How much does one C hurt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I didn't want to check my grades during the first two weeks of break, so I decided to check them now. I only had 3 courses on a letter grade, and I received two B+'s for Chem4A and Math 54, and my C happened in Physics 7A. I had three other courses too, but they were only on P/NP basis. Assuming I can get As for 19 units worth next semester, I'll end up with 3.4~3.5 ish for my GPA. My question is then, how much does one C hurt for grad school? If anyone couldn't tell from my coursework, I'm a chemistry major. I know grad school admissions is based off GPA, research, experience in field, GRE, etc, and that GPA is only one factor in the process, but my biggest worry is that I've already outed myself out of potential research opportunities for my second semester here at Cal, because of that C. </p>

<p>Everyone says it's okay to screw up a little in the first semester of freshman year because it's a transitioning period, but I don't believe that for some reason.</p>

<p>Anyone have any feedback/personal advice for me? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>It’s only your first semester, don’t take it too hard. Change ur study habits, put in the effort, and you should be fine. I’ve seen numerous people screw up first semester, but are doing just fine right now. Enjoy the rest of your break!!</p>

3

<p>Don’t worry about it, but also don’t assume you’re going to get all As next semester.</p>

4

<p>Why did you earn a C in Physics? You’ll have to ask yourself that question and see that if it was lack in effort or talent. Then think about what you could have done to make it better and use that knowledge for the future.</p>

5

<p>It hurts bad, its worse than cancer.</p>

6

<p>some graduate schools don’t even look at your first year for GPA, so a C right now is actually better than a C next fall.</p>

7

<p>Don’t worry about the grade, but do reflect as to why it happened. It could be just because lower division coursework is run and graded in a sort of haphazard way. Either way, as long as you make strong showing in whatever you do in the future, you should be fine.</p>

8

<p>What Clear my mind said is exactly right.</p>

<p>I knew midway through my first semester in Berkeley that I had screwed up bigtime in not changing my study habits. I still went about my high school ways of procrastinating, and that bit me in the butt pretty bad first semester. I knew that if I could just get by first semester, I would do everything I could to fix my mistakes from the next semester onward. </p>

<p>I did just that, and my grades are night and day compared to my first semester grades.</p>

<p>I dunno about grad school, but I’m willing to bet that grad schools will look past a C your first semester. Especially if you improve after that. So don’t let the C bring you down. Figure out what you can do better in the spring and move forward, one semester at a time.</p>

9

<p>given you got a C in a series course, you are not done with subject. Look at Physics 7B as your chance to redeem yourself, work hard on it. </p>

<p>I did that after I got a C+ in Chem 3A, and I managed to get a A- in 3B afterward.</p>

10

<p>Some graduate schools don’t look at my first year GPA? What about the ones in the top tier? </p>

<p>In any case, is there usually an emphasis on GPA during last years of college?</p>

11

<p>I’ve heard of very top-tier grad schools that don’t really look at GRE scores and GPA, and they focus on your SoP and ultimately “research potential,” but it ends up being the case that the students who present the best research potential often are those that did well in class, too, and doing well in a class can often make it easier to ask a professor for a research position. On the other hand, I think Berkeley itself is interested in GPA a little more, so your chances might be better if you apply elsewhere.</p>

12

<p>honestly, a 2.0 brings down your GPA a lot. but just do well starting now and i think you should be fine.</p>

13

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<p>I know if you apply to IB’s graduate program, the GPA they look at is based on your last three years. I figure this is not unique.</p>

<p>Graduate programs, in general, focus on one’s upper division work, as it tends to be most relevant to one’s fields.</p>

14

<p>It hurts a lot but use that as motivation to get better grades (straight A’s) your coming semesters. If you do that, you can put together a convincing self-improvement story if you get a research position interview or something.</p>

15

<p>I don’t know that it actually hurts a lot. Honestly, to make such a claim you’d have to know a lot about the particular grad admissions process. I know for my own field of interest, they just look at upper division math GPA, and my field is supposed to be harsher on grades for grad school admissions than many others, due to its theoretical nature and the difficulty of conducting research at an early stage.</p>

<p>I’d be much more concerned about the B+'s in Chemistry actually, if my intuition serves correctly. This is assuming you want to go to chemistry graduate school. If you do really well in the future, fine, but you should not be consistently a B’s student if your aim is graduate school in chemistry; a B here and there is not so bad of course, and research experience is what counts once your grades are pretty good. I’d wager that is true for any grad school, and to go to the top ones, you probably want good letters of recommendation.</p>

16

<p>don’t regret the past. you can do it better in the future so change your attitude and study-style now.</p>

17

<p>brings down a huugee load… especially with multiples -.- gluck</p>

18

<p>“Assuming I can get As for 19 units worth next semester”</p>

<p>That’s an unreasonable expectation taking 19 units, assuming these will be science classes. You may dig your whole deeper by taking too heavy a courseload. </p>

<p>You have 5 semesters, at least, to improve before applying to grad school. You don’t need to make all the improvement at once.</p>

19

<p>Yah definitely listen to bartleby. Don’t feel you need to overcompensate for a bad semester by taking an above-average courseload the next. I did that my freshman year, and though my grades were better off my second semester, they weren’t as high as they could’ve been had I not taken 18 units. </p>

<p>Give yourself a semester to apply what you know you need to do to do better in your studies, and then assess how much of a workload you’re well-capable of handling.</p>