GPA for PhD

[sak91]

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I am currently an MPH student at UMASS and things are going very well. I am planning on graduating this December. So far, I have a good GPA...3.8. I am hoping to stay right around that when I graduate.

My undergrad GPA, however, was total and complete ****. I graduated with a whopping 2.5. It's a miracle I even got into an MPH program...my work experience and research definitely helped. Anyways, will my low undergrad GPA be a huge negative when I apply for PhD programs? I was thinking of getting my PhD in Epidemiology...

I also have tons of work experience and research. By the time I apply, I'll have a few papers published. It's just that damn undergrad GPA....

 

[sak91]

Anyone??

 

[AoiSora]

Will you be applying to PhD programs in public health or in a traditional discipline? Without knowing your field it's hard to say.

I have a PhD in a social sciences discipline from a well regarded program. As far as I can tell, all my cohorts had high undergraduate GPAs. Mine was in the 3.7 range and I remember feeling defensive about it when I applied (I worked 20+ hours a week in undergrad and juggled 3 majors.) However, I think PhD admissions is changing--at least for my field. Having single- or first-authored publications will set you apart from the pack, as will strong recommendations from well-networked scholars in your field. Publish-or-perish starts even before the PhD these days, so programs like evidence of publication even before admission. Undergraduate GPA is not a good predictor of publication productivity. (The truth is that there is so much grade inflation these days that when I read admissions files I don't pay a lot of attention to GPA... and when I do, I take into account the major.)

Getting into a PhD program isn't like getting into a professional program like the MPH. PhD admission is a much more "boutique" process. In many cases, programs are trying to put together a cohort of only 10 or so people. If you present yourself as an experienced and productive scholar with a clear research agenda, the admissions committee will be more willing to focus on your graduate GPA than on your undergraduate grades. But again, I suspect this varies a lot according to field and to standards set by the graduate school (some schools will set prerequisite standards for admission.)

 

[Masgniw]

There's really nothing you can do about it, so you might as well focus on everything the above poster mentioned.

 

[backwardinduction]

I feel like you'd definitely get in somewhere, but for top programs, it'd be very unlikely. I'd say you'd have a good shot at schools that are below the top 20 or so.

 

[agh2415]

I feel like you'd definitely get in somewhere, but for top programs, it'd be very unlikely. I'd say you'd have a good shot at schools that are below the top 20 or so.

Not necessarily. I have a similar profile to the OP, with a 2.75 UG GPA. I got into 3 top-20 Epi PhD programs. For some, being under 3.0 may be an automatic disqualifier, but others may look beyond it.

Like everyone else has said, nothing you can do about it now. Focus on publishing and getting LORs that attest to your academic performance.