<p>I am currently a Sophomore. I've recently decided to pursue a degree in Aerospace engineer (hopefully Astronautics). I plan on going to graduate school given I figure that down the road the extra years of schooling will pay off in dividends.</p>
<p>I currently have a 3.2 GPA. I started off with a 3.6, but slowly let it drop due to laziness and irresponsibility. I'm now working my butt off to bring that up to where it is competitive. I have not taken any of the typical "weeding out" courses in the Engineering curriculum, but I'm a hard worker and am willing to put in the many hours required if it means I can get a good grade in the course.</p>
<p>I know you can't judge my situation from this little information, but provided I get all the required courses done, is it feasible for me to bring my GPA up to where it can be competitive for a good graduate program? (just need a second opinion, kind of discouraged >.<)</p>
<p>Also, what course of action should I take to increase my chances of success? I'm willing to take an extra undergrad year if necessary - I always had an expectation to go to graduate school since I was in High School anyway, so a long time in college isn't really something that I'm terribly concerned about (so long as it's taking me somewhere). </p>
<p>I finished my undergrad with a 3.3 overall and a 3.5 within my major. I got into a Ph.D. program straight out of undergrad that was fully funded, and it is top 15 in aerospace overall, and top 2 or so in my specific research area.</p>
<p>It will partially depend on where you do your undergrad, what your GRE scores are, what kind of recommendations you have, if you have research experience, AND GPA. In other words, work to get that GPA up, but it is just as important to work on those other things. If you get your GPA into the 3.3-3.5 range you will be just fine as long as the rest of your app is good.</p>
<p>Along those lines, start looking for a research opportunity around school. That will help you out not only with having experience, but with getting a good recommendation from professors.</p>
<p>3.3-3.5 for a fully funded PhD? Hmmm, that’s good to know.</p>
<p>I’ll definitely look into research opportunities when I can. </p>
<p>If you’re in College Station, I’ll assume you’re at A&M. I was there back when I was doing college tours - it’s a pretty interesting school. Lots of pretty neat traditions.</p>
<p>I like it as a school. The town isn’t the best I’ve been to but it us no worse than Champaign, IL where I dis my undergrad. I don’t get indoctrinated into the traditions as much as the undergrads do. Still, they are kind of neat (for the most part, I still prefer cheerleaders to milk men).</p>
<p>fyi: almost all graduate (phd) science/phd programs are fully-funded [yey NSF}. although it typically involves TAing… any gpa above 3.0 is good. 3.3 is great. 3.5 is golden. [these are rules of thumb, not absolute…]</p>
<p>sidenote: you having funding and your professor having funding are two different things…</p>
<p>side sidenote: you having funding and your professor having funding are not always two different things. If he/she has funding, you are much more likely to have funding.</p>