Grad school strategy for College Junior

Graduate School
1

<p>My son will be a junior in college next year and his goal is to get into a decent grad school for Chemistry. He currently has a 3.5 GPA and I’m wondering about the strategy for next year. Should he take a lighter course load (he has a little flexibility with this – he came in with some credits) and try and bring up the GPA. He would only have to take three classes each qtr (he’s on the qtr system) and still be right on schedule. With only the three class schedule, he would have more time to hopefully pull up the GPA and possibly also have more time in the current lab he's in.</p>

<p>Of course, the other option would be to take the normal 4 class schedule each qtr and take some extra chem classes. Which is better – bringing up the GPA or taking the extra chem classes?</p>

2

<p>His advisor should be able to answer this since he/she will know what your son has already taken, what he needs to take to be competitive in grad school admissions, and how his current GPA stacks up against others who have gone to grad school from his department.</p>

3

<p>Gonna second MWFN. This is really a question that your son should be asking his advisor, and it depends on the subfield in which he’s interested and the classes he’s already taken.</p>