<p>Greetings,</p>
<p>I figure I would start this post to hopefully help more people than just myself...</p>
<p>I see a lot of people asking about what it takes to get into a graduate school such as Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Caltech... etc for an engineering/science based degree. A lot of these people seem to be asking if their 3.8 or 3.72 GPA is high enough. I'm more curious about how these graduate schools REALLY accept students for a science/engineering related degree.</p>
<p>How emphasized is undergraduate research? As a transfer student to Berkeley from a community college I saw how cut throat everything was about GPA.. Is grad school this bad? My GPA has been wrecked since transferring (figures...) but I do have a pretty badass research position, and honestly I'd much rather put in time to do well in my research than to pull my hair out in studying for classes. If grad school=research then where is the line drawn? Also I enjoy networking with teachers, hopefully this could lead to a letter or rec? Who's the naive one, the student pulling all nighters to bust out a 3.9 GPA or a student like myself doing what they enjoy more, participating in research and attending scientific conferences/seminars?</p>
<p>How much does research compensate for GPA? And lets say we'd like to continue that same emphasis of research for grad school. How much of a boost is this? </p>
<p>Any stories of acceptance from similar shoes?</p>
<p>Hopefully more are in a similar boats...Please comment!</p>
<p>Thanks for your time/comments.</p>
<p>This may get more informed responses in the Graduate School forum.</p>
<p>That being said both GPA and research are important, but it is general consensus that research experience is more important. Letters of rec and statement of purpose are also heavily considered. GPA and GRE scores tend to be used as cutoffs, so if your GPA is below a 3.0, then there is a chance your application will never even reach the admissions committee. Anything >3.7 is generally the same, in my opinion, and I would say >3.5 is fairly competitive. A high GPA is good, but it won’t get you in. A low GPA could definitely keep you out.</p>
<p>PhD programs are really looking for good researchers, people who are mature, informed, and capable of graduate level work. Much of graduate school is research, and as such, graduate schools are really interested in CVs, SOPs, and letters of rec that indicate a student has research experience, has realistic expectations about graduate school, and is a good fit for the program/school they are applying to.</p>
<p>So I would say that it’s okay to sacrifice GPA for more research experience, up to a certain point. But there are a lot of things that are considered in graduate school admissions, and one of the most hit-and-miss components is fit. If you’re not a good fit for the program (there’s no one there that is doing research that you’re interested in, the professors you want to work with aren’t taking students, etc), then a good GPA and research experience won’t get you in.</p>
<p>Great research experience can definitely make up for a lower GPA, but keep in mind that in really competitive programs, you’re competing with students that have great research experience and a great GPA.</p>
<p>I am a graduate student in industrial engineering. I got my masters from an american university back in my country, my GPA is 3.09. Still i like to apply for caltech and see what will happen. I have a great research background</p>