<p>Hello everyone. I am in need of some advice.</p>
<p>So I was recently rejected from admission to CSULB despite having a 3.46 GPA at the time of the application, a strong application, good letters of rec (my references actually knew me very well) and a few extracurriculars on my resume.</p>
<p>I made the mistake of applying to grad school really late, so the only other school I applied to which I got in happens to be CSU Bakersfield. I have a lot of hesitation with going to CSU Bakersfield mostly because I don't want to be so far away from home anymore. I am from LA area and I spent 4 years of my undergrad in UCSB.</p>
<p>I called CSULB office of admissions and they told me that they would not tell me why I was rejected until after I reapplied, which would be in September. However, I have a hunch that I was rejected because of limited extracurriculars. Now my GPA is a 3.5 so I'm debating whether or not to take Bakersfield's offer or to take a year off, get experience and apply to other schools, including CSULB.</p>
<p>Any sort of advice would be appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Unless you’re talking about extracurriculars that are directly relevant to your proposed area of study (for example, volunteering at a homeless shelter if you plan to go into social work), I don’t think EC’s really come into play for graduate school admissions as they do for undergrad. </p>
<p>^ Agreed. It’s more likely the late application (and the potentially larger pool of applicants) was the cause.</p>
<p>I applied for an MSW in social work so I figured if I volunteered at a crisis center or something along those lines, then maybe that would suffice…</p>
<p>And yeah, I did apply rather late into the admissions cycle. I think they were reviewing applicants on a first come, first serve basis. However, I thought they’d at least consider me on a waitlist…</p>
<p>So should I just try reapplying next fall?</p>
<p>Working and volunteering in your chosen field, then reapplying (with the application sent on the first days it’s live) is your best bet.</p>
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A 3.46 is an adequate GPA I most fields, but is only one part of the package.</p>
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And you base this statement on what, exactly?</p>
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Knowing you well does not mean that they were good letters of recommendation - they have to know you AND have a high opinion of you in your field, compared to other students.</p>
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Extracurriculars are non-professional activities and have no bearing on grad admissions - they only matter for undergrad. If you have professional experience, then that would be another issue.</p>
<p>Grad admissions is competitive and holistic - any person can get rejected from any school, simply because there is someone that they like better. This is why you are always advised to apply to a range of programs! I would suggest gaining some more research and/or work experience (depending on the type of program), and applying next year to a spread of programs that you would attend without reservation. I would NOT recommend attending a program that you are unenthused about.</p>