First off, thanks for taking an interest in my question. I understand admission into grad school is, in a way, similar to admission to undergraduate school, but far more selective. I am currently set to enroll at St Edward’s University in the Fall. A couple days ago I was rejected from UT (</3) but I’m content. I am concerned about my future though.
I understand keeping up a decent GPA is very important for admission. Unfortunately my college GPA is a 3.193. I am an Early College High School Student and have already completed my Freshman and Sophomore years. My GPA will be hindered by my poor performance during my first 2 years of high school. Simply getting my GPA up to a 3.5 will be an uphill battle, but not impossible. Unfortunately, my GPA will never be able to climb much higher than that because of the amount of credits I have completed.
So, aside from my GPA, what are some other opportunities that I could take to increase my chances at getting admitted into a great graduate program, such as UT Austin?
Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing from you!
I plan on double majoring in History and Economics in my 4 years at SEU. I’m happy you mentioned research, because that was always something that sounded like a fun experience.
Research isn’t just a “fun experience”. It is the cornerstone of getting a PhD, and getting experience in it as an undergrad definitely helps boost your application.
That’s part of why I’m interested in partaking in research of some kind. I understand research as an undergrad would help me significantly, but it was always something I intended to do, even if I didn’t plan on attending grad school.
Excellent grades are important for grad school admissions, but honestly, they’re almost viewed as a given. Most of the people applying to grad school are already “la creme de la creme” and are the top students in their departments. Especially if you don’t have super high grades, you have to do more than just good coursework to stand out.
Also, at least for humanities programs, an important factor in grad school admissions is overall fit. So, you can be a superstar student, but do your research interests align with a university’s faculty? Are you specializing in, say, 19th century literature when the school already has 5 students studying that? Are you studying some rare and interesting branch of Bulgarian history that none of the university’s faculty specialize in? Basically, will the school think you’re a good “match” for them? Do they feel that they can properly mentor you and that you can be an asset to their department?
Having strong letters of rec are also important since other professionals in the field can attest to your academic prowess, and research experience/teaching experience can set you apart (and help illuminate your interests). I didn’t go into too much detail about my research interests in my personal statements, but my CV helped fill in some of the blanks since it detailed some of my conference presentations and teaching experience.
Since you’re just starting college (well, starting it without being in high school), I wouldn’t worry about grad school just yet. Work on doing well in your classes, getting involved in campus events that relate to your majors, and just generally start thinking about what you want to do and how grad school would fit into that plan. Grad school admissions are very holistic and don’t just rely on grades and test scores (I barely passed the GRE and still got in to schools that required it), so that being said, it’s important for you to get a real sense of who you are, what you want, and how a certain university’s program can help you get there.
But before you can worry about all that, you should just breathe and adjust to college life.
What kind of graduate school? The things that can help you get a PhD in economics are different from the things that will help you get a master’s in public administration or public policy, for example.