<p>Well this semester came and went. I finished out my senior year with 2 A's and 2 C's. I have a 2.7-2.8 cumulative GPA.</p>
<p>I don't know how far that'll get me as most grad schools go. But I have been talking to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. I don't need to tread through what my parents think of me going to that part of the country again. Because the arguments even spanned into just a few hours ago. Dad's got my uncle in Texas worked up over it and how I "just don't care". I'll be visiting those two schools in the coming weeks, but no committing to anything yet.</p>
<p>When it comes to Grad School, do parents absolutely HAVE TO sign as trustees for loans or tuition?</p>
<p>You usually need a 3.0 overall minimum gpa for grad school admissions. Check each school policy carefully. Sometimes other qualifications can override that but sometimes not. Maybe your major classes are stronger and that can help. Maybe you have fantastic research or publications.</p>
<p>Grad students are considered independent for grad school. No one signs anything for you. You are qualified on your own for Federal Loans up to loan limits. See the Federal Aid pages. If you need more money and you need your parent to cosign that is another matter. </p>
<p>Talk to a professor in your area of interest and see what they think.
If you are in an area where the Universities typically give you a stipend for going to grad school then you shouldn’t be taking out loans.
if you are in academic area where you usually have to pay for tuition, consider thoughtfully if that is the right move for you given 1) your GPA which reflects your ability/work ethic and 2) the economy.</p>
<p>I’ve been recommended to ask about upper level courses to beef up my GPA before jumping to the grad program.</p>
<p>My dad says he won’t sign anything because he’s convinced it’s in his name, and my uncle has my dad convinced that he’d be the one to dictate it by signing a loan.</p>
<p>Let your dad and uncle be convinced of whatever they want.
Grad school students are considered independent. NOTHING is asked of parents.
2.8 will be too low for grad school though. Most would require 3.3 for admission to their program,
and many want to see 3.5 in your major/chosen subject, especially if you want a TAship.
Visiting the grad schools is a good idea. Taking a couple more advanced classes in your subject
too - show that you can get A’s in those.</p>
<p>What type of grad school are we talking about here? Academic program, i.e. Masters/PhD, I’d say that a 2.8 GPA is probably a sign from the heavens that MORE school is likely not your best move right now. Law School? MBA? Library Science? What were your GRE’s like (or LSAT or GMAT’s).</p>
<p>Forget your dad and uncle- I think your bigger issue is figuring out what comes next in your life. And you may want to take a break from academics, get a job in the real world, before jumping back in “just because”. Not everyone goes to grad school, and going just because you can’t figure out what comes next is a terrible reason to be in Grad school. </p>
<p>I remember specifically that my son’s grad school said they only looked at the GPA from the last 2 years – which was a benefit for my son— he had a higher GPA than yours, but it was about a 3.0 for the first 2 years, closer to 4.0 the last 2. </p>
<p>I think you need to do some self-analysis as to why your senior year GPA ended up with C’s and A’s – that was pretty much my son’s problem early on. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do the work – it was that he couldn’t motivate himself if he wasn’t in love with the class. He took a 3-year break after his sophomore year – after 3 years working and supporting himself he had gained a lot in terms of self-discipline and maturity.</p>
<p>I think it’s fine for you to be looking at grad programs – but you sound like you are still quite dependent on your parents. I don’t think most grad students (or would be grad students) worry too much about what their parents think – they just take the steps needed to apply to school on their own. </p>
<p>I do think that if you spend 2-3 years working at a real world job before grad school, you might look more attractive to grad schools, especially if you can find work relevant to your planned area of study. Both my kids are in master’s programs that typically requires students to do internships, but their work experience easily qualified them to get waivers of the internship requirement from their respective schools. </p>
<p>Ask to meet with someone in the Dept that interests you as admissions at the grad level do not go through “'admissions” in general, but are selected directly by the professors. Ask what classes they expect competitive applicants to have and what GPA. Indicate you’re going to take further classes since your college didn’t prepare you sufficiently. (It doesn’t matter whether you think it did, you need to take several upper-level undergraduate classes and get A’s in them if you want a chance at grad school admission. There are no grad programs for the B- student as there are colleges for B students.) Read the graduate program’s website carefully, write down each professor’s research specialty. Ask what the primary research specialties are , whether there’s a special research institute and how to collaborate with it, etc. Be ready to talk about a topic you’d like to investigate in-depth, theories you’ve studied, etc. Did you write a thesis for your BA? If so, what about? If not, be aware that you’re likely to need a top 20-page research paper for admission. </p>
<p><<<
My dad says he won’t sign anything because he’s convinced it’s in his name, and my uncle has my dad convinced that he’d be the one to dictate it by signing a loan.
<<<</p>
<p>well aren’t they in for a surprise. </p>
<p>sorry, but your family is really sick and the sooner you get away from them, the better. dont look back. best wishes for you. </p>
<p>Upper division courses wont beef your gpa any more than other classes, but they will help your app. did you graduate this month? </p>
<p>I dont know how you’d do a gap year. please clarify what you’d be doing during that time. </p>
<p>If you arent in grad school, you cant take a grad plus loan. If you had to take a year to take more undergrad classes, you wouldnt have the loans/funding.</p>
<p>Zonie- it’s not a gap year. It’s called adulthood.</p>
<p>It’s not clear to me why you think that grad school comes after undergrad the way that 4th grade comes after 3rd grade. For many (most?) people who pursue grad school, it’s either after a few years working when they realize they need post graduate education (and then they generally have a very good idea of exactly what they want to study and where and why) or because they figured out during their junior year or early senior year of college where they were heading.</p>
<p>Forgive me, but it sounds like you can’t figure out “what comes next” after graduation and are hoping that grad school will fix that somehow. This is an extremely expensive course of action, regardless of who ends up footing the bill.</p>
<p>It’s not clear to me what you are “checking out” at these schools. Grad students typically aren’t worried about the undergrad things (dorm life, fraternities, sports facilities) but are looking to study with a particular professor/advisor. If the person in your discipline has agreed to meet with you at these schools and is encouraging you to apply (and thinks you will get funded) that’s terrific. If you are going as a tourist, it seems like your time could be better spent finding a job for next year and reconsidering grad school after a few years of adult life.</p>
<p>I would suggest you get a job. Any job. Take some time off of full time college. You could take some undergrad courses as a non-matriculated student, maybe evening classes. Perhaps something will really be of interest to you, and you will get great grades. </p>
<p>You certainly can sign for loans yourself, no parent involved, for grad school.</p>
<p>But DO keep in mind, that MOST grad school programs will politely ask you to leave if your GPA falls below 3.0 OR you get more than two C grades. You could end up wasting a LOT of loan money if you don’t make the grade.</p>
<p>^actually, the requirements are higher if you’re funded, and in some programs they may show you the door if you fall below a 3.5 after a semester. In grad school, expectations are A or A-. B+ is seen as low. Anything else is unacceptable. You can’t be an expert if you get a B+, let alone anything under that.</p>
<p>I second the idea of getting a job - preferably in a college town with a flagship university of your choice. College towns have lots of jobs. You don’t need your father’s permission. You’re an adult now. You can rent an apartment on your own, register for a class and take it (and pay for it, but if you take 3 credits at a flagship public, it shouldn’t be too expensive). </p>
<p>If you don’t have an appointment with the Chair or professors, use your money to look for jobs - don’t spend it just on the trip (unless it’s like a vacation for you, but don’t use your money for two trips, save it to pay your first rents - you typically need to pay 2 months upfront). Grad students don’t go through Office of Admissions. You may ask whether there’s grad student housing but typically grad students live in apts. in town.</p>
<p>If you’re going for a job interview and will include a side trip to the campus, remember to visit the library (as it’s the place you’ll spend most time, in your study carrel :p) and/or the labs (same reason), and schedule the meeting with a professor or the chair as soon as you can, giving plenty of notice.</p>
<p>Since Zonie attended (I recall from a previous post - I apologize if I’m wrong Zonie) a small branch campus, I think working in a college town where he could take an upper-level class each semester while making money would help. It wouldn’t boost the college GPA per se, but it’d generate a transcript of upper-level specialist undergraduate classes that would make their own mini-transcript just for that field and for the purpose of graduate school admissions. Some universities may even let him take one graduate class as a visiting student after he completes a bunch of undergraduate classes. Many young people work 2-3 years before grad school anyway, that’d be an opportunity to accumulate 5-8 upper level classes (depending on whether Zonie applies after 2 or 3 years, whether he takes summer classes, etc). That’s beef up the resume for grad school, give him opportunities to write and revise long research paper, get more recommendations, prepare for the GRE, etc. In the meanwhile, Zonie would be able to work, thus hopefully living frugally will be able to save money toward grad school.</p>
