GPA fair?

[yuri ronin]

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I was applying to SUNY and one of the questions was do you feel your GPA accuretly depicts you.... I got to thinking how can applicants be judged on their GPA compared to others. We all go to different schools with different teachers. If someone from a community college has a 3.5 and some one from a distingueshed school has a 3.2, does the distinguished school person not get as much attention due to the lower GPA. Out of high school I wanted to get into a good college that has good teachers, but grades very tough. Does this put me into a bad situation?

 

[Jenboo23]

I am in the same situation, but have never worried about this. I don't think you are in a bad situation at all. Coming from a competative university with a 3.2 shows you can handle the demands in Optometry school. I'm sure they take into consideration what type of institution you are coming from. That is just my opinion though!

 

[JeffChou]

I was applying to SUNY and one of the questions was do you feel your GPA accuretly depicts you.... I got to thinking how can applicants be judged on their GPA compared to others. We all go to different schools with different teachers. If someone from a community college has a 3.5 and some one from a distingueshed school has a 3.2, does the distinguished school person not get as much attention due to the lower GPA. Out of high school I wanted to get into a good college that has good teachers, but grades very tough. Does this put me into a bad situation?

SUNY will note your undergrad institution when they consider your app. I don't know how much GPA range they will forgive, but I do know that they will consider it. I always though that question was for people who screwed up in the beginning of college.

Jeff

 

[burgler09]

no offense but there are many community college teachers who are 3x harder than a prof. at a 4-year university. In your post you basically contradicted yourself due to automatically putting the community college lower than a 4 year college. It is impossible to say one person had a harder time than the other student because it is impossible for the adcoms to know every professor, so by putting all GPAs on the same ground it makes things fair all around.

 

[broncos24]

actually, after speaking to the director of admissions over the summer from SCCO, she mentioned that since the interview is a closed file interview.... I should mention my undergrad institution to let the them know the competitive level of the school. I come from a HUGEEEEE school that is well known, and the optometry school recognizes that taking classes with students that are in 6-year pharmacy programs shows that I'm up against kids who are on professional track in their 3rd year... (if you know what I mean??) Anyway, if your school name MIGHT impress adcom, it will definitely not hurt to mention it during your interview. But obviously I wouldn't suggest bragging about it excessively. 😉

 

[RegularGuy]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with burgler09.

I believe that school rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, a #10 school is not necessarily better than a #15 school. However, I also believe that it is easier to achieve higher grades at significantly less competitive schools.

Here's my personal experience to back things up:

I graduated from a school ranked 10-15. My program was ranked in the top 5. I worked really hard and ended up with a ~3.3 gpa.

I attended a school ranked 40-45 for 2 years. I worked hard and ended up with a ~3.8 gpa.

I took 10+ courses at community colleges. 5 of these were when I was in high school or the summer after high school. I think I got 1 B (because I had senioritis during the last quarter of high school and got a D on my final) and 1 B+ (because I didn't study at all for my first exam and failed it-- I subsequently aced my other exams and got a B+ for the quarter.) I did not work very hard for these grades.

Also, I recall speaking to an admissions counselor at Berkeley about taking science courses at a community college about 2 years ago. They advised against it and said it would detract from the strength of my application.

Clearly, I don't think CC courses are bad because I've taken and continue to enroll in courses at CCs. And there are many exceptional students who attend courses at CCs. However, I do believe that CC courses are not as competitive, so I hope that optometry schools consider this factor during their admissions process.

 

[JeffChou]

Regardless of our subjective inclinations about competition at different schools, optometry school admissions committees often DO consider rankings. However fair or not we feel this may be, is not relevant to the process of applying to optometry school (at least to the schools I've been paying more attention to).

The admissions committees will be looking at the entire transcript. They have much experience in reviewing GPA trends among schools. If you are concerned about your transcript, the ideal thing to do is to contact the schools you are interested in and find out what their policy is and how much it may affect you.

Good Luck All!