Out of Curiosity..

Graduate School
1

<p>I am in a bit of a weird situation that I have been anticipating;</p>

<p>My first year of college I went to an unknown school, got a 3.93 GPA then I transferred to a top 20 school. and got a 2.4 my first semester ( I really was not ready, no other explanation)</p>

<p>But then I got a 4.0,3.8,4.0
I should have a 4.0 this semester (finals permitting) then I have one semester left.</p>

<p>I hope to come out around a 3.6-3.7 if everything works out,I've studied abroad in Spain and did mission trips several times.My undergraduate degree is a B.A. International Business with minors in Government and History. I've also held internships etc and everything seems to be 'up to par' or as good as one can do for unpredictable schools (Columbia, Georgetown, NYU,Berkley, Harvard a bit of a stretch obviously,Princeton)</p>

<p>I would like to pursue an M.A. in International Relations,International Security, possibly International Development (few programs I am looking at)</p>

<p>With that, how will that 2.4 weighing by GPA down be viewed ( The major courses that semester were Calculus,Statistics I believe both Ds..)</p>

2

<p>Grad schools, in general, don’t look at semester GPAs. They look at overall GPA, your major GPA, and/or the GPA of your last 60 credits. One poor semester is not going to completely torpedo your chances, especially if you have an otherwise solid application for your field.</p>

<p>A 3.6-3.7 is an excellent, solid GPA and I wouldn’t worry too much about this.</p>

3

<p>I agree with the above poster. Your overall GPA is not looking bad. You can also explain this in your statement. Your extra curriculars are good.</p>

<p>apply to several schools, and be sure to include at least one safety.</p>

<p>please chance me back if you have time–my thread is in this board/forum</p>

4

<p>oh—also it might help to take another similar course----advanced stats or econometrics or another calculus course to show that the reason was pure unreadiness not inability</p>