What's a good GPA at Berkeley?

<p>byul, I'm not saying that you're lying, but I am wondering how you know these things. Are you going off what a friend said, a gut feeling, or are you relying on stats? And no, I'm not a polisci major, and I'd be asking you this had you said that any major needs ____GPA to get into tops schools. I'm simply wondering how one year at Cal has given you this wealth of knowlege on what GPAs are good in what majors.</p>

<p>WOW! A 3.9 is what is considered really good? Now I'm terrified for college because I'm used to "really good". I mean, a 3.9 means basically an A in more or less all your classes, doesn't it?</p>

<p>hm, how to explain?</p>

<p>I've been privately told by upper-div students and profs that sub-3.8s in that major mean very little because they're relatively easy to achieve for the reasons outlined above.</p>

<p>Well, I heard from my roommate's sister's boyfriend's major advisor that if you don't get an A in every class in the hard sciences then you aren't allowed into grad school. So there.</p>

<p>If you are a business major you need to have as high of a GPA as possible (3.5 or higher) to get into Haas School of Business.</p>

<p>The GPA at berkeley isn't the easiest thing to do. Of course we are all use to only see the letter A on our report card but face it...we're not in high school anymore. I'd say a 3.0 or higher is around average and a 3.5 or higher is considered good standing. This all depends on how many units you take as well. If you're taking 13 units and getting straight A's versus a person taking 21 units and double majoring; which do you think looks better? hmm...pondering :D</p>

<p>I dont think a 3.9 in EECS is required to have a 'top' job. Think about it, Berkeley is the best (or one of, depending on what sources you use to evaluate) school in engineering, and EECS is regarded as one of (if not THE) hardest/most challenging/respected/etc majors here. If the average GPA is 2.7/2.8ish, anyone doing above average at a top school in their major is doing really well. As for top jobs, especially in EECS, grades matter but a lot of it is about what you can do and how well you do it (research, projects, internships, etc).</p>

<p>Yeah, it's true, in terms of employment, grades don't matter that much. Employers are looking for your experience and your personality more than your grades. Your grades can't be atrocious, but beyond a certain level, employers don't really care. I've seen people with top grades get shot down by employers, who then turn around and make offers to people with quite middling grades, but who performed well on the interview. If what you care about is getting a job, I wouldn't worry so much about getting top grades as I would about improving your public speaking and interviewing skills, as well as networking. </p>

<p>You may have heard of the phrase "It's not what you know, it's who you know". The fact is, most hiring is done by either knowing the right people and/or smoothly dominating the interview, not so much by who got the best grades. Obviously having good grades is better than having bad grades, but in terms of employment, they're only a minor consideration.</p>

<p>I have a 3.54 or so. I'm going to leave the grad school thing up to fate. Why worry so much during the "best years" of our lives?</p>

<p>a 3.5, what is that letter-grade wise? i mean, do you have to get an A in every class or a B+ or what?</p>

<p>A - 4
A- - 3.7
B+ - 3.3
B - 3
B- - 2.7
C+ - 2.3
C - 2</p>

<p>Something like that</p>

<p>wow that's tough. that's >B+ in every class.</p>

<p>Such is life.</p>

<p>I could be wrong about the numbers . . .</p>

<p>
[quote]
If you are a business major you need to have as high of a GPA as possible (3.5 or higher) to get into Haas School of Business.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>To put this in perspective, here are the admissions stats for the Haas undergrad program. Note that the listed GPA is your Berkeley GPA, not your high school GPa. You apply to Haas as a college junior, and so the GPA in question is your GPA from your Berkeley fresh/soph years. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/statsucb.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/statsucb.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As far as what grades from Berkeley it takes to get into med/law school, here are the relevant statistics.</p>

<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Law/lawStats.stm#school%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/Law/lawStats.stm#school&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>i must admit, sakky's incessant statement that berkeley pre-meds have it tough to get into med schools seems to be true, particularly for 2003. that's some ****-poor acceptance rates into the top 20 med schools.</p>

<p>i'm hoping grad schools aren't as heavy-handed towards admitting berkeley students</p>

<p>In this thread, I personally haven't said anything about Berkeley premeds having it tough. I would simply ask people to look at the data themselves and draw their own conclusions. </p>

<p>Speaking of premed data, here is some more of it, if it interests you. {For those who are not interested in it, feel free to not click on it}. </p>

<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/national.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/national.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You guys are right about the grades.</p>

<p>Basically to get into a decent graduate/professional school you need to keep straight A's and the occasional B+...with some A minuses put in there, but basically A's and A minuses leaning towards A's...sounds like a b*tch given the curves of every class...</p>

<p>Also, your freshman year is usually your easiest year! All the crap about them saying "adjusting" is hard...no it's not.</p>

<p>Your classes only get tougher each year and the competition more fierce.</p>

<p>As for Haas, you need a minimum of 3.5 to apply, but mainly those with 3.75+ get in. I know a girl who got rejected with a 3.6 and good business ECs, but a guy who has an almost perfect GPA got accepted with no business ECs.</p>

<p>
[quote]
As for Haas, you need a minimum of 3.5 to apply,

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's not entirely true. If you see my link above, you will notice that the GPA range of 80% of the admitted continuing Berkeley students (i.e. not transfers) is from 3.40-3.89. So that means that some people who have below 3.5's are applying and getting in.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, I do agree that if you have below a 3.5 and you're trying to get into Haas, I would advise you not to hold your breath waiting for it. </p>

<p>Here is the breakdown of how the Haas adcom weighs your application:</p>

<p>*Question: How does the Admission Committee evaluate applications?
Answer: The application is broken down as follows: 50% Grades & Coursework, 35% Essays and 15% Resume/extra-curricular activities. In addition to reviewing applications for completion of minimum eligibility requirements and academic achievement and promise, the Admission Committee will review many factors, including performance in key prerequisites (business, math, economics, statistics), grade trends, course load, consistency of academic performance, leadership skills, interest in being an active member of the Haas community, knowledge of contemporary business issues, accomplishments as demonstrated by extra-curricular activities, as well as communication and analytical skills as demonstrated by responses to essay questions. *</p>

<p><a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/admissionsfaq.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/admissionsfaq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Also, your freshman year is usually your easiest year! All the crap about them saying "adjusting" is hard...no it's not.</p>

<p>Your classes only get tougher each year and the competition more fierce.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Actually, I would argue that your senior year is probably your easiest year. Senior-level courses are no walk in the park, but at least they're no longer trying to flunk you out. Generally, in senior-level courses, as long as you do all the work, you'll at least get a C-. That stands in contrast with freshman-level courses where you can do all the work and still end up with a D or an F. Furthermore, if you've made it to senior year, most people have accumulated enough of a GPA with enough academic credits that even if their senior year is terrible, they're still going to graduate, because the more credits you have accumulated, the less your GPA will move. So even a terrible senior year will usually not be enough to push you below a 2.0, which is what you need to stay off academic probation and graduate. Again, contrast that with freshman year where you have no academic credits and hence it's very easy to end up with a GPA below a 2.0.</p>

<p>Those stats are indeed pathetic.</p>

<p>It's ironic how Cal compares the quality of the education it provides to the best institutions around the world, yet their acceptance rates to premier graduate schools to the "national average." Hmmm.....</p>

<p>Indeed, the irony.</p>

<p>I know! This place is terrible, with top students only going to the best places! Yeah, the average Harvard kids are going to UCLA Med school and Harvard Law, right?</p>