Should I apply to graduate school?

Graduate School
1

<p>So I want to hear if anyone is in a similar situation as I am.</p>

<p>I am currently a computer science (B.S) major in a big flagship state school in the east coast. I'm graduating in a year and plan to apply to graduate school (M.CS or M.S) for either the spring 2016 or fall 2016 semesters. My situation however is a little different. Almost every graduate program requires a 3.0 GPA in all undergraduate coursework. I went to college A for 3 years before I transferred to my current school. About 80% of the coursework I took at college A was mostly general education courses (psychology, sociology, English, etc...) and the rest were first year calculus and science courses. I went to a very bad high school in nyc and was not at all prepared for the academic rigor of college when I started and ended up with a 2.5 GPA from that school. However, after I transferred and started my CS education, I did comparatively much better and I will be graduating with no less than a 3.2 GPA (almost all CS courses) from my current school. </p>

<p>Now this is where my confusion lies, since graduate schools evaluate transcripts and GPA's from every school you have attended and average them (so I have heard), my GPA will be in the range of 2.8-2.9 which will not qualify me for majority of graduate programs I want to apply to.</p>

<p>Should I still apply?</p>

<p>Some things I have heard from people regarding my situation:
1. People have gotten in with GPA's < 3.0, either because of work experience or their Technical GPA was high.
2. Grad admissions mostly care about your grades in major related courses...
3. You can ace the GRE, write a strong SOP and get good LOR's and it just might work..</p>

<p>What do you guys think? anyone in or was in a similar situation? any comments, insights,.. anything will be appreciated!</p>

<p>Also, the graduate schools I plan to apply to are...
1. UC-Davis
2. Ohio State
3. USC
4. University of Arizona
5. Virginia Tech
6. UC SB</p>

<p>Currently my mock GRE's have resulted in 310-315. I still have 6 more months of preparation before I actually take the exam.
Any feedback?</p>

2

<p>Of course you should apply if you really want to go for a graduate program. You are correct in all of your three hypotheses, major GPA, the GPA in the last 2 years and other factors all are important factors in the admission decision for graduate school. Having strong GRE scores also can help. For CS, it is clearly more important to to well in the quantitative part of the GRE. You also need to realize that for a Masters, you are most likely expected to self-fund at the universities on your list and so the admission standards are not as high as for Ph.D. applicants. The list of schools you have chosen seems reasonable but speak to your faculty mentors at your undergraduate institution to see if they think you are likely to be a fit for those programs.</p>

3

<p>So I want to hear if anyone is in a similar situation as I am or has any helpful information regarding my situation.</p>

<p>I am currently a computer science (B.S) major in a big flagship state school in the east coast. I’m graduating in a year and plan to apply to graduate school (M.CS or M.S) for either the spring 2016 or fall 2016 semesters. My situation however is a little different. Almost every graduate program requires a 3.0 GPA in all undergraduate coursework. I went to college A for 3 years before I transferred to my current school. About 80% of the coursework I took at college A was mostly general education courses (psychology, sociology, English, etc…) and the rest were first year calculus and science courses. I went to a very bad high school in nyc and was not at all prepared for the academic rigor of college when I started and ended up with a 2.5 GPA from that school. However, after I transferred and started my CS education, I did comparatively much better and I will be graduating with no less than a 3.2 GPA (almost all CS courses) from my current school.</p>

<p>Now this is where my confusion lies, since graduate schools evaluate transcripts and GPA’s from every school you have attended and average them (so I have heard), my GPA will be in the range of 2.8-2.9 which will not qualify me for majority of graduate programs I want to apply to.</p>

<p>Should I still apply?</p>

<p>Some things I have heard from people regarding my situation:

  1. People have gotten in with GPA’s < 3.0, either because of work experience or their Technical GPA was high.
  2. Grad admissions mostly care about your grades in major related courses…
  3. You can ace the GRE, write a strong SOP and get good LOR’s and it just might work…</p>

<p>What do you guys think? anyone in or was in a similar situation? any comments, insights,… anything will be appreciated!</p>

<p>Also, the graduate schools I plan to apply to are…

  1. UC-Davis
  2. Ohio State
  3. USC
  4. University of Arizona
  5. Virginia Tech
  6. UC SB</p>

<p>Currently my mock GRE’s have resulted in 310-315. I still have 6 more months of preparation before I actually take the exam.
Any feedback?</p>