<p>Although it's going to be two more years before I graduate and possibly go to grad school, one of the things that's hurting me right now is my GPA. I'm an EECS major at UC Berkeley thinking about going to a top-tier grad school in a CS program eventually. After a lukewarm start and a trainwreck of a semester, my GPA's currently 2.8.</p>
<p>However, that's considering all the courses I took. Namely, I noticed that it was mainly my upper division math courses and humanities that are pulling me down. Take those out, and my major GPA is a 3.3, very likely to go much higher.</p>
<p>All other matters aside, how much does my major GPA matter over my non-major GPA in terms of grad school applications? Have I already dug myself into a hole, or can I still look at doing grad school right after I graduate?</p>
<p>Most(even the bad ones) grad schools have a hard minimum required (overall) GPA of 3.0. This means they won’t even look at your application with a 2.8. The Major GPA is more to show that you haven’t been doing badly in your major classes and raising your GPA with worthless non-major courses, but overall GPA is most important. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’d have a hard time seeing a top-tier grad school (even for a masters) with less than a 3.5 (even from a school as good as Berkeley), and even that would be with good research and letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>Similar boat here, though I’m in Microbiology and just finished my third year. My overall GPA is a 3.03 because I chose to take difficult classes outside of my field and bit off more than I could chew, so to speak. Annoyingly, I did this repeatedly. So my in-major GPA is a 3.6, while the rest is significantly lower. I’ve got good research experience and probably good LORs. I’ve got to finagle how to frame that, though.</p>
<p>With the time you have remaining, try to get into a research position. I think the most important thing is to know how research works, and why you want to do research in the field in which you want to do research. Strike up conversations with professors during their office hours about their research, and about your career plans. Build up a rapport with faculty. </p>
<p>Focus on your remaining classes - I-want-to-go-to-grad-school-and-will-rip-telephone-directories-with-my-teeth focus - and study your face off for the GRE. If you can demonstrate passion, committment, and competence, I think you’ll have a fair shot. Just my $0.02 though. Good luck!</p>