is unanswerable. It’s going to depend on your intended graduate program, and the individual admissions committees considering your application. It’ll also depend on other factors, like your other experiences relevant to the degree you want to pursue. Graduate school admissions is a holistic process.</p>
<p>If you’re a science major with a 3.2 hoping to get into a top 10 PhD program with no research experience, then don’t count on it. If you’re a science major with a 3.2, 4 years of research experience at a cutting-edge lab and two first-authored publications in Science, then you can probably get in <em>and</em> get funding.</p>
<p>Similarly, a particular academic grad program may reject you from their PhD program but they may admit you to their MA program. Professional masters programs usually have lower GPA requirements, so if you hope for an MPA, MBA or MPP (especially if you get 3-7 years of work experience before you apply) you could probably go to even top programs with that.</p>
<p>Also, grad programs vary wildly in competitiveness and quality. An unranked or brand-new PhD program may admit you, but a very tippy top one may not. Or they may - again, depending on the other kinds of experiences you’ve had.</p>
<p>For reference, I had a 3.4 cumulative and a 3.6 in my major, and I’m in a top 5 PhD program in my field. I didn’t expect to get in, either - but I had 3 years of research experience, really high GRE scores, great recommendation letters and an excellent statement.</p>
<p>3.7+ to be competitive.</p>
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Hard to say, as there are so many different factors involved. The undergrad advisor at my alma mater (a top-25 program in EE) said that with a 3.5+ GPA you should have a shot at top-5 programs, with a 3.2+ GPA you should have a shot at top-25 programs, and with a 2.9+ GPA you should have a shot somewhere. But a shot is no guarantee, and different programs will calculate your GPA differently - some will include the CC, some will ignore it, some will use total GPA, others will use major GPA. So I think you have a shot at grad school, but where is still a big question. Cast a wide net.</p>
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Most programs will not really care about how you did in an unrelated major, and most will favor recent grades over old grades. You should be fine. Mostly.</p>