Anyone want to commiserate? Why didn't I try harder in college???

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

I'm trying to get into graduate school. I graduated from college in 92. Why didn't it occur to me that my undergraduate GPA might actually be important again someday? It kind of sucked and I MIGHT be admitted provisionally but I have to make a decent score on the GRE.

Maybe I can find a really shitty school that will let me in, eh?

Damn, I was young and stupid. If you are in college now, seriously, watch that GPA. You think it'll NEVER matter again after you get a job and BAM it bites you in the arse.

[mwdem]

1. Tell it to my son.

22 year old, in and out of college, low gpa. He has recently done very well with the online courses, so I think that's the way for him to go. I know what you mean.

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. Yep it never ends...

You work your ass off to get into college, only to work your ass off in college to get into a good grad school. I must keep up my GPA because I have no intention to (or money) pay for grad school. I'm banking on the indentured servitude of being a GA to get my masters.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

12. A GA?

What's that?

Oh wait graduate assistant?

Yeah, an option not for me. I work full-time. I was an English teacher, but now am the Secondary Literacy Strategist for the district (I teach the teachers now), so great opportunity to finally get my masters but I can't quit this job to be a TA or GA.

Best of luck to you!

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Get a couple of those

GRE study books and go kick some butt! I know what you mean. I did UNT for awhile, then transferred to UT for awhile.

I hated it, and got WFs in all my classes. I had to sweet talk the dean at UNT to let me back, but he was reaslly cool about it.

You can do it!
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[JDPriestly]

4. Do you have the time to go back to college - nights-, take more courses

and prove you can get the grades?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

11. I've got those GRE

books and I am really worried about the math part. I SERIOUSLY SUCK at math. No, I mean SERIOUSLY SUCK. Like badly. Like a Hoover sucks.

But I hope to make a great score then maybe I can even appeal to them in person. I can go up there and say, "Hey, my undergrad days were TWELVE years ago. I was a bit of a slacker, but I could most definitely handle the work, and look at me now! Professional, determined, and NOT a slacker. Let me in! You won't regret it!"

I went to A&M undergrad, by the way. Had a bit too much fun some semesters, it seems.

Sigh.

[flamingyouth]

5. Don't beat yourself up over it

I worked like a maniac in college - double majoring, working on the paper and in student government, holding down a part-time job - only to graduate and end up on a completely different path. I had a 3.4 GPA and did okay on the GRE, although I never went to graduate school.

Then I wound up at art school, getting an interior design degree, and now I'm starting massage school in January.:crazy: So, don't feel bad about it - you never know where life will take you.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

10. True you never know.....

[flamingyouth]

13. Yeah, I know it's easy for me to say

But I drove myself nuts over this very thing years ago, and for naught, basically. You'll be fine. Good head on your shoulders you have there.:hug:

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

14. Thanks

see, here's the deal:

I graduated from college, became a high school English teacher. HATED IT! Became a technical writer. Liked it, but wanted to go back to teaching, so I went to middle school this time. LOVED IT! Did that for several years. Now just this year I am the district secondary literacy strategist (what a damn mouthful). I teach the teachers.

The guy I am just below is the district literacy facilitator, a position you don't get without an MEd. He's been a mentor to me these last few years and he is retiring in three years. He told me it'd be really smart to get an MEd NOW, while I'm NOT in the classroom and actually have the time and energy, then when he retires, I can put in for his job (WAY better pay) or anything else only open to Master's degree holders in the district.

It will open a lot more doors for me. And your pay automatically goes up once you have it, even if you don't change positions.

Just got to get over these hurdles first. The classes I can handle, I'm sure of it. It's damn red tape I HATE.

Thanks again.

[flamingyouth]

15. God, you and I could write a book on careers!

It might be a boring, crappy one, but a book nonetheless!:D

You're gonna be fine, trust me. Keep venting here in the Lounge - it helps so much. But you've got it together, I know that.

[fudge stripe cookays]

31. Ha! No wonder we get along so well!

My first major in college was interior design! I'm still an HGTV junkie. I go crazy if I can't decorate and design things.

But some people just had that knack for drawing marble floors and ficus trees and Louis XIV breakfronts in perspective. I was capable, but knew I'd never be kick-ass at it enough to make a real living.

Then I heard about a family friend who went bankrupt 5 times! That was when I decided upon something a little more steady. I tried advertising art for awhile then quit.

I stumbled upon technical writing when I got back to UNT. Now, I'm seriously considering moving into some sort of non-profit. The money would be a lot less, but I think it'd be more satisfying than writing about widgets!

Congrats on massage school!
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[Nikia]

6. In fact, students should go to less competitve colleges

I had to go to a competitive liberal arts college instead of my family's three generation alma mater, which was local. I took college courses there while in high school. I found them only mildly more difficult than my high school courses. I got As in all six courses I took while still in high school. The difference in SAT score of the average accepted student was about 250 points.
I applied and was accepted to competitive liberal arts colleges. I arrived as a freshman to find that I couldn't write as well as my high school teachers and college professors at the other college had lead me to believe and that most of the students were very serious about their studies unlike the students at the other college who just wanted to get their degree. I received Bs and Cs on everything even though I did work my butt off that first term. I got better at the college thing, but still had a hard time getting As. I was also overcommitted to other activities. All my classwork seemed to be due at the same time as were the tests. The average student studied 20-25 hours per week as documented by a college survey. I just didn't have time to do everything, sleep, and excel at class. If I would have went to the other college, I could have got As studying and working on stuff under 5 hours per week.
Students planning on going to graduate school or getting jobs at major corporations, which have special training programs for new grads with high GPAs, should go to easy colleges.
Educationally, I am glad that I went to a more academically oriented college. It would have given me a big advantage to go to the less serious college though.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

9. Hmmm

I don't really agree.

I'd rather have a C in a class I had to work my butt off in and really got a lot out of than an easy A.

My problem was I COULD have made As as an undergrad and too often, I didn't. I was a bit of a slacker. And a class skipping queen.

[Nikia]

21. I only agree with what I said from the GPA angle

I got a much better education at the college where I went, but I would have had a higher GPA at the other college (starting with my 6 A's which didn't count towards my degree or GPA at the college that I went to). I only agree with what I said through the standpoint that getting a high GPA is most important. I didn't even consider that angle when I was an idealistic high school senior.
Yeah, you should have gone to every class. That is the most helpful thing that a student can do. Several of our profs tested to the lectures, which included content outside of the readings, so I tried not to miss class. Starting paper searly is another important tip, which unfortunatley I never learned. If I started early, I ended up switching topics making all the reasearch that I had done up to that point worthless from the point of writing my final paper.

[HereSince1628]

7. Well, getting a PHD is no guarantee,either

as I can well tell you.

Put together the lessons you SHOULD have learned about socialability and focused work and the grad school thing will work out.

Grad schools are starving for students, I am sure that there is a little private college or an on-line program that would be glad to deal with your tuition.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

8. It's got to be accredited though

I did find a decent school that accepts you with a 2.75 undergrad GPA but it's quite a commute. I just joked to my husband that the hellish drive once a week would be my penance for having sucky study habits in college.

[HereSince1628]

17. Don't know where you live but there are also internet programs

and if your gpa is 2.75 they will glady take your money.

Accreditation is good but it isn't everything. Many resumes are complete sets of lies. Even an unaccredited school might confirm their awarding you a certificate or degree.

I'd be interested in knowing what U of Phoenix, which has a campus in suburban Milwaukee, thinks of a 2.75 undergrad GPA. My guess is that they would accept it without blinking.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

22. I can't do

unaccredited.

My school district will not accept a masters from an unaccredited university. I know someone who did just that and she wasted a hell of a lot of money, because the state won't recognize it for certification purposes and the district won't recognize it for pay purposes. And you know what? They don't have to!

[fudge stripe cookays]

32. Let me guess...UNT?

Sorry. Personal experience.

It's party school extraordinaire. But I loved it there.

[Fleshdancer]

16. I know exactly what you mean

Unfortunately I'm still working on my BA (I keep moving around too much and I lose credits every time) but my first year of college, I was the poster idiot for partying too much and sleeping through class.

I get great grades now, but my GPA is still punished from my stupidity in the past.

I don't get it. If the President can have "youthful indiscretions" until the age of 40, then why can't I have my one year of "youthful indiscretion" without the consequences several years later??? Mine didn't even involve hard drugs or DUI's.

[RobinA]

19. From My Research

while applying to grad school and since, it looks like many schools look a lot more closely at the GPA from your last two years of undergrad than they do at the whole thing. If they ignored every 18-year-old who partied freshman year instead of going to class, only geeks would ever go to grad school.

[Fleshdancer]

20. ahhh. that's very encouraging!

Goddess knows I'm not the same person I was when I was 18 and it's apparent in my grades.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

23. The good news for YOU

is that grad schools are REALLY interested in your last 60 hours of undergrad, so if your grades are good in the final stretch that will count MORE.

I was very off and on. Good semester, bad semester, good semester, so-so semester, F**** bad summer semester, REALLY good semester, that's what my transcript looks like! LOL!

[RobinA]

18. I Was in the Same Boat

2.8 GPA, 3.0 in my major. That was 20 years ago. I had a choice of taking the MAT or the GRE to get into grad school, so I took the MAT because I figured I'd do better and I'd have to make up for my crappy grades. We also had to write an essay, so I worked hard on that. I just hoped they wouldn't hold college against me, and they didn't. OK, so I aced the MAT, which didn't hurt I guess.

Now I am doing great in grad school. True, I couldn't have gotten into some really high-powered school, but I didn't want to go there anyway. I sweated it out about the college grades, but there was nothing I could do about them, so I just tried the best I could now to show that I wasn't the same class-cutting, late sleeping, partying student I was in 1977. It worked out for me and I bet it will for you.

Also: Ignore what they say about what your GPA has to be in order to get accepted. I mean, if they only take 4.0 and you've got a 1.5, I'd say worry. With a 2.75 I wouldn't think you'd be out of the ballpark at most schools. Especially since it was years ago and you have experience in the field.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

24. Yeah

I totally agree. I just finished two more hours research into this and am feeling a lot better about it for these reasons--first, I am going to KICK THE GRE'S ASS!!!! 1600!!!!!

Secondly, I did finish college 12 years ago. If I have to, I'll go in there with my bad-ass professional clothes on (the "I REALLY mean business clothes and accessories) and my bad-ass professional knowledge and my bad-ass professional self (ok this is making me giggle now!) and BEG, plead, do whatever I have to do to convince them to let me pay them money to go to their school.

Doesn't that sound crazy? LOL!

[Radical Activist]

25. I should have tried harder to get some action in college

I spent too much time being holy and righteous. Dammit. I should have spent more time having fun than studying!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

26. Pfffffttt!!!

LOL, are you serious?

I'm never satisfied. I'm either bemoaning my GPA (like now, it really doesn't normally come up) or wishing I had done CRAZIER things in college!

[Radical Activist]

27. Yes, I'm serious

I was too sexually repressed in college. I regret that more than my average GPA.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

28. Well

don't worry, I made up for it for ya!

Go get busy now!

On edit, does it make you feel better that I regret never dropping acid or trying sex with a girl? (I am female.)

[Radical Activist]

29. Yeah, I'm trying

to make up for lost time. And its never to late to try sex with a girl is it? :)

[ChoralScholar]

30. I had three years of excellent grades at a liberal arts college

that trailed off into lots of F's and WF's (translated - quit going to class) in the last two semesters. My 3.6 GPA quickly turned into 2.211 (luckily I had some pad)

I quit for two years and then transferred to another liberal arts college up the road and ended up graduating Magna Cum Laude.

But who knows how those bad grades from 8 years ago will affect me. I hope to get into a PhD program someday, but who knows.

[SmileyBoy]

33. I'm working my ass off to get my GPA to 3.2.

If you take away the one class I'm retaking this semester (got a D in it last year), my GPA is 2.5. There's an outside chance I can bring it up to a 2.8 this semester, then maybe eek it to a 3.0 by the end of this year.

Yes my friend, the GPA is VERY important.