Very worried :( would love some reassurance

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi guys I'm new here!</p>

<p>I'm looking to apply to USC Leventhal School of Accounting in about two years but I would like to know what I need and if I have a shot. Right now my gpa isn't that great but I have like 83 credits left to take.</p>

<p>I went to st. john's uni (ny) my freshman yr for criminal justice and made a 2.43 gpa, then I went to a comm. college for 2 yrs, now I go to University of North Texas, a 4th tier public uni and I'm a double major in accounting and finance, w/ a minor in psychology. I'm taking/will take statistics and econ classes b/c I've read that b-schools look for a strong statistics/econ background.</p>

<p>My CGPA right now is a 3.3, but I have 3 F's on my transcript and my college allows repeats so 2 of the F's aren't calculated into my gpa. If I calculate all the F's, my gpa is a 3.16. Well I still have about 83 credits left to take, so since I've been a mostly A student (the only reason I was able to bring my GPA up), I anticipate my CGPA being somewhere around a 3.4ish if I take all grades in to account, but if I go off my uni's repeat policy I will probably have a 3.5ish, which makes me eligible to graduate with honors. Plus my uni gpa is a 3.67 right now.</p>

<p>I REALLLLLLY want to go to USC Leventhal School of Accounting. I talked to an admissions officer and he said that they look for at least a 3.0 but a 3.3 - 3.4 is a good gpa and that I should aim for a 650+ gmat. I hope to exceed all those expectations. I bought a copy of America's best grad schools and according to USC and US News, the average undergrad GPA is 3.3 and they're avg gmat is somewhere in the high 600s (don't remember off the top of my head).</p>

<p>I was in 3 extracurricular activities my freshman year, including a leadership position and my stint at comm. college I was Phi Theta Kappa and another club. At my new uni, I'm in a co-ed business frat, a business club, and I've done internships and plan on doing more.</p>

<p>Now here's my questions:
Does it really matter that I went to a fourth tier university? I applied to the college closest to my house, since I didn't want to dorm and it's a half hr away. I could've gotten into UT Dallas and their undergrad business program is ranked #119 in the country, but I don't think transferring yet again will look appealing to grad schools.</p>

<p>Will the F's affect me a lot? I repeated all the classes for B's. I got an F in philosophy, an F in anatomy and Physiology, and an F in introduction to accounting. The accounting class was an online course and I didn't understand anything, but obviously I did way better in the classroom.</p>

<p>Do grad schools use the GPA from the final transcript, or calculate all grades, or do they just use my uni gpa (not including transfer work)? Do they really concentrate on the last 60 credits more? </p>

<p>Does anyone here go to or applied to the Leventhal school?</p>

<p>I'm thinking of taking a semester off and doing an internship w/ the government or something up there, but will it really look that much better on my grad school app and is it worth graduating another semester late?</p>

<p>I should have graduated this may had I not changed schools and majors and everything.. I'm going to graduate 2 years late, is that going to negatively effect me? not like I can do much about it now... </p>

<p>Thanks for your input and this is an extremely long post. appreciate your time.</p>

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<p>As long you repeated those courses and brought up those Fs to Bs, there's nothing to discuss... unless you really want to write an addendum on why you failed those courses, especially the Accounting one.</p>

<p>Grad school adcoms tend to re-calculate the GPA in their own way so you might be better off just letting it go and hope that everything else in your application will shift in your favor. They will see the latest transcript if you're going to be applying in the year before you start graduate school, meaning the first semester of your final year, not the final.</p>

<p>If anything, you're doing just fine. Grad schools like older students better anyway because they have more life experience. Especially work experience. So I would just graduate as you plan to and take a couple years off to work in the field before actually applying.</p>

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<p>Yes, I second ticklemepink. As long as u do well from now on, ur past will not matter a lot in most schools. Dont worry on the past and make the most of the current oppourtunities. </p>

<p>Morever from my personal experience USC likes to admit a lot of people(most without funding for MS, i am from engg so it might be different in accounting) and getting in is not that difficult.</p>

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<p>thank you so much for your input.</p>

<p>I failed the accounting course the first time because I took it as an online course and I didn't understand any of it. It was a huge mistake on my part but when I retook the course I did well... I took it at a community college but according to the admissions officer at Leventhal, going to a comm.college isn't a negative thing, so I'm hoping going to a 4th tier uni isn't a bad thing either.</p>

<p>I plan on getting mainly A's especially in my major courses. I was also looking at a study abroad for a supporting field course, and I've heard they look good on resumes. What do you all think?</p>

<p>I was looking into this program called teach for america, and it seems like a good leadership/communication quality that business schools look for.. plus its a good cause. And it could be work experience, right? Do internships count as work experience if I get paid (my uni requires paid internships)?</p>

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<p>Seriously, do what YOU want to do, not what you think grad schools want. Yes, they do like to see all of this but you should enjoy all the experiences that you're making for yourself. If you don't like traveling or going abroad, don't force yourself to unless you want to, don't do it for grad schools. Every MA student I talked to said about getting in PhD- it's your life that matters and how you make use of the opportunities around you.</p>

<p>CC is never a bad thing, its terrible that we have that stigma in this country that CC is for failures or high school dropouts. CC is what I like a school that opens doors for you to other things, it's just the first step to higher education.</p>

<p>The point of study abroad experience ijust to get out of this materialistc AMerican bubble and get a different perspective. You won't unless you actually participate in the society through making friends with the locals or working for a local (read: LOCAL, not international) business or organization.</p>

<p>TFA is to be taken VERY seriously, it is a highly competitive program that generally requires a 3.5 GPA. Some poeple love it, others don't. But I've learned from listening to TFA is that is NOT for people who really don't know what to do with their lives. It's for people who have focus but just want to take this opportunity to give back and help the American children to jump through the hoops known as No Child Left Behind Act. Don't do it for others, you need to do it for YOU. Besides if you really want to go into busienss, you need to hit the workforce and work in an entry level at a company, not do some volunteer work.</p>

<p>Internships always count as work experience, if you're a gopher.</p>

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<p>well I WANT to study abroad.. my uni has lots of programs and they're all quite good, but some require prereqs that I can't fit into my schedule. But if it looks good that's a plus. I agree, I'm not doing something b/c of how it looks... I want the experience out of it also. At one point I was a fashion merchandising major, and when I had to retake the accounting class, I liked it so much I changed my major and did some research on it. </p>

<p>I don't think CC is a bad thing either.. well when I was an immature hs kid I did, but I should've listened to my parents and gone there first b/c that's where I ended up anyways. It is a good starting point, and students can get a better outlook on what they want to do.</p>

<p>I don't know if I would have the patience to deal w/ teaching kids.. but I'm going to look into it. I still have 2 yrs to decide. I do want to broaden my horizons, who knows maybe I'll like it. I don't think TFA is volunteer work, u actually get paid a poverty level salary.. but if someone is really looking to make a difference, that shouldn't matter.</p>

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<p>CC's are not a bad thing, more and more schools are realizing that you can get a good education there if you apply yourself and take tougher classes (e.g. honors). I got my AA from a comm. college, went to an unknown American Uni in Europe and got into Johns Hopkins SAIS! Sky is the limit! :)</p>

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<p>would it look bad if I didn't take honors classes? I was actually eligible after my first semester at cc, but I didn't realize the importance of them and I took these stinking paralegal classes that ended up dropping my gpa from a 3.5... but luckily grad schools don't care about vocational classes.</p>

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<p>There are several reasons students don't take honors courses:</p>

<p>1) The honors version doesn't fit into their weekly schedule.
2) The honors version is only offered one semester a year (or biannually), and its placement doesn't fit with their four-year schedule.
3) They're not willing to go to the advising office at 6:30 to nab one of the ridiculously few permissions for the class.
4) They're not particularly interested in the relationship between Literature and Power in Early Modern Europe, a class exclusively on The Decameron, or the History of Chocolate (just three of the incredibly useful options from my honors college; the first two of which I suffered through with a smile)
5) The honors version carries too many credits and would push a well-intentioned student into a realm of ungodly "extra hour" fees.
6) The professor has a reputation of being unintelligible and/or a bitter scrooge.
7) They can't handle the coursework.</p>

<p>The last certainly does not account for the bulk of reasoning behind a student's "failure" to take honors courses. Honestly, if the classes you took taught you what you need to know, the honors would just have been superfluous. And think about it: would not seeing Honors Physics on an applicant's transcript have much of an impact on the final decision? "Well, now, this student has excellent recommendations and noteworthy lab experience, their personal statement reflects just what we're looking for...but they only took <em>regular</em> physics. They must not have been smart enough for honors, so they must not be smart enough for us." Seriously.</p>

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<p>good points. thanks.</p>

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<p>B-schools don't count vocational/paralegal classes into the CGPA right?</p>