Low GPA question...

[perrik]

I replied in the duplicate thread, and since it hasn't been merged back into this one yet...

The first time around, I did poorly in college. My own fault, I coasted through the honors program in high school without much effort, and then hit the brick wall of reality. Oops. My GPA is a lousy 2.32, and yet, there's hope.

Of the grad schools I've been looking at, most require a 3.0 GPA for admission. A few set the minimum at 2.7. BUT... some schools state they want that 3.0 for just the last 60 credits. If you work hard on the final credits, you may be able to pull the junior/senior GPA high enough to meet the minimum. Other universities will accept the sub-3.0 GPA upon consent of the department, so you can talk with your target program's director about why you want to attend that program and how focused you are now. You might be admitted on a provisional basis, meaning they'll drop you if you don't maintain a high GPA in your first couple semesters, but you'd get the chance.

Another option is the graduate certificate. Some programs require you to meet the same standards as a degree seeker, but others only require that you possess a bachelor's. Getting a graduate certificate may be enough for your career goals, or you can use it to get into the full degree program ("my undergrad GPA was lousy, but look, I have a 3.75 in this grad certificate program!"). Most graduate certificate programs are eligible for federal student loan programs.

A third option is to take grad classes as a non-enrolled student. Take one or two just to show that hey, my undergrad GPA was lousy, but I got A's on these grad classes. The disadvantage here is cost, as you can't get federal aid and thus must pay out of pocket.

EC allows you to replace your old grades, provided you're replacing the old class with an equivalent one. I got C's in macroeconomics and microeconomics, way back when. I plan to take both through Straighterline, launder the letter-grade credits through Fort Hays State University, and transfer them to Excelsior. The original classes will stay on my academic record, but not as part of the degree credits and therefore not as part of my GPA. If you can replace any of those bad older grades with shiny new ones, or at least use CLEP to replace a C or D with a "Pass", do it! Exam options resulting in letter grades include ECEs, many of the DSSTs, and Ohio University's independent studies program.

FYI, if you enrolled at EC back when they accepted D grades, they won't strike them off now even with the policy change. You can take an equivalent class to get rid of the D, but otherwise it's not going away. I had one D, and haven't been able to find an equivalent course yet.