since when did b's become bad?

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>I just finished my first semester at a four year university as a transfer student, and my grades are as follows:
Intermediate accounting 1: b+
Anthropology: b
Business information tech management: b
Calculus: b-
Finance: b-
At my community college, my cumulative gpa is a 3.75, so I freaked out when I saw a 2.94 this semester. I know employers will see the 2 and not even look past the decimal, they'll just throw me to the curb.
My university has a 3.25 gpa requirement for their business school, so now I am worried about being kicked out.
But when did b's become so terrible??!! Do colleges just expect perfection? It's as if a person is deemed inadequate if they score in the b range.... Which is just sad.</p>

<p>Any thoughts??</p>

2

<p>IMHO - it’s your first semester after a CC transfer. We get a lot of CC transfers at our four-year college, and they really aren’t that well prepared.</p>

<p>I’d suggest meeting with each professor and talking to them about your grades, if you have any questions. Was it tests or quizzes? Or homework? Or something else? Just bringing your grades up to 3.3 average, B+, would be good enough.</p>

<p>No offense to any CC attenders out there, but CC courses are often easier and spoon fed. I’ve taken multiple CC courses in addition to various 4-year courses, and the main difference is that the instructors at four-year schools expect students to take the initiative, by and large.</p>

<p>It depends on the employer whether a 2. anything will remove you from consideration. Fortune 500, some of them. Most, it won’t matter after you do get your first job.</p>

<p>If you are REALLY worried about those grades, and you can manage it, retake the courses and try for As. Most colleges will replace the grade, but be careful and don’t get a lower grade. If higher level calc is needed for your major, retake the calc you just took if you can.</p>

3

<p>I have reconsidered taking calc over again because I understand the material way more than I did mid-semester. It was our second exam that got me.
I was in a bit of a shocked state of mind after transferring; it was really a drastic change. I know where improvements need to be made for next semester, so I am definitely going to try and improve.
I am just shocked and a bit discouraged though that a b grade is actually not good enough; in high school, b’s were a blessing! I am in a demanding program though since accounting is big at my school.
I just hope the business school sees that I didn’t do terribly and will give me a second shot. But again, I feel like my grades weren’t bad! It blows my mind that b’s just don’t cut it nowadays.</p>

4

<p>Isn’t this your first semester in the business program? Many schools evaluate your GPA requirement based on year end, not semester or quarter end. Have they already told you that you’re in danger of being kicked out? If not, I would check with your counselor when you get back. It may be that if you can maintain the 3.25 average for the year you should be fine. It sounds like your school expects people to have Bs and above; a B- is actually closer to a C than a B but the good news is that you only had two of those and you know where to make improvements. </p>

<p>Retaking calculus may be worth it but if you think that you can nail the next semester’s classes (B or above) then it might be better to focus on those, assuming that you’ll be judged based on your overall gpa at the end of the year instead of your gpa right now.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the response! I’ll have to check into my university’s policy about the gpa; I didn’t know that some look at the overall year.
I think that I can get the gpa necessary to bring my cumulative gpa to where it needs to be, especially considering the consequences and that I’m not drastically off from meeting the gpa requirement as of now.
My initial understanding of where letter grades fall on a 4.0 scale wasn’t good, but now I see where the 2.94 is equated. B</p>

6

<p>Hey JMM,</p>

<p>Hope all is well. Do not worry, you will be judged on the entire year and even at the end of the year if you still have the same gpa, Albany will send you a love letter warning you that you are in jeapardy of not being able to stay in the business school. They will not just kick you out!!</p>

<p>Looking at your grades they are not bad at all. In fact, you did very well in intermediate accounting which is usually a weed out course, so you seem to know your stuff. I agree with the poster dimitri, wait and see how you do next semester before you retake any courses. Also, if you do retake the course ask Albany if they replace the higher grade with the lower one, and not just average them out. Also, same goes for the flip side. If you retake the course and do worse, will they let you keep the higher grade?</p>

<p>Good luck, and if you remember some of my posts and questions to you a month or so ago, the worst worst scenario is if down the road they did say sorry but you cannot stay in the business program, you can always transfer to another less competitive school like Oswego (which has a good business program) and not have the pressure of keeping up a 3.25 gpa.There you only need a 2.0 to stay in. I am not saying you want to transfer AGAIN, I get it, however, that is the absolute worst case scenario.</p>

<p>One other point. Yes, it will be difficult with a 2.95 etc to get a job at a big 4 firm. But, the good news, if you will, is that a 3.25 or 3.35 student will find it difficult as well to get a job with the big 4 firm. They are looking for 3.5 and up most of the time. So, that said, there are alot of small to midsize cpa firms that you can get an internship with. Getting into a big 4 firm is like getting into an IVY, it is great, but it is certainly not the end of the world if you do not get in a big 4 firm. I know many many successful cpa’s that did not work at a big 4 firm. In fact, some of them avoided it !!!</p>

<p>As long as you get your cpa down the road, and you come off good in an interview, you will do fine. Not many companies will look at your GPA. Some may, but many will look at you the person.</p>

<p>Now, on to graduate school. I know if you finish with a 2.85 or 2.95 overall in undergrad you many be asking yourself will you get into a good grad school. Again, you many not get into NYU or Binghamton etc, but believe me, you will get into a grad school. Then, as long as you pass our CPA exam, etc, that is all that matters. Do not get me wrong. I am not saying it is not great to go to a great grad school, but at the end of the day all that matters in accounting is getting that CPA. It is not law school where if you do not graduate from a TOP 14 school it is hard to get a high starting salary.</p>

<p>In accounting the starting salaries for cpa’s are like 57-68 k so just do the best you can and do not sweat it.</p>

<p>This was my original question to you a few mohths back regarding my high school son. He is only a freshman, but down the road, does he apply to Albany, Binghamton, or University of Buffalo where it is more competitive, or does he go to a Oswego, or Plattsburgh. They are not as prestigious as Albany, or Bing etc but at those schools, the business program is like the rest of the college. You only need a 2.0 to graduate. They also have the same companies recruiting as well, albeit not to the same degree maybe as Albany but at the end of the day, auditing is auditing does it really matter if you go to Albany, or Oneonta?? I am still searching for the answer to that question.</p>

<p>Good Luck!!</p>

7

<p>Hey euve69! Thanks for the reassuring advice. Now that I have completed a semester at ualbany, I can probably do a better job answering your questions, so feel free to ask.
Since I did well at community college, I never really bothered with looking into the value of a letter grade on a 4.0 scale. This semester definitely put things into perspective.
I can’t imagine that a college like Oswego or oneonta wouldn’t do a satisfactory job at prepping future accountants in comparison to other colleges that are “better.” I feel like this gpa requirement is strictly for recruiting top notch students in order to make their business school more prestigious.
But really though, accounting is accounting; all colleges are going to have to teach you the same material. If the school has the aacsb accreditation, then it should be a fine choice</p>

8

<p>Jmm,</p>

<p>You did a great job at answering my questions before. It is funny though. I always look at rate my professors and I get a kick out of the ratings. I always wondered how accurate they were so maybe down the road if you still check in on this website lol I will ask you your opinion of some of the professors if my son goes to Albany. I would like him to go there if he gets in but it is very eerie. If you look back at your emails, your situation is exactly the same situation I was describing for my son. I always wrestled with the " Does my son go to Albany, Buffalo, or Bing and have the pressure of keeping up a 3.25 gpa, or does he go to the less prestigious school like Oswego, Plattsburgh etc, and if he gets a 2.90 which is still very very good in a hard major like accounting, he is still in the business school?? The same recruiters for the most part go to all of the schools so what is the real difference, the name??</p>

<p>Maybe he does to go Albany and if he does not cut it, he simply tranfers to Oswego etc like the advice I gave to you. It is not the worst thing in the world to transfer. I know it is a pain in the neck, but hey, if you want to follow your dream and you are getting 3.0 or 2.85, damm, transfer and get that gpa or higher at Oswego and get your accounting degree. What are you supposed to do JMM stay at Albany and they send you a letter saying sorry and now you will have to take up Socioloy, Economics, or Political Science?? I do not think so. If your gpa was 2.25 or 2.50 then yes, I would say Accounting may not be for you, but your GPA was very respectable. You took some tough courses, it was not like you took Psych 101, Music Theory and History 101. I also agree with you 2000% that these GPA requirements are for the University to keep up the "prestige of the school of business, no doubt about that.</p>

<p>I totally agree with you on one aspect. As long as the school is aacsb accredited, that is all that really matters since due to the GAAP rules, you have to teach accounting in a uniform manner. Auditing is Auditing etc etc The material covered at Oswego is the same as Binghamton, Albany etc etc.</p>

<p>Again, good luck and if any questions come to mind, I will ask you. Actually I do have one question. Not that you can rely on this, but how are the curves at Albany? Do the Accounting professors curve at all if the grades suck?? At least that helps a little bit. Thanks</p>

9

Sorry euve69 for the late response! I’ve been busy this break.
According to my accounting professor, most if not all professors in the school of business at ualbany use grading curves. You should have seen the class averages for our three exams in intermediate accounting. We’re talking 65 – which is failing – as being the overall average for the exams.
All besides one professor (calculus) curved grades, but their methods of curving were different.
I think now that I have a better understanding of how to handle a four year university, I’ll be able to do well and stay in the business school at ualbany. However, if transferring was necessary, I don’t think that a SUNY whose business school isn’t ranked as high would do an unsatisfactory job at teaching me accounting. As cliche as this sounds, it’s so true: you are in control of how much you benefit from college, no matter where that may be.
PS: don’t trust ratemyprofessor too much. My accounting professor has pretty bad reviews, but I personally liked him a lot as well as other students i spoke with