<p>I am a physics major in top-tier university. I am looking to go to a grad school in either mechanical/aerospace engineering or material science.</p>
<p>In terms of my undergraduate GPA, I was wondering what part of my grade that grad school will look more into. I know that physics grad school will look especially in my physics major grade, and my upper division physics grade particularly, but what about engineering grad schools?
I understand that mechanical/aerospace engineering or material science has different course requirement and focus, so would the engineering schools in general look more into
1) all courses I took during all my years as an undergrad or
2) courses relevant to the field that I am applying to, although the courses are not part of the physics curriculum? (by this question, you can guess that I have taken some courses in such field :) </p>
<p>Also, how would the grad school admission look at lower division and upper division courses? Particularly, would they look into lower division courses, and weigh more than upper div physics course that are not quite related to the field.?</p>
<p>Although I might have not done well in some physics courses, if those courses are not related to my field of application, would the grad school admissions not look into said courses? </p>
<p>Just a little info about myself, I am in my last year, and I am planning to apply this winter. I know grade is not everything in grad school application, as much as I felt in undergrad application, but undergrad grade is the most interested topic in grad school application.
Thanks!!</p>
<p>Graduate schools are going to look primarily at courses related to your broad field of study, and then at all of your grades. Upper division courses will probably carry more unofficial weight than lower division courses, as they are more reflective of what you would be taking in graduate school.</p>
<p>I can’t speak specifically to engineering (not my field) but I would imagine that they would be interested in your performance in ALL of your physics courses. Of course the ones most related to your field will be most important, but graduate schools don’t simply ignore courses unless they are like phys ed or visual art or something. A calculus class grade would still be important for foundational knowledge; or, in my field, English comp grades might be important because there is a lot of writing in my field.</p>
<p>Remember that graduate schools do see your entire transcript and they look at it holistically. That means that all of your grades will be seen (so they won’t “not look into” any of them) but some will simply be more pertinent than others. They may not care that you got a C in that freshman year general ed drawing class. But they may care that you got a D in propulsion physics even if you doing some other kind of physics because it’s related.</p>
<p>Thank you, juliet! So would that mean in terms of GPA, they would look into GPA as whole (or holistically)? Also, would certain non-physics course like a statistics course be more pertinent than any other courses? I took an interest in the course, but I didn’t receive a good mark in the course, unfortunately. It’s an upper division course, but again, I took the course out of interest. And I was wondering whether such course be detrimental to my application? My counselor told me one or two courses with bad marks may not matter too much, especially if it’s not related to my major or the field that I am applying into, but I just wanted to know about its impact to my case.
Thank you!</p>