<p>Just wondering if anyone knows whether grad schools really examine your transcript thoroughly or whether it's really just the single number your GPA represents that ultimately counts?</p>
<p>I'm doing pretty well in most my courses, especially the ones for my major but there was one course I got a C in last year...it was a freshman required science course and science is my one of my weakest academic areas ever. Thus, my GPA (3.48) was brought down a bit by that grade. Obviously, I know that single grade won't make or break me but will universities take into account what courses I actually took and how specific classes would correlate with that grade? (Just thinking that it's pretty obvious if you looked at my transcript that I suck at science but I'm decent in all my other classes).</p>
<p>I’m assuming then that you are a humanities major and not science or engineering?</p>
<p>Graduate schools will put the most emphasis on your performance in your major-related classes. That doesn’t mean you have a free pass to just barely pass your other courses though. ;)</p>
<p>The graduate admissions committee in any department varies from year to year and is composed of professors who each have their own priorities. One year, a committee might not care about individual course grades, as long as applicants have done the necessary preparation, and the next, it might scrutinize everything on the transcript. This much is for sure: they will forgive weak grades in non-major courses taken in the first year of college. Everyone knows that the adjustment to college from high school can be tough. </p>
<p>Don’t know when you’re applying (now or next year, etc.) – can you raise your GPA to 3.5 or even 3.6 before applying? That would look good. I agree that what’s important is your major grades, but it’s still not good to get a C every time you have to take a science class.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!
Just to be clear, I don’t intend on taking any more science classes besides that one and I’ve done well in all my other elective courses.</p>
<p>Also, any opinions on how much consideration grad schools give to varying grading schemes in undergrad programs? Like I said, I go to McGill and while grade deflation isn’t as rampant as U of T like I heard, it is pretty difficult to get an A- (3.7) or above in courses. We also don’t have any A+'s. Hoping that grad schools will take that into account to some extent…?</p>