<p>My freshman year and half of sophomore year I did quite poorly (2.3 at that point) but since then I have turned it around to a 3.28 with 2 semesters left (goal = 3.48). I am attending a top 20 university for my program (ChE) and I was wondering if despite my low overall GPA my upward trend would help my case out when applying for a PhD program. Anyone have any thoughts or experience on this?</p>
<p>Yes, it will help.</p>
<p>Yes. Some programs will only weigh your major GPA or the GPA of your last 60 credits when deciding whether to admit you. Your performance closer to the end of your college career will be more indicative of your performance in graduate school. They will most likely look at all of your engineering credits, though.</p>
<p>If you can, take graduate level courses your department offers. If they’re for letter grades, awesome–you’re signaling your actual abilities to do well in graduate school if you maintain a high grad-GPA.</p>
<p>The last 60 hours or engineering classes basis would be excellent for me because my ChE GPA is 3.67 and my GPA for the first 30 of my last 60 hours is a 3.81. I just struggled very hard getting adjusted to college and actually having to study so my freshman year was absolutely atrocious. I only really started getting very serious in the last year or so with sophomore year a transition to where I am now.</p>