How much does grad school GPA matter?

<p>Hi. I am currently in my second year of a PhD program in the biosciences. I am concerned about my GPA, which is 3.358 right now, and am currently in a class in which I will likely end up getting a B or B+, so I will probably have about a 3.3 after that. This is largely because I am distracted with research, which is first priority. with another (grant writing) class which unfortunately is pass fail and so would not help my GPA. And also of course because the class I'm getting a B in is horribly organized, is taught by about two dozen different lecturers, and most of them are horrible. Had the same problem with another course in which I got a B-, another big reason for my low GPA, and both that course and this one are in the same department, a department with a reputation for having terribly orchestrated classes. But I guess that's a digression.</p>

<p>At any rate, how much will having a 3.3-3.4 GPA in my PhD student effect my career options? Will it hurt my chances of finding a postdoc position or faculty position later on? </p>

<p>Sorry if this has been asked before, I'm just too busy and stressed right now to read through all the previous posts.</p>

<p>It won’t matter at all. The Ph.D. is all about your research.</p>

<p>Are you under some internal, renewable fellowship whose renewal is contingent on keping one’s GPA above a certain threshold? </p>

<p>Otherwise, the only reason why graduate GPA could matter is if one wants to switch careers and have to pursue an additional degree or coursework to do so.</p>

<p>Yeah, it doesn’t matter at all.</p>

<p>I don’t even know what my grad school GPA was. </p>

<p>You do have to report your grad school grades for some fellowships (NIH predoctoral and postdoctoral NRSAs, notably), but reviewers don’t care that much.</p>

<p>On the contrary, it can and does matter for getting grants, also if you plan to teach they will look at both research and grades. I’ll be doing my defense next year and a couple of years back I did a internship at Los Alamos and prior to that and currently doing research through CERN. Both evaluated me on everything because it’s highly competitive to get good predoc and postdoc positions. I’m in the process of submitting for a NSF grant now and they are going to evaluate my grades. While research is the most important aspect, grades do play a major role as well. </p>