I have a 3.24 GPA as an undergrad at a top liberal arts college, studying computer science. I am wondering if this is something that leads me out of the running for most graduate school programs, or if it is nothing to be worried about? I don't normally ask these kinds of questions, but it's something I'm thinking about. I come across a lot of stuff saying that it's a good idea to have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
I mean, yeah, it's a good idea. Just like it's a good idea to score as high as possible on the GRE, and just like it's a good idea to graduate from a prestigious a university as possible, and just like it's a good idea to have impeccable references, etc, etc, etc. Anything that helps is a good idea. But a good idea is not the same as a necessity.
My GPA after I graduated was a 3.169. I only remember that cause 69. I didn't even qualify to apply to some graduate schools when I decided to go into social work instead of what my major was. I took the GRE, scored 94th percentile in Verbal Reasoning. Applied to a graduate school, didn't get in.
I went back and took 1 1/2 years of classes for a major in Psychology. I made all As, changed 1 reference, and applied to many more schools. I ended up getting into my dream choice that I only applied to so I could practice the application process for the more realistic schools. My GPA ended up like a 3.251 by the time I graduated, and I only know that because I barely qualified for some of the 3.25 minimum GPA schools to apply to.
At the end of the day, your GPA is a single factor in a constellation of factors. In fact, I'd say (with my experience as anecdotal evidence to back it up) that the last semesters are far more reflective of your academic capabilities than your total GPA. If you're pulling Cs and Bs in your last semester, then yeah, that's a bit of a flag. But if you have a 3.06 because you had a bad transition to college and have pulled straight As for two years, that's a very different outlook. They want to know you can do the work NOW, they don't care what you made in Spanish back when you were a freshman.
Computer science is probably a lot different than social work, granted. I know for a fact your quantitative reasoning scores matter more, and probably any work you've done? But graduate school applications are still pretty much the same. No one thing sinks you. If you have a bad GPA and sub-par recommendations, and your GRE scores are barely above average, that's a different picture than a high GRE person who has impressive recommendations and solid work to show to make up for mistakes they made years ago. I had good recommendations and a good GRE showing, and good classwork after I went back to school to make up for my complete lack of resume and my crappy GPA.
What you should be prepared for that is that you're not necessarily like to get into the school of your choice. Don't apply to one school, or two, or three. I was prepared to apply to about seven, including all 3 locally and 4 online since I can't move. Spread your net wide. You need to prepare the statistical truth that you may not get accepted because other applicants were just better, or more suited to other candidates. The program I got rejected from (twice) is a dinky little program that's stocked with child therapists. I have no interest in child therapy, and the graduate I know from the program works with children. They don't SAY they're a child therapy program, but it's clear that's their preference. So you might very well get rejected even with an application that has nothing wrong with it, but because it's not one they personally prefer. So go for the programs you like (fuck knows it worked out for me), but also hedge your bets by applying lots of places. The one that takes you is the one where you're going to fit best.
