Has your grade ever mattered?

[dfrecore]

I am definitely curious about this discussion, as I will be pursuing a masters program to become a teacher. I’m working towards my BSBA in Gen Management, just applied to TESU today! 5 classes to go on my own and then Information Lit and Capstone at TESU. My first go-round with college, I had some As and Bs, but then instead of taking a semester off or dropping out the “correct” way, I just stopped going to class. So I’ve got 5 Fs coming in on a transcript. I know my GPA is around a 2.0 thanks to my youthful mistakes. What I make on the two courses at TESU will factor in to my GPA at graduation. All of these SL and SDC courses will just be recorded as pass. I have lurked in this forum for some time, and I know that if I wanted to increase my GPA, I’d likely look towards New Mexico Junior College. They have the cheapest rates I have ever heard of. Clovis Community College (I don’t think I’ve ever seen them mentioned on here before) is no where near as cheap as NMJC, but is on the lower end of prices I’ve seen and offers some courses Clovis doesn’t. (It has been a while since I’ve seriously evaluated either though, honestly). It’s too bad that ACE credit doesn’t factor in. I’m a solid 3.5 student.

It depends on where you live as to how cheap you can get credits.  CA CC's are $46/cr in-state.  You can take ASU/EA courses right now for $99 (and you don't have to pay that until AFTER you find out your grade).  That's the lowest price I know of for RA credits, and they're from a 4yr school to boot.  So it would be worth taking those if you can.

Remember, you don't need a "graduating" GPA necessarily.  A school will look at all of your GPA's from all of the schools that you go to.  So they will look at the old school with the F's and the 2.0, then they'll look at TESU's GPA, then whatever other transcripts you send in.  Most likely, you'll have a 3.5 or 4.0 GPA at TESU.  Then they will compute their own GPA if you need a good one to get admitted.

But, to become a teacher, you may only need to check your state and look for an online post-bacc teacher credentialing program.  Many states offer them for free, and some even pay a stipend while you student teach.  So I wouldn't waste a single second worrying about your GPA until you figure out if it actually matters for something like this.  My bet is, it won't.