bad phd grades

• Grade Point Average – A Guide for PhD Students

Written by Sarah Hastings-Woodhouse

Grade Point Average (GPA) is one of the most widely used grading systems in the world. Universities in many countries use GPA to assess student attainment, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

If you’re considering doctoral study, your GPA could be an important part of your PhD application . In countries that use GPA, many universities take a student’s Bachelors and/ or Masters GPA into account when deciding whether to accept them for PhD study.

In this guide, we’ll cover what GPA is and when it matters for prospective PhD students. We’ll also compare it to some other international grading systems.

On this page

What is gpa.

GPA is a method of assessing student attainment. Its defining feature is that it is continuous . This means that it can fluctuate throughout your programme. If you want to maintain a strong GPA, your grades will need to be consistently high!

Your GPA is calculated by dividing the total sum of your grades by the number of credits you’ve taken. To do this, each letter grade is given a numerical value. In the USA (and in many other countries) GPA is calculated on a 4-point scale:

This will give you a number between 0 and 4, which is your GPA. 4.0 is normally the highest GPA you can achieve, though some ‘weighted’ GPA systems use a 5.0 scale which award students 5 points if they achieve an A in an especially challenging course. If your university uses a weighted system, you could come out with a GPA of higher than 4.0.

Does GPA matter for a PhD application?

If you’re planning to apply for a PhD in a country that uses GPA, your university may calculate a GPA equivalent for you, based on academic transcripts from your previous degree(s). It is common for graduate programmes in the USA to do this.

US universities are unlikely to set a minimum GPA requirement for PhD courses – but this doesn’t mean that your GPA is not an important aspect of your application. As a very general rule, a GPA or 3.0 or higher is considered roughly equivalent to UK 2.1 at undergraduate level, or Merit at Masters level. This is often considered the minimum GPA necessary to demonstrate that you’re capable of academic work at the doctoral level. Though it won’t automatically disqualify you, a GPA lower than 3.0 is likely to be a disadvantage.

If you plan on applying to a more competitive university, such as a member of the famous Ivy League , you may need a higher GPA. At the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering, for example, the average GPA amongst successful PhD applicants in 2021 was 3.8. Stanford University strongly recommends that those applying for a PhD programme have a GPA of at least 3.5.

If you studied more than one subject for your previous degree (may US-based PhD applicants will have graduated from a multidisciplinary undergraduate programme) universities may also be interested in your discipline-specific GPA . For example, a university may accept a 3.0 GPA across your entire degree, but except a 3.5 average in the subject you plan to study for your PhD.

If you do have a lower GPA, don’t worry, you can compensate for this through your personal statement , CV and letters of recommendation . You shouldn’t be discouraged from applying to your dream programme by a less-than-perfect score, especially if you feel you can stand out from the crowd in other ways.

GPA conversions

If you’re planning to study your PhD abroad , working out what your qualifications will be worth in another country can certainly complicate the application process! We’ve put together a rough guide to international grade conversions below, comparing the US 4-point GPA scale to the grading systems used in some popular PhD study abroad destinations.

Please note that these conversions are intended as guidelines only. Each university will calculate international equivalences differently. If you’re not sure whether your grades are sufficient for entry onto a particular PhD programme, it’s best to contact your chosen university directly.

Overall grades for degree programmes in the UK are calculated at the end of your course based on the results of your exams and coursework.

We’ve adapted information supplied by the Fulbright Commission to give you an idea of US/ UK grade conversions for Masters degrees:

Conversions will vary between universities. Many will accept a GPA of 3.7 or more as the equivalent of a distinction grade.

USA vs Australia

Postgraduate students in Australia are awarded grades ranging from ‘High Distinction’ (HD) to ‘Fail’ (F). The table below shows the grading scale used at Monash University, but the exact score range required to achieve each grade varies between universities.

USA vs Canada

Many universities in Canada use the same 4-point GPA scale as in the USA. However, there is considerable variation across the country, and universities in some provinces use scales with up to 9 points.

Some universities will use a 4.3-point scale, where the top score is awarded to the highest-achieving students at the tutor’s discretion:

USA vs Germany

Masters degrees in Germany are normally graded using a 5-point scale, where 1.0 is the highest grade you can achieve and 4.0 is the minimum passing grade:

USA vs the Netherlands

Dutch degrees are graded using a 10-point scale. 10 is the highest mark and 5.5 is usually the minimum needed to pass. It’s very unusual for grades of 9 and 10 to be awarded, which is why a grade of 8 or higher is roughly equivalent to a US GPA of 4.0.

USA vs Norway

Norwegian universities assess students using letter grades from A to F. E is the minimum passing grade. Some institutions translate these letter grades into numerical values between 1 and 5 in order to calculate GPA equivalences.

Grading systems vary hugely between countries and even between universities, so make sure to check the requirements of your chosen university carefully before applying for a PhD. You can find out more about PhD study as an international student in our study abroad section .

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February 22, 2022

How to Apply Successfully to Grad School Despite a Low GPA [Episode 458]

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What steps can you take to get accepted despite a low GPA? [Show Summary]

Linda Abraham outlines five steps for mitigating the impact of a low GPA so that you can move forward with a successful graduate school application.

Linda Abraham, Founder and CEO of Accepted shares her insights into overcoming low stats [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 458th episode of Admissions Straight Talk . Thanks for joining me. Before we dive into our main topic for today, I want to invite you to take advantage of Accepted’s library of free downloadable reports, several of which discuss how to apply successfully with low stats. Check them all out today . 

Now to today’s topic. I was recently doing some end-of-the-year/beginning-of-the-year review and noticed that one of our most popular podcasts is “Five A’s For Your Low GPA”, which is now going to be replaced by today’s podcast . I decided to address this topic again, because it is a recurring issue and because I’d like to address some factors that have changed since the initial podcast in 2016 which is almost six years ago. 

We’re going to go through the five A’s as I call them, or the five steps for dealing with your low GPA . You really have to do all of them if you have a below-average GPA, because you want to mitigate its impact or ideally eliminate its impact as schools evaluate your application. So to deal with a GPA that is causing you concern, I’m going to give you the following five steps.

The five A’s are:

• Assess your GPA (is it really low?)
• Analyze the causes of your low GPA
• Address those causes
• Add context to the low GPA
• Avoid mistakes in addressing the GPA

Now let’s go through each topic in more depth.

1. Assess your GPA (is it really low?) [2:41]

I define a low GPA as one that is 0.3 or more below your target school’s average GPA for matriculating students on the US 4.0 scale. This information can usually be found in posted class profiles, or sometimes on US news rankings, or on Accepted’s Med Selectivity Index , Law Selectivity Index , and MBA Selectivity Index . An alternative definition, which also works in my book, is a GPA that is below your target school’s 75th or 80th percentile if you have that information. Usually, the information I started with is a little bit easier to come by, but if you have this, it works also.

Now let’s take a look at these definitions and discuss what’s good and bad about them because there’s good and bad in both of them. First, the good. What I like about these definitions is that they are relative to the schools you are targeting. So if you have a 3.3 GPA and the average GPA for the entering class at your target school is a 3.3, you do not have a low GPA. You don’t have anything to mitigate. You don’t have anything to address unless possibly there’s a downward trend in your grades. However, don’t tune out yet. If you have that same 3.3 and the schools that you’re aiming for have an average GPA for accepted students of 3.7 or above, as do several medical schools, some law schools, Stanford Business School , and other graduate programs, then you have a low GPA and you should definitely, definitely listen to the rest of this podcast because you’re going to need to do the steps that I’m going to outline.

What’s the flaw in my definition? Well, there are some flaws. Number one is admissions is about much more than just your GPA and you’re going to see that later in this podcast. You cannot look at any one number, be it the number of publications you have, your GPA, your test score, the amount of work experience you have, the number of hours you volunteered, and focus exclusively on that number. It’s just not going to work. Whether it’s a good number or a bad number, admissions is much more holistic than that. It really, and truly is. 

By focusing on the average, which I’ve done, remember I said 0.3 or more below the average, the definition doesn’t reflect the impact of trends in your GPA or of extenuating circumstances. We’re going to get to that a little bit later. It doesn’t reflect the impact of diversity or adversity, and non-academic experiences on how schools view these numbers and it doesn’t reflect how far away you are below average. If you’re more than 0.3, well there’s 0.3 which is kind of on the cusp but there’s also 0.5. There’s one full point. It all makes a difference.

A little below isn’t really a problem. Again, if you’re right at 0.3, I think there’s something to address, but it’s not as serious a problem as if you’re talking 0.5 are one full point. The elements that are not included in this definition, the fuzzier aspects of admissions really, are the flaws in my definition. And they provide opportunities for those of you who may have a low GPA and still want to attend the programs of your dreams. Because if you provide the context and you provide alternative evidence of your academic ability, you still can get in. 

2. Analyze the causes of your low GPA [6:09]

Ask yourself these questions: “Did you have a hard time adjusting to college? Did your GPA take a hit during your freshman year, but improve every year after with you maybe landing on the Dean’s list in the last two years that you were in college? Maybe you earned a 4.0 the last year?” 

Well, that’s a very different GPA than the opposite trend or kind of just flat the whole way. Or maybe did you start out strong earning a 3.9 during your freshman year, but then lost your motivation. Your grades dropped steadily so that your average GPA during your senior year had declined to a 3.1. That trend is a red flag. Even if the overall GPA is competitive, maybe a 3.4 or a 3.5.

There are also circumstances beyond your control, like illness, family issues, God forbid an accident. Did they cause a drop in your grades for a specific short period of time? Did you declare the wrong major and have poor grades in that major until you realized that your true calling is something else, and then you start to excel? Were you working part-time to support yourself? Or did you have a major sports commitment in order to qualify for an athletic scholarship that allowed you to attend the school that you attended? The causes of your low GPA, as well as how low it is, will influence how you deal with it and how much effort you must expend to deal with it.

3. Address those causes [7:39]

Now think about how you’re going to address your GPA. Your basic goal in addressing your GPA is to show that it isn’t really an accurate reflection of your ability today, as you apply, as you go to graduate school. It’s to provide evidence that you’re really capable of much, much more academically. There are two basic steps that you have to do to make that case and mitigate the impact of your low GPA.

Number one, whether it’s the MCAT, the GMAT, the LSAT, GRE, the DAT, whatever the test is that you have to take or are able to take, it is one way to mitigate the impact of a low GPA, because it can show that you really have the raw intellectual ability to succeed in that graduate program. It indicates that raw talent and aptitude for your chosen field, and in many cases, has years, if not decades, of correlation with success in those programs. It’s one way to settle doubt that your GPA is an accurate reflection of your ability if that test score is much higher.

You might be thinking, “My school doesn’t require a test score.” Or “The test is optional at my target programs, and I was planning to apply for a waiver and not take it.” I hate to break it to you, but somehow you must show academic ability, on par with those who attend your target programs. If your GPA is below average, as we defined it a minute ago, and you don’t have significant postbac or master’s programs with strong grades, a high test score can really help you or help the school understand what you are capable of and show that you have much greater intellectual horsepower than your GPA shows.

Just understand this. The last thing most graduate schools want to do is admit someone who can’t handle the work, and who ultimately drops out because they simply aren’t up to it. It’s lost revenue to them. Its poor use of their resources. It’s up to you to give them the evidence that you can handle their programs and prepping for and acing the test is one excellent way to do so. Sometimes, in conjunction with additional recent A’s, which is step number two. Now, some of you are probably thinking, “I can’t ace the test. Can I just take the classes?” You can try it. Let’s go to the classes right now.

So step number two in showing that you really are capable of much more than your GPA indicates would be taking classes in your chosen field and earning A’s in them. For some of you, that may mean a few classes. It might be HBS Online for people aiming for business school, for premed, it could mean a full postbac program, a year of coursework for academic enhancers. I would encourage you to listen to our podcast, “ Is a Postbac Program Right For You ?” where we go into that, that’s specifically for premeds and pre-health care folks. 

For future MBAs , aim for A’s in business-related courses. Again, I mentioned HBS Online, you could also take statistics for business, calculus, accounting one, economics one. Only take courses for which you have the prerequisites and remember the prerequisites because you want to get those A’s. For law school applicants , you could take a few undergrad law courses or classes that require writing and analysis. Regardless of your degree goal, you want to show that you have the self-discipline, the study skills, and motivation to apply yourself and excel in an academic setting related to your chosen field of study.

I’ve emphasized the importance of both the courses and the tests if you want to mitigate the impact of a low GPA. I sometimes like to say that the test score shows that you have the head to succeed, and A’s, or grades, show that you have the derriere to succeed, or that you have the ability to sit and study and take a test, because you need both in graduate school to succeed in graduate school. And you need evidence of both to get into graduate school.

How many classes should you take? I’m sure some of you are wondering. Well, that depends on how bad your GPA was relative to your target school’s average, as well as how much time has elapsed since you graduated. If there is a big gap between your GPA and your target school’s average, you may want to enroll in a master’s program. Or as I mentioned for pre-health care applicants, a formal postbac program . If you have put several years of relevant achievement between you and your undergrad performance, you may need just a few classes to assure schools that you really have changed. Especially if you have a nice shiny GMAT, GRE, or whatever is a relevant test. With a high test score and evidence that you can perform academically in class, you are well on your way to dealing with that low GPA. 

4. Add context to the low GPA [12:43]

What went wrong? What happened? Schools are going to wonder. Don’t let them imagine that you were out on the beach, goofing off. Why was your undergrad GPA low? How do I know it won’t happen again? That’s what they’re going to be asking if they don’t know what was going on. You need to respond to these concerns proactively . You don’t want worried admissions readers thinking the thoughts that you are on the beach, you’re a goof-off and you haven’t changed, because worried admissions readers tend to vote deny. This is especially true if you’re talking about a declining GPA average. Then it’s hard to deal with. 

How can you deal with these worries? Well, I’ve already given you a couple of steps in terms of addressing that GPA. But you also want to factually provide context to the application reader, the person evaluating your application and qualifications.

Your goal should be to show that whatever contributed to your poor performance as an undergrad, either is not a factor in your life anymore or something that you’ve learned how to deal with so that it won’t affect your performance going forward. You can break these typical causes into three broad categories. 

Circumstances beyond your control.

Number one is circumstances beyond your control. Those usually are illness, accidents, family problems, sometimes financial problems. If these are the factors that contributed to a drop in grades, hopefully, they are behind you. What you should do about them, is you need to straightforwardly and simply state what happened. Point to evidence that it is behind you and no longer an influence upon your performance, or that you’ve learned how to deal with the situation.

If you have difficult family dynamics that were weighing upon you, and now you have a good relationship with your parents, whatever it is. If you suffered from emotional issues, perhaps as an undergrad, and you have held down a job for the last X years. You’ve been doing well. You’ve learned how to deal with those emotional issues and they are behind you. With that said, obviously, illness hopefully is behind you. Again, whatever family issues are hopefully behind you.

Circumstances partially within your control.

Then there are circumstances that at least partially are within your control, that would imply that perhaps there are some less than optimal decisions that you made along the way. Poor decisions early in your college career. Again, a bad choice of majors is a classic one. Inferior time management and study skills when you first started college, is not unusual at all. You could have faced a need to work 20 or more hours per week. That’s not an error, it’s just a circumstance that is not entirely within your control. You have to have a roof over your head and food to eat.

What should you do about it?

If the circumstances that you’re talking about resulted from a mistake, you picked the wrong major, you were immature in your freshman year, definitely happens, it’s common, take responsibility for any mistakes that you’ve made and point to evidence, like your age, your high test scores, perhaps your success on the job, that you have matured and have developed into a responsible, grounded adult, who has time management skills, has a good way of prioritizing and things like that. Good executive function. Again, show them you’re a different person than you were when you goofed off your freshman year.

If you had to work, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. But do state how many hours per week you worked and try to provide evidence of grades when you weren’t working so hard and actually had the time to study. 

No extenuating circumstances.

The third circumstance that I want to deal with is a low or declining GPA with no extenuating circumstances. As I said earlier, a declining GPA is a major red flag. What you should do: While, you can be happy you don’t have to handle the circumstances and situations like illness, family problems, or serious accidents, you do have to take responsibility and assure the school that it won’t happen again. You need to have more classes with A’s to show that you are now motivated.

You may need to discuss what caused the grade decline or lack of motivation. But the goal has to be to persuade the admissions reader, that those circumstances are behind you, and you have your motivation and your mojo back. 

Now, I’ve harped somewhat on the serious impact of a declining GPA. And that is intentional. It’s a problem. Still, I do want to distinguish between a minor fluctuation and a declining GPA. I was once asked by an applicant who had a 3.9 his freshman year if he would have a problem in other words, if his GPA would be looked at as declining, because the rest of his college career, he averaged a 3.8. No, that is a fluctuation. That is not a declining trend. It is an outstanding GPA. And not at all a cause of concern.

Applicants sometimes worry that an explanation will seem like whining or make them come across as defensive. Well, I think that concern is justified. If that’s your concern, that’s legitimate. You don’t want to whine, and you don’t want to provide excuses. However, providing context – I didn’t say providing an explanation. I said, providing context — just lets the admissions reader understand the environment in which you were operating. And perhaps the challenges you faced could even make your 3.0 look like a 3.8. You need to give the admissions committee the ability to make that judgment. Provide them with the context.

I remember working with a client. This was one of my first clients, in the mid-1990s. He attended a major university but he grew up in a rural area about three hours away from the big city and the big university. Somewhere along the way, he was working his way through school, and one of his parents became ill. I think he was also an only child. So he was going to school at a very tough competitive university, working, and visiting home regularly, which was a three-hour drive each way. Once the context was given, what he had achieved seemed so impressive that it put his GPA in a whole different light. Now he wasn’t whining. Don’t whine. He didn’t whine about his family illness. He didn’t whine about the fact that he had to work his way through school. He just said, “I’d like the admissions committee to understand that this is what was going on when I was going.” And, I think from his sophomore and junior year there was a dip and grade when he was traveling home so frequently. 

To avoid whining, make your description of the circumstances straightforward, take responsibility again for any mistakes, don’t try and justify errors of judgment, and focus on what you’ve done to show your ability.

5. Avoid mistakes in addressing the GPA [19:35]

I’ve given you four A’s for your GPA in the form of to-dos. I also want to give you an A for something very important to avoid, major mistakes.

Don’t: Think schools don’t care about your GPA

The biggest mistake is to think that schools don’t consider the GPA. I have talked to applicants who actually do think that. Now, there is a grain of truth to that assumption for Executive MBA programs , because applicants to those programs are typically 10 years or more after college graduation. But most of you are applying within five years of graduation, and your GPA is the school’s window into how you perform academically, how you perform period.

It is also something that all graduate applicants will have, and it is one common means of comparison in a competitive process. Admittedly, it’s imperfect because of differences in grading scales and courses of studies, but it is something you all will have in common with your competition. Frankly, as schools make tests optional, in my opinion, those grades and transcripts are going to become more important. They just have less to evaluate without the tests. 

Don’t: Proclaiming you were too busy to study

The second most common mistake is one applicants make in adding context to their mediocre performance. They err by proudly proclaiming that they were too busy to study and take their classes seriously. Variations on this theme would be, “I took too many units so that I could finish faster or collect an additional degree.” “I enrolled in advanced classes, and I didn’t have the prerequisites, because I was in such a rush to get done.” “I was so active in extracurricular activities that were so important and so vital, and so impactful, that I didn’t have time for classes and coursework.” Or, “I was too busy with my startup to attend class.” The key feeling in all of these excuses, and these are excuses, as opposed to context, is that there is no acknowledgment of, or taking responsibility for, a mistake, poor time management, or misplaced prioritization. No acknowledgment of bad decisions. You did it this way and are happy you made those choices and would do it again.

While I’ll give you an A for honesty, your reasoning will basically tell the admissions reader that you are likely to exhibit the same behavior in graduate school. And frankly have a similar academic record. Your candor will not warm the heart of an admissions reader. So you might get an A for honesty, an A for candor, and all that, but you’re not going to get in, because they’re going to be worried that you’re going to do the same thing all over again. Again, if you are proud of your academic record, and feel that your below-average grades were justified, not because of some emergency, but because of priorities that you still adhere to, well, again, it’s just not going to get you in.

Don’t: Forget to highlight your strengths!

The last mistake that sometimes applicants make when dealing with a low GPA, is being so focused on your GPA weakness or other weaknesses, that you don’t highlight your strengths . A successful application to a competitive graduate school program, whether it’s business school, law school, medical school, or whatever, is not exclusively about ameliorating weaknesses. You’ve got to do that if you have them, but you also have to present the school with positive reasons to accept you, like every other candidate. In other words, addressing that weakness doesn’t absolve you of the responsibility to make a case for acceptance.

An MBA client once called me up and asked me about his handling of his low GPA. He would not hear this part of my response and trust me, I spoke to him a few times. He was so focused on that negative element in his profile that he ignored everything I said about the necessity of giving the admissions committees good reasons to get excited about the prospect of having him as a member of their class. Don’t make the same mistake. Give them positive reasons to want you. 

I had a father call once to get information from me for our services. That’s very common. They bought for their son, and the son, unfortunately, had taken the test for his particular program, and the score went down dramatically the second time and he didn’t cancel it so it’s on his record. The father was upset about it and called me. And I said, “Well, your son can apply at lower rank schools and do this and that” otherwise, there was no time to retake at that point. It would’ve meant waiting for a whole other cycle. They didn’t want to do that. The son applied and I got a call, another time, the father basically said the same thing. And then I got another call, “My son got an interview invitation. “That’s fantastic!” I said. He then kind of moaned, “But what about the test score?” And I said, “Just forget the test score. Don’t focus on the test score now. Focus on the things that are going right.”

When you address the GPA, or in his case, it was a test score, and obviously this podcast is about the GPA, once you’ve addressed it, focus on the good things, the strengths in your applications, your motivation for this degree program, the experiences that’s prepared you for this educational path and your ultimate career path. What you hope to accomplish after you get the degree, what you hope to accomplish when you’re at that program. Don’t focus exclusively on your weakness. Give them positive reasons to want you.

We’ve included links in these show notes with any resources I mentioned, and a bunch I didn’t mention, but which will be helpful to you. Please check them all out. Again, please take a second to explore our collection of free reports, and you can download any that you want from reports.accepted.com . You can find advice there on both ameliorating weaknesses and highlighting strengths.

Related Links:

• Accepted Free Resource Library
• Overcoming Weaknesses in Your MBA Profile
• Dealing with Low Stats when Applying to Med School
• Law School Selectivity Index
• MBA Selectivity Index
• Med Selectivity Index
• How to Overcome a Low GPA Cheat Sheet
• Accepted’s Admissions Consulting Services

Related shows:

• Is a Postbac Program Right for You?
• An Accepted Student’s Advice for Reapplying to Medical School
• A Dean’s Perspective on What Makes Great Physicians

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How to Explain Your Low GPA to Grad Schools

So you got a less-than-perfect GPA in college, and now you want to learn the best way how to explain a low GPA to grad schools. Don’t despair! Graduate school admissions committees are people too — they can understand that achieving a perfect GPA isn’t always possible for every student.

Nonetheless, when you’re applying to graduate schools with a weak academic record, it’s important to be honest about why your grades didn’t cut it. Read on for tips on how best to explain yourself and potentially gain admittance into the program you want to get into.

How Important is the GPA to Grad Schools?

Don’t let yourself be fooled into believing that graduate programs don’t take GPAs into account. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Since many applicants are applying within five years of graduating, schools rely on your GPA to gain insight as to how you have performed academically and overall throughout your studies.

The GPA is a universal point of comparison among graduate school applicants, making it an invaluable tool in the competitive selection process. Despite any slight variations that may exist between programs’ grading scales, the GPA remains something all schools can agree upon and use to compare candidates. As universities shift away from requiring the GRE for admission, applicants must bank on their academic transcripts and grades to make a lasting impression. As admissions committees will be putting more emphasis on grades, the GPA will become more critical than ever before since it serves as an all-encompassing assessment of a candidate’s abilities.

What is considered a low GPA for graduate school?

If you’re looking to determine if your GPA is considered low, use the US 4.0 scale as a guideline and measure it against your target school’s average matriculating student GPA. You can usually find this information in class profiles or by consulting U.S. News rankings. As an alternative approach, compare your GPA against the 75th or 80th percentile of your target schools if that data is available to you.

Your GPA is more than just a number

When considering your GPA, it is important to understand that admissions committees perceive it as a result of potential variation. This variation is significant, and its effects should be taken into consideration. Admissions committees dig deeper than just a letter grade and analyze your transcripts to detect patterns and trends. Depending on the factors that led to your low GPA, you may need to put in extra effort and dedication to overcome it.

Were your grades on an upward trend? Did you experience a turbulent freshman year in college, leading to a decline in your GPA, but then worked relentlessly and graduated with an impressive score? Was your academic performance lacking for a short period as you got sidetracked with the wrong major but then improved your grades after getting back on track and finding what truly resonated with you? If so, this academic growth could work to your advantage.

Were your grades on a downward trend? Did you start off with a bang, earning an impressive GPA score your very first year of college only to have the motivation slip away leading to steadily declining grades until graduation? That kind of downward fluctuation is cause for significant concern.

How to Mitigate a Low GPA in Your Grad School Application

To counteract a low GPA, it is essential to emphasize that your GPA does not accurately demonstrate your current academic abilities.

There are four main strategies to minimize the influence of a low GPA.

Taking the GRE

The GRE is an influential way to emphasize your raw intellectual capabilities, no matter what the GPA may be. Because it has been correlated with program success over many years, this standardized test demonstrates that you have the talent and aptitude for your chosen field.

Whatever your target discipline, taking the test sends a strong statement of commitment to pursuing graduate studies. This is why it is wise to take the test even if the test is optional for admission into the program. Taking the exam will prove beyond any doubt that you are academically capable and competitive with those admitted into your target programs.

If your GPA is substandard, an impressive test score can be a fantastic way to demonstrate that you have much more potential and intellectual capacity than what the numbers show. Achieving a strong result on this assessment will demonstrate to universities that you are more than capable of living up to their expectations.

If you want to learn how to explain your low GPA to grad schools, it’s essential to remember this: no graduate school wants the burden of accepting someone who cannot live up to their standards and eventually quits. This would be an inefficient use of funds and resources for them.

To show that you are devoted to upholding the goals expected from you, there is no better way than acing the GRE .

Signing up for more classes

You can show that you are capable of more than your GPA indicates by taking classes in your chosen field and earning A’s in them. It doesn’t matter what your degree goal is – you want to demonstrate that you have the self-discipline, study skills, and motivation to do well in an academic setting related to the field you want to study.

When deciding how many classes to take, it is important to think about the gap between your GPA and the average of your target school as well as when you graduated. If you’re looking to bridge the gap between your current GPA and the target school’s average, a Master’s program may be just what you need. If you’ve managed to build a strong portfolio of accomplishments since your undergrad years, demonstrating that your academic performance has improved could be as easy as taking just a few classes.

Additionally, if you are blessed with an impressive GRE score and evidence that proves your academic excellence in the classroom, then there’s no doubt you can defeat any negative impact from having had a low GPA in the past.

Statement of purpose

There are certain situations when it is appropriate to address a low GPA in your application materials. And learning how to explain your low GPA for grad schools is all about knowing where and when. However, there are also times when doing so may do more harm than good. Here are some guidelines to help you determine when it is and is not okay to discuss your GPA:

-If the rest of your application is strong, you generally don’t need to bring up your GPA.

-If your overall GPA is below a 3.0 but you have recently taken steps to improve it (such as taking extra classes or retaking courses), you may want to briefly mention this in your statement of purpose.

-If there are specific circumstances that led to a low GPA (such as an illness or family emergency), you may want to explain these in your essay.

-In general, it is best NOT to address a low GPA if doing so would require revealing sensitive personal information (such as mental health issues) that you would prefer not to disclose on your application.

Although it is usually best not to mention your low GPA in your statement of purpose , there are some cases where it might be beneficial to do so. If you have excellent reasons that help explain your low grades, then go ahead and clarify yourself.

You can own up to a low GPA or bad grade in your SOP, but only if you have an understandable excuse for it. If not, the best approach is to focus instead on how you learned from that experience and used those lessons in subsequent academic endeavors.

Even the most diligent and intelligent students experience days when nothing goes right, so one sub-par grade or less than stellar semester GPA isn’t a death sentence. As a general rule, any excuse you provide should have specific details and sound believable. It is not wise to invent extraordinary or obscure stories to conceal your low mark; rather, keep it sincere and honest without exaggeration.

Personal Struggles

When it comes to explaining the cause of your below-average academic performance for one semester, you should be courteous and honest about any personal health or other issues that may have impacted your results. However, it is important to remember that this reason can only defend a single poor semester; if multiple semesters are involved then citing ill health or bad luck as an explanation could work against you.

Good Grades in Core Courses

If your GPA is not as impressive, you can still emphasize your commitment to the field that interests you by highlighting your exemplary grades in major subjects or related classes.

Financial Problems

If financial issues caused your low GPA, you should explain this fact concisely and honestly. Mentioning how you had to study and work simultaneously can be helpful, as it can reveal the reasons why academic success may have been difficult to achieve at times. Keep it short and persuasive by tackling the issue in only two or three sentences.

Recommenders

If you don’t have any of the previously mentioned reasons that could help you solve how to explain your low GPA to grad schools, consider reaching out to an instructor who wrote a reference letter for you. They’ll be in the best position to argue that grades do not accurately reflect your talents and ambition toward your chosen major. A few sentences from them in their recommendation can make all the difference!

When Should You Not Address Your Low GPA in your SOP?

With the admissions committees receiving thousands of applications each year, it is vital to bear in mind that they are familiar with all kinds of rationalizations for poor academic performance. Ultimately, it’s not always advisable to make excuses for a poor grade if:

• You often had bad grades. An occasional bad grade happens to the best of us. Nonetheless, it is unnecessary to explain grades that are consistently Cs and Ds throughout your academic career. Instead, let your other accomplishments such as internships, extra-curricular activities, and work experience showcase your abilities!
• You don’t have a strong enough justification. Many people say they don’t do well on exams and that their GPA doesn’t accurately reflect their skill level or determination. They also use the grading system of their university as an excuse for low scores, but this argument falls flat – undergraduate GPAs are based on several different assessments. It’s unreasonable to rely solely on one exam when gauging your academic success! If some of your grades are not up to the mark, resist the urge to distract admission committee members with irrelevant points. Rather than wasting time and effort talking about it, address these low scores only if you have a plausible justification for doing so.

There is no one-size-fits-all in answer how to explain a low GPA to grad schools. It takes thoughtful reflection, practice, and understanding your strengths to craft an explanation that will give your application the boost you need to be successful. While there is no assurance that any of these tips will work for every program, you can certainly set yourself up for success by using these strategies.

Whatever path you choose in the end, remember: don’t let fears or doubts keep you from pursuing the graduate program of your dreams. So take the necessary steps to make it happen and see what amazing opportunities await! If all else fails or if you’d like an extra pair of eyes to take a look at your application before sending it off, make sure to check out our graduate school application services —they’re here to help get you where you want to go!

With a Master’s from McGill University and a Ph.D. from New York University, Dr. Philippe Barr is the founder of The Admit Lab . As a tenure-track professor, Dr. Barr spent a decade teaching and serving on several graduate admission committees at UNC-Chapel Hill before turning to full-time consulting. With more than seven years of experience as a graduate school admissions consultant, Dr. Barr has stewarded the candidate journey across multiple master’s and Ph.D. programs and helped hundreds of students get admitted to top-tier graduate programs all over the world .

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Of monsters and mentors: PhD disasters, and how to avoid them

Despite all that’s been done to improve doctoral study, horror stories keep coming. here three students relate phd nightmares while two academics advise on how to ensure a successful supervision.

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For all the efforts in recent years to improve the doctoral experience for students, Times Higher Education still receives a steady supply of horror stories from PhD candidates. To the authors of such submissions, the system appears, at best, indifferent to them and, at worst, outright exploitative. Here, we present three such examples – all of whose writers, tellingly, feel the need to remain anonymous, given the power dynamics involved.

Perhaps such tales are inevitable. Perhaps, even with the best will in the world, there will always be supervisor-supervisee relationships that just don’t function; expectations that, however heartfelt, just aren’t realistic; supervisors who just can’t find the time to give the kind of detailed supervision that they would like to give, and that students feel they need.

But perhaps there is still more that could be done to ensure that this most intense and crucial of academic relationships doesn’t end up on the rocks. In that spirit, two academics with strong views on the matter – one from science and one from the humanities – set out how they think the supervisory task should best be approached. Their guidance may not amount to a stake through the heart of the PhD horror franchise: as B-movie history amply demonstrates, good advice is not always heeded. But the exposure of the problems to further sunlight may at least slow the drip-drip of blood on to the doctoral carpet.

I had never felt so helpless in my life. The university wholly and blindly supported my supervisors, ignored my concerns and suggested, again, that I was making things up

When I was offered a fully funded doctorate in a UK environmental science laboratory, I was delighted and accepted instantly. I assumed that the experience of working in an international environment and the many transferable skills that I would learn would be a stepping stone to an exciting career beyond the academy. Little did I know that what I had signed up for would destroy not only my career plans but also my passion for the subject, my ambition and my self-confidence.

My supervisors turned out to have limited knowledge of the topic that they had so glamorously advertised, and the university lacked the facilities and machinery that I needed. Left with precious little guidance, I was obliged to work with methods that would do very little to enhance my career. An obvious solution was to set up an external collaboration, but my supervisors were reluctant to sanction it. They didn’t seem to want to share the glory with anyone else, but the environment that they created meant that there was never likely to be much glory to share anyway.

It didn’t help, either, that I am female. My male supervisors, in a male-dominated field, constantly made belittling remarks that they would never have made to a male student, remarks that led me to doubt my own capabilities. My doctorate became a living nightmare, and, after a year of ineffectively trying to solve the issues directly with my supervisors, I decided to take things further.

Because the head of my department had just resigned, I sought help from the university’s students’ union. But joint meetings with a union representative and my supervisors seemed to go nowhere, culminating in accusations that I was “making up” the issues. The union subsequently managed to arrange a meeting with the head of the graduate school, but, nearly six weeks after our meeting, he deemed my case too complex and I was ultimately told to solve my issues with my supervisors directly!

I had never felt so helpless in my life, and I was amazed at how unconcerned the university apparently was about student well-being. After months of more meetings with my supervisors and the union, I was contacted by the departmental postgraduate tutor, who expressed “concern” about my progress. This offered me a ray of hope. However, as usual, things got worse rather than better. The university wholly and blindly supported my supervisors, ignored my concerns and suggested, again, that I was making things up. I was offered an additional female supervisor, but, while welcome, that would have done little to solve the other issues.

I was given an ultimatum. I had two weeks to decide if I wanted to continue with my PhD and “accept” things as they were. The alternative was to leave – without any form of diploma or certificate for my two years of work (which included the publication of a first-author paper).

My last throw of the dice was to contact my funding body. However, my entire funding had already been transferred to my university, so there was little that it could do to help me. Thus I had no other choice but to quit and to watch as the university swept my case under the carpet, documenting my withdrawal as the result of “personal and health issues”.

Although the experience has cost me a lot, it also taught me a considerable amount. I learned to be wary of offers that seem too good to be true. I learned not to take my rights for granted. I learned the value of having expectations, commitments and offers put down in writing. I learned to trust no one.

I also learned a lot about how higher education institutions function. I discovered that they will do whatever it takes to cover up their own mishaps to save their reputation, even if it comes at the cost of destroying a young person’s career.

Anecdotally, cases similar to mine are becoming increasingly common. In recent months, there have been multiple ongoing cases at my former university, including more withdrawals. However, the university just recruits more students to make up for the losses.

It is well known that PhD students are widely seen by academics as a cheap workforce. But to be treated with such little respect by the people who are supposed to foster your career and help you to succeed is just not right in any workplace.

The author prefers to remain anonymous.

If you want to supervise and mentor with integrity and thoughtfulness, it is ultimately up to you to decide to do so, and to make the rules. You cannot assume good ethics on the part of your department

The power that you as a supervisor have over a student or postdoc is immense. Your actions, whether they are kindnesses, temper tantrums or intimacies, have the potential to shake up trainees to a much greater degree than their actions can affect you. And, most of the time, trainees have no way to solve conflicts with you if you won’t negotiate. Hence, it is your responsibility not to abuse your power.

But it takes integrity and clarity not to do so. Doctoral supervision is challenging. Your first difficulty is in acknowledging and getting beyond unrealistic expectations of your students that you might not even know you have. In science, new supervisors often imagine a lab filled with idealised workers: miniature versions of themselves, who churn out data and submit manuscripts. So when their charges don’t do exactly what they expect, they feel frustrated.

You might also observe that other supervisors allow their people to flounder, or even to fail. And even though you don’t want that, you have never had the lessons in personnel management that might ensure it doesn’t happen. Academic departments and institutions may or may not provide support to guide supervisors and students in building effective relationships.

If you want to supervise and mentor students with integrity and thoughtfulness, it is ultimately up to you to decide to do so, and to make the rules. You cannot assume good ethics on the part of your department. Nor can you assume, as a scientist, that your research group will passively absorb your good intentions. You must consider what you haven’t been trained in graduate school to consider: your own ethics, morals and sense of justice. Accept what institutional help exists, but if the policies at your institution render trainees expendable, you must develop the courage to stand up to power.

And then you build a framework for your students in which your ethics, rules and expectations are clear. For example, if you want your people to know that you are concerned with their professional futures, don’t let them drift without guidance. Evaluate each person regularly, and give feedback and compassionate criticism – not just on results but also on communication skills, presentation skills, time management and other characteristics of a successful professional. Keep notes on your meetings and follow up on what you and the trainee have discussed. Check in frequently and provide multiple opportunities for discussion and interaction. Be present.

Authorship and project choice are other vital areas where your policies can reflect your intentions to have a collaborative rather than a competitive climate. How are projects chosen? Do you actively foster collaboration, putting new people to work with more established lab members in a way that both parties benefit from, and will you continue to guide and monitor those collaborations? Do you intend to compete with your own trainees when they leave, or will you allow them to take their projects with them? Who writes the papers? How is authorship decided? Will you protect your people in authorship disputes with collaborating groups, or will you sacrifice a trainee to keep last authorship for yourself?

Create a group manual, with protocols, policy and helpful information, being specific about whatever you consider to be important for students to know. Include information about where trainees can find help if they have a personal or project issue – including problems with you.

You also need to be prepared to deal with the inevitable conflicts between lab members. Learn not to fear it, as that fear can mould you into a little dictator and keep you from understanding what people need. Have a process to work through conflicts (look up “interest-based conflict resolution”), as fair process often carries more weight with people even than achieving the outcome they wanted. Explain that process to your students, too: conflict resolution is one of the most valuable skills you can pass on. Don’t run from emotions – research is an emotional business – but learn to control your own emotional responses so that they don’t interfere with your communications.

Talk about ethical behaviour, and model that behaviour. If you expect your people to meet deadlines, you should be on time for meetings and return manuscripts and phone calls predictably. If you hear someone making a racist or sexist remark, correct the person: doing nothing will send the message that such behaviour is OK by you.

It is also important not to let yourself, or anyone else, become isolated. Make a point of introducing your students to your former students and postdocs – as well as to experts in their fields – when they visit or when you encounter them at meetings. Model the value of mentors by having mentors yourself, for personal and professional advice. Have the confidence to encourage trainees to have other role models and mentors, especially if they move into a project area in which you aren’t expert: having mentors is the start of building a web of relationships that will support trainees all through their lives.

But students must also be activists. Some supervisors eat their young, and some institutions allow it. As a student, you have the greatest level of control before you accept a position, so look for a place where you are respected and can do the work that you believe in. Ask other students questions about the scholarship and mentorship of particular supervisors before you make the decision to sign on. Once there, find role models, and get to know your community. The more you are integrated with others, the more people there are to help should your relationship with your supervisor or your project go badly.

It is unfortunate and unfair that students are not always protected, and that leaving might be the only solution to a toxic situation, but that is the harsh reality. So, as a student, doing all that you can to ensure that you will be appreciated and fulfilled in the position you accept is worth the effort.

Kathleen Barker is clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health. She is the author of At the Helm: Leading Your Laboratory (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press).

PhD students are often made to feel like they are a huge burden on their supervisors, and they are frequently ignored and unsupported

Tom sent his supervisor a chapter of his PhD thesis to read six weeks ago. He can’t start on the next chapter until he receives feedback on what he has already done. But he has had no response despite chasing up his supervisor – with whom he gets on well personally – several times. Indeed, he has not even received an acknowledgement of his email. And he knows that when he does finally receive a reply, there will be no mention of the delay, let alone an apology. He knows that because this has all happened before.

But this time the situation plays out even more egregiously. After Tom has waited for two more weeks, he finally hears back – a full two months after his initial email. But his supervisor has checked only the first two pages and the last page of his chapter, ignoring everything between.

Tom is frustrated, but he thanks his supervisor for the feedback and does not challenge her over the delay. How can he when he is entirely dependent on her to get him through the PhD submission process and to supply a good reference for subsequent job applications? Besides, sustaining a complaint would come down to his word against hers – and she is senior and well respected in the department and the university. No one would believe him. And even if they did, would it really be worth the hassle of getting another supervisor allocated to him in his final year – and, in the process, acquiring a bad reputation in the department for being the one who “made a fuss”?

So Tom soldiers on. Eventually, after much delay, he finishes his thesis. But is it ready for submission? He points out to his supervisor that he does not believe that the thesis has been checked properly, but she tells him to stop worrying, to take responsibility for his work and to be confident in its quality and in his ability to defend it. So he takes the plunge and submits. But he spends the next two months worrying that he might fail, rendering the past four years of hard work a complete waste of time.

This is a true story. And it takes only a few cursory searches of online PhD forums to see how common such scenarios are. PhD students are often made to feel like they are a huge burden on their supervisors, and they are frequently ignored and unsupported. Hence, even the most toxic student-supervisor relationships often persist long beyond the point of dysfunctionality, sometimes leaving the student with mental health problems.

I believe that this happens primarily because supervisors’ responsibilities are rarely clearly defined and because supervisors are not accountable to anyone for carrying them out. So I make the following recommendations:

• Training for supervisors must be compulsory
• Supervisors must be held accountable to someone senior in the department, and PhD students should be made aware of who that is
• Supervisors must be required to respond to their PhD students’ emails within three days, barring any type of leave
• Supervisors’ responsibilities need to be outlined clearly in a handbook that is available to both supervisors and students. It should also be made clear to students how much of their supervisors’ time each week or month is allocated to giving them feedback so that they are not made to feel like a burden
• Students must be assigned a mentor who is not close to their supervisor or in the same research team – ideally in another department altogether. This person can help to alleviate concerns and act as an intermediary when necessary
• There should be an anonymous procedure within each department that PhD students can use to complain or give feedback about their supervisor
• Supervisors should be formally encouraged to ask their students annually how they could better support them. This should be part of supervisors’ yearly appraisals.

In the absence of such steps, such stories as the one above will continue to write themselves over and over again.

If a relationship works well, it can be life-changing for the student and deeply rewarding for the supervisor. Supervising PhDs, I have been directed along paths that I would not have discovered otherwise

There is no doubt in my mind that the best part of being an academic over the years has been supervising PhD students. I cannot remember how many I have supervised, but the number runs to well over 80, and I have examined even more than that.

I am still in touch with many former students and examinees, and have been delighted to follow their careers wherever they are in the world. If a relationship between supervisor and postgraduate works well, it can be life-changing for the student and deeply rewarding for the supervisor. I have learned so much from supervising PhDs, and have been directed along new paths that I would not have discovered otherwise. There have been occasions when a student would arrive in my office with a bag full of books that he or she felt I should read: a living demonstration of the fact that it is not always the supervisor who provides all the bibliographical information.

I always start by telling students three things: that I will read every word they write in draft and then in final copy; that if they can get me to approve the thesis, given how tough I am going to be with them, then they have a very good chance of getting it past the examiners; and that they should not be discouraged if they find that their work is shifting direction after a few months. Writing a humanities PhD is an organic process, and if ideas have not started to develop by the end of the first year, then something is going wrong. Supervisors are particularly important at this stage, to provide reassurance and to help the student move forward.

Supervising PhDs is rewarding because you can see the process of intellectual development unfolding before your eyes. But it is also an intensely time-consuming task. All the various calculations of hourly allocation for supervision are absurd: if you are going to supervise properly, then you have to be prepared to spend hours reading drafts and then talking to the student.

There are some supervisors who do not write anything on drafts, preferring to correct only a final version. I find this ridiculously unhelpful. The whole point of reading drafts is to give proper feedback, and in the case of international students this kind of detailed reading is essential. Academic writing courses help, but careful editing by a supervisor is vital.

Nor should a supervisor’s detailed corrections focus on content alone. They also need to address spelling, punctuation, style and structure. Sometimes I have proposed radical structural changes, such as moving material from a conclusion into the introduction and vice versa. Such suggestions can be responsibly made only after you do a final read-through of the whole thesis – and that final reading is essential because although you may have read individual chapters or sections over several years, only the student will have a clear idea of how they want it to fit together.

It is also important to provide a written summary of general points after reading each draft. I learned early on that trying to do this verbally does not work because a student is often anxious and so does not take everything in. An email with bullet points works best. It is also important to balance criticism with praise, so the summary should start out with something positive before moving on to the “however” part. But all criticism, however negative, should be presented in such a way as to offer solutions and to help the student with the next stage in writing.

One of the problems facing supervisors in the UK is that the hours they put in are never adequately acknowledged by university management. This is because the UK has had to try to catch up with the kind of structure for doctorates that operates in US universities, and often PhD students have been tagged on as extras to someone’s academic workload. In the humanities, there have also been (and remain) some curious ideas about the need for a supervisor to be a “specialist” in exactly the same area as the student. Not only can this impose undue pressures on specialists in popular fields, it is also conceptually misconceived. Supervision should take both student and supervisor down relatively unexplored paths.

When it comes to choosing an examiner, practices vary widely. I have heard colleagues state firmly that the student should have no input, but I consult with mine because it is important to find out whether they have been in contact with any potential examiners. Also, despite clear guidelines, some universities still do not appoint anyone to chair the viva, which means that if a student feels hard done by, there is no independent witness. That only makes the choice of examiner even more important.

I don’t understand why supervising PhDs should be seen as a chore, rather than as a unique opportunity to engage with the brightest minds of younger generations. My research would be so much poorer without the help that I have received, directly and indirectly, from my doctoral students.

Susan Bassnett is professor of comparative literature at the universities of Warwick and Glasgow.

The degree was not awarded. Yet years later I discovered evidence that the viva had been deliberately biased. It’s a serious matter – so how would the university respond?

Some students cheat. That’s clear from numerous articles in the press. But is this a one-sided view? How often is the examiner’s performance questioned or subjected to independent scrutiny? For postgraduates in particular, this is no trivial matter: any bias or lack of honesty in an examiner can waste years of the candidate’s life and can degrade trust in the system.

My experience may not be typical, but it’s certainly an eye-opener for any postgraduate who assumes that the viva examination will be automatically fair and above board.

After an MSc, I completed four years of doctoral research at a major UK university. The results were formally approved by the relevant research council and were published as a series of seven papers in major, peer-reviewed journals.

Before the viva, I’d queried the choice of examiners, owing to perceived bias, but was overruled.

The degree was not awarded: the examiners claimed that none of my seven papers had deserved publication – even though they had satisfied a total of 14 independent referees. The examiners had decided all 14 were wrong.

So what did I do? I got on with my life. Years later, though, I discovered that my papers are cited in the examiners’ own publications: that is, the examiners had used them as valid references to support their own work. Incredibly, some of these papers had been referenced before my viva. Clearly, this was perverse, dishonest and highly unprofessional conduct: the viva had been deliberately biased. It’s a serious matter – so how would the university respond?

I sent it five of the examiners’ publications that cite my papers, together with a copy of the examiners’ signed report. I asked for acknowledgement that the viva had been biased. But the university declined to comment; it said the complaint was “out of time”.

Where there is evidence of malpractice, it should not matter when the viva was held: bias was deliberate and obvious, and the university could have followed up. Hiding behind process is a deeply inadequate response to such a blatant and egregious case. Nowadays, so-called historic cases of injustice and abuse, some from many decades ago, are being recognised and investigated. So why is corruption in education treated differently?

Examinations might be more equitable if, before the viva, candidates were officially entitled to raise concerns about their examiners – any concerns being addressed independently of the college or university. Such adjudication might seldom be needed, but it should still be in place. Examiners, after all, are people. And people – from students to presidents – do not always possess the levels of integrity and honesty that we naively expect of them.

Candidates should not be expected to accept a particular examiner if they can offer valid reasons for not doing so. And any university that seeks to impose a disputed examiner should be asked to reconsider its definition of fair play. 

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Gre prep online guides and tips, what is a good gpa for grad school.

When you graduated college, you were probably relieved that GPAs were finally over and done with — alas, that’s not the case if you’re applying to grad school. While there’s no overall minimum GPA for grad school, it can be tough to into grad school without stellar grades,  no matter how passionate you are about your chosen field. Still, it’s not impossible!

Come with me as we investigate the GPA needed for grad school and why GPA is such an important part of your grad school application. We’ll also teach you how to search for GPA expectations by program and give you tips on what you can do to make up for a low GPA.

Feature Image:  Blondinrikard Fröberg /Flickr, resized from original

What Is a Good GPA for Grad School Overall?

Aside from a 4.0 (which all grad schools love), what else is considered a good GPA for grad school? Unfortunately, there isn’t a precise answer because the exact GPA needed for grad school depends on the program you’re applying to . While some programs are OK with 2.5 or 3.0 GPAs, others balk at anything lower than a 3.5! As you can see, grad school GPA expectations can vary widely among programs, just like those for GRE scores .

This doesn’t mean there aren’t any major trends, though. Unlike undergrad admissions, it’s very common for grad schools to have specific GPA cutoffs. A GPA cutoff is the lowest GPA you can have in order to be considered for admission.  And based on our research, one of the most common grad school GPA minimums is a 3.0, or a B average .

For example, the  University of Wisconsin-Madison and UCLA  both require a minimum 3.0 GPA (for the junior and senior years) for admission into any grad program at their respective schools. While individual programs can vary in their GPA expectations, many grad schools possess school-wide GPA minimums.

On the other hand, some schools are a little more lenient with what GPAs they’ll accept — provided applicants can make up for their deficiencies in other ways . One example is  North Carolina State University , which states, “Provisional admission may be granted to students with related bachelor’s degrees from accredited institutions whose scholastic records are below the standards for admission.” In this case, applicants who don’t meet GPA requirements can still apply but will consequently face higher scrutiny as grad students if accepted.

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Lastly, some schools don’t have GPA cutoffs at all. And this isn’t limited to smaller, less competitive schools, either; even prestigious schools , such as Stanford’s Graduate School of Education , don’t always have minimum GPAs for their programs. Instead, they’ll review all applications, regardless of GPA! Pretty neat, eh?

To summarize what we’ve learned so far,  a 3.0 or higher is an overall solid GPA for grad school . But will you always need exactly a 3.0? And what kinds of factors affect grad schools’ GPA expectations anyway?

What Determines a Grad Program’s GPA Expectations?

Whether or not your GPA is good enough for a particular grad program depends on the following three factors:

• The competitiveness of the program you’re applying to
• The type of degree you’re seeking
• The field you’re entering

Below, I explain each of these factors using examples of real-life grad programs.

Competitiveness

First, let’s take a look at competitiveness . While a majority of grad schools require a minimum 3.0 GPA, others, mainly less competitive ones, accept GPAs in the 2.0s. For example, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette requires a GPA of at least 2.75. Even lower GPA minimums, such as the 2.5 GPA required for West Texas A&M University’s master’s program in interdisciplinary studies , are relatively rare but do exist.

On the flip side, more competitive programs typically require GPAs higher than the basic 3.0 minimum.  Purdue’s doctoral program in mechanical engineering , for example, strongly recommends a minimum 3.2 GPA. Generally, any grad programs at extremely prestigious institutions, such as Harvard or MIT, will have some of the highest GPA expectations, often 3.5+.

Master’s or Ph.D.

Graduate school GPA expectations also depends on whether you’re applying to a  master’s or doctoral program. Typically,  master’s programs accept lower GPAs than doctoral programs .

For example, at Illinois State University , the minimum GPA required for admission is 2.8 for master’s students and 3.0 for Ph.D. students. In commenting on this trend,  USC’s Department of Psychology  has stated, “Many master’s programs [in psychology] require a 3.0 GPA just to apply; many doctoral programs a 3.5 GPA.”

Clearly, it’s not atypical for grad programs to hold prospective doctoral students to higher standards than they do prospective master’s students.

Graduate Field of Study

In addition to competitiveness and degree type, your particular field of study can have an impact on how high your GPA needs to be for grad school.

Popular or lucrative grad fields, such as computer science, tend to command some of the highest GPA expectations, no matter the school or program. The University of Arizona  requires a minimum 3.2 for its master’s program in computer science. Meanwhile,  Purdue’s master’s program in computer science  requires a minimum 3.5 GPA, and  Stanford’s doctoral program  expects at least a 3.6!

All of these GPA expectations are higher than the general 3.0 minimum, which is likely due to the fact computer science is so popular (and thus competitive) these days. In 2016,  computer science was named one of the best grad degrees for securing jobs .

Why Is a Good GPA Important for Grad School?

Another question you probably have is, why are GPAs so important for grad school admissions? Undergrad GPAs provide one of the most objective senses of  how you are capable of performing at the university level  and how much academic potential you have . Because most grad programs require students to maintain a certain GPA (whether to satisfy program or fellowship requirements), it’s critical you prove — via your undergrad transcripts — your ability to earn consistently high grades.

GPAs also show grad schools how seriously you value your education and academia as a whole . Simply put, a high GPA emphasizes your preparedness for grad school in addition to your ongoing commitment to learning. (Likewise, a low GPA makes grad schools question why you feel you can succeed in grad school — an arguably much more difficult academic environment — if you struggled to find success as an undergrad.)

Furthermore, some schools value high GPAs because they are used to calculate school and program rankings . In short, high GPAs = high-quality students. And high-quality students, at the most basic level, indicate a high-quality program. (Of course, a program’s quality isn’t determined solely by the undergrad GPAs of its students; in reality,  schools and programs are assigned rankings using rather complicated methodologies .)

But what about your major GPA? Do grad schools care about your major GPA the same way they do your cumulative GPA?

How Important Is Your Major GPA to Grad Schools?

How important your major GPA is depends on the particular program you’re applying to. While many programs request only your cumulative undergrad GPA, other programs will specifically ask you to supply your major GPA . Some programs may even state a specific major GPA they’re expecting applicants to apply with. These expected major GPAs are usually much higher than the minimum GPA required for admission.

The good news is, if your cumulative GPA isn’t particularly high, an impressive major GPA might be able to make up for the deficit , as it proves you have the skills necessary to succeed in your chosen field (assuming your major is the same as the field you’re entering).

On the other hand,  if your major is unrelated to your chosen field of study, a major GPA isn’t really any more useful than a cumulative GPA . In this case, it’s best to stress the most relevant grades you have. For example, if you were a biology undergrad who is now applying for an M.F.A. in creative writing, bring attention to all of the high marks you received in any English literature or creative writing courses you took as an undergrad.

4 Simple Steps for Finding GPA Info for Grad Schools

Although you’re probably tempted to dive right into your grad school applications, take a little time to first research the GPA expectations of your programs . This way, you can weed out any programs you’re clearly unqualified for and get a sense for which ones you’ll need to work extra hard in order to prove you’re a worthy candidate.

To find the GPA expectations of your grad programs, follow my short step-by-step guide below.

Step 1: Make a Table

Begin by organizing all of your information into a simple table. In the leftmost column, fill in the names of each school you’re applying to or thinking of applying to. Then, across the top of the table, write “School,” “Minimum GPA,” “Major GPA,” “Average GPA,” and “Notes.” Finally, record your undergrad GPA somewhere at the bottom (preferably, both your cumulative GPA and major GPA, if available).

Let’s look at an example. Ava majored in English, earning a 3.4 cumulative GPA and a 3.7 major GPA. Now, she wants to get a doctorate in English literature; however, she has no idea how her GPA stacks up against the GPA expectations of the programs she’s applying to.

Here’s how Ava would fill out her table:

Step 2: Check School Websites

The simplest way to dig for information on your programs’ GPA expectations is to peruse your schools’ websites . As you do so, pay particular attention to FAQ and admissions requirements pages. If you’re not sure where to look online, you can also try searching for “[Your School] [Your Program] GPA.”

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But exactly what kind of information are you hunting for? Basically,  anything related to undergrad GPAs . Online, GPA expectations are typically offered in one of three ways:

• Minimum GPA: the lowest GPA with which you can apply to a program; usually required (or strongly recommended) for admission
• Major GPA: the recommended GPA for your major field (if the field you’re entering is the same as the one you majored in); usually higher than the minimum GPA
• Average GPA: the average GPA of incoming students; usually higher than the minimum GPA

Not all schools present information in the same way and very rarely do they list all of the types of GPA expectations described above. That said, a majority of schools should clearly state whether they have a minimum GPA requirement for prospective grad students .

Minimum GPA requirements are almost always set in stone. So if the minimum GPA for a school is 3.0 and you have a 2.95, you will not be considered for admission (unless, of course, you convince the school to make an exception for you). As previously stated, some schools are less strict about GPA requirements than others, but in the end a low GPA will still pose a challenge to getting accepted.

Let’s return to Ava for a moment. While looking at the webpage for  Ohio State’s English program , she discovers there is a 3.0 minimum GPA requirement for the grad school. She continues reading until she hits the following sentence: “Normally, applicants [to the English doctoral program] should have a GPA of at least 3.4 overall and 3.6 in English courses.” In other words, 3.0 is a required minimum (for the grad school), 3.4 is a strongly recommended minimum (for the program), and 3.6 is a strongly recommended major GPA.

Ava writes down what she’s found:

Next, Ava shifts her attention to USC. USC’s English literature program  doesn’t have any GPA minimums or major GPA expectations, but the grad school requires all applicants to have at least a 3.0 GPA.

Ava then looks up  UC Berkeley’s English program . This grad school, too, requires a minimum 3.0 GPA. In addition, its English doctoral program boasts an average GPA of 3.85. Ava records all of this in her table:

Unfortunately, Ava is struggling to find GPA information for the University of Chicago. After doing a little research, she encounters a short passage concerning GPA on the university’s English department webpage: “The Admissions Committee does not have specific cutoff levels for GRE scores and GPAs.” As there are no specific GPA expectations, Ava must now take an additional step and start conducting some research on the competitiveness of her programs.

Step 3: Compare Program Competitiveness

If a program you’re applying to offers little or no concrete GPA information, it’s time to  compare the competitiveness of your programs . I recommend starting with  U.S. News ,  a helpful and robust resource with loads of information on grad programs and their rankings.

Here’s what you’ll do, in order:

• Find a list comparing all major grad programs in your field. Try to find something no older than five years.
• Pinpoint all of your programs on the list and record each of their rankings in the “Notes” column on your table.
• Use the information you’ve found to estimate how high of a GPA you’ll need for the unknown program(s).

As we’re aware, Ava is struggling to find GPA information for the University of Chicago’s English doctoral program. She decides to look up English program rankings on U.S. News . Right away, she locates  this 2017 list of the top English graduate programs (note that the list does not differentiate between master’s and doctoral programs).

According to this list, UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago are tied at #1, Ohio State is ranked #30, and USC is ranked #33. Because the University of Chicago is one of the most highly ranked English programs, Ava can therefore assume its GPA expectations are similar to those for UC Berkeley (and, likewise, more difficult than those for Ohio State and USC).

Ava returns to her table and records her programs’ rankings in the “Notes” column. She then records estimated GPA expectations for the University of Chicago using the rankings she’s found and the GPA information she wrote down earlier for Ohio State and UC Berkeley:

Step 4: Determine Which Grad Schools Are Accessible

Now, you have a clear sense of which schools you can apply to and which will be more challenging to get into than others.

Ava’s 3.4 GPA is noticeably higher than the GPA cutoffs for all of her schools, so she shouldn’t have any problem getting her grad applications looked at; however, her chance at getting accepted varies depending on the program.

Her 3.4 GPA and 3.7 major GPA are both high enough for Ohio State’s English program and likely good enough for USC, too. On the other hand, a 3.4 GPA is markedly lower than the average GPA of current English doctoral students at UC Berkeley and (most likely) the University of Chicago. As a result, Ava will probably have a much smaller shot at getting admitted to these two schools than she will Ohio State or USC.

A table based on GPA alone can’t say for certain where you’ll get accepted, though. In reality, we can’t predict what programs will think of certain applicants. But through the simple process described above, you should be able to develop a clear idea of which schools you can apply to as well as which ones you’ll have to work extra hard for in order to stand out.

But what if your GPA isn’t high enough for any of your programs? The battle’s not over, I promise! Read on for the steps can you take to maximize your chance at getting accepted into grad school — even when your GPA just isn’t cutting it.

How to Make Up for a Low GPA: 6 Options

Let’s get something out of the way, first:  a low GPA doesn’t always mean you’ll get rejected . If your GPA is significantly lower than a school’s minimum, then, yes, you’re highly unlikely to get accepted. But if you can make a compelling case for yourself, or if your GPA is only slightly lower than a program’s GPA expectations, an admissions committee  might be willing to make an exception for you. So whatever you do, don’t freak out — it’s not totally impossible to get into grad school with a low GPA!

Besides GPA, though, what other factors and materials can prove you’re truly ready for grad school? Answer:  a ridiculously strong application . Here are our top tips for putting together a fantastic grad school application — even if you have a low GPA.

#1: Get a High GRE Score

Many grad programs consider GRE scores to be one of the most accurate indicators of your ability to study (and therefore comprehend) grad-level material. If you can score highly on every part of the GRE (or, at the very least, on the section more relevant to your field of study), your application will certainly stand apart from others !

In order to perform well on the GRE, you must first understand what constitutes a good GRE score  overall. For specific sectional scores, refer to our guides on how to set a goal score for the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections.

Furthermore, be sure you know how to study efficiently for the GRE . Quick tips for studying include  using high-quality GRE prep books and taking as many practice tests as possible  to hone your test-taking skills. And if your score isn’t high enough, there’s absolutely zero shame in  retaking the GRE !

All of this goes for  GRE subject tests , too. If your programs require a GRE subject test, study as diligently and as often as you can so you can approach test day confident you’ll receive an excellent score. If you want to get an idea of how high to aim,  take a look at the current GRE subject test percentiles .

#2: Discuss GPA in Your Statement of Purpose

Applicants with below-average GPAs are usually expected to discuss their grades in their statements of purpose. Don’t think of this essay as a time to make excuses but rather as an opportunity to explain why you received poor grades and how you intend to make up for the low GPA as a grad student.

Whatever you do, don’t lie! Even if you’re embarrassed by your GPA or the reasons behind it, be as honest and as humble as you can be. Above all, emphasize your commitment to the program and your chosen field of study . How will this program ultimately assist you in reaching your academic and professional goals? What can you bring to this program that other applicants can’t?

Oh, and don’t forget to  show off your exceptional writing skills ! Typos and awkward grammar are a sure-fire path to rejection, but eloquence and cogency will place you in a brand-new light.

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#3: Secure Quality Letters of Recommendation

Another step you should take is to secure excellent letters of recommendation . Most of the time, these letters should be from (former) professors; however, you can also request letters from employers, mentors, or coworkers who can write about your academic interests, work ethic, and overall commitment to the field you’re trying to enter.

While you won’t be able to see the letters your recommenders write for you, you can make sure the letters they compose are high quality. To do so, only choose recommenders with whom you have positive, professional, and memorable relationships . Don’t just opt for the professor who gave you an A your sophomore year; carefully select people who can speak honestly and enthusiastically about your abilities.

#4: Reach Out to Professors

Contacting professors of the program you’re applying to is a great way to establish connections and ask questions about the application process.

When contacting a professor directly, always take the time to introduce yourself first , explaining why you’re interested in the program and why you’re contacting this professor specifically. Then, explain why you’re worried your low GPA isn’t high enough for the program . At this point, feel free to ask directly if the program has ever accepted applicants with similar GPAs or if there is anything you should include in your application to make up for the deficit.

Remember, professors are busy people and not all are open to divulging admissions information, so don’t expect a step-by-step guide on what you must do. Just be courteous and genuinely enthusiastic about the program and you’re sure to get some help!

#5: Get Experience in Your Field

Not everyone has the time or money to do this, but getting a little work or research experience in your field can give a humongous boost to your application . Most, if not all, of the time, a relevant professional background is a big plus to grad schools, as it demonstrates your dedication and overall zeal for the field on a career-driven level.

If you’ve conducted research in your field as part of your undergraduate career, you can compensate for a lower GPA, especially if you created notable research findings or published papers.

You don’t need to have years and years of experience, either — just enough to prove the field is an important part of your life. If you can’t find any paid positions or prefer something more short term, opt for (unpaid) internships .

#6: Take Open-Enrollment Courses

If you have a semester or two to spare before grad school applications are due, consider registering for individual courses at a local university . This is an excellent opportunity for you to showcase your commitment to studying the field. It also shows your ability to handle a college workload and perform well in an academic environment.

If your undergrad major is different from the field you want to enter, taking classes in the field is a convenient way for you to acquire some of the basic knowledge you’ll be expected to have for grad school.

Recap: What Is a Good GPA for Grad School?

The most common GPA needed for grad school is 3.0 , though exact grad school GPA expectations can vary a lot by program. Some schools do set strict cutoff GPAs, which generally range between 2.5 and 3.5, but you may be able to apply (and potentially get accepted!) even with a lower GPA.

To determine what a solid GPA for grad school is, we must look at the following three factors:

• How competitive a program is
• What degree you’re seeking (master’s or doctorate)
• How important GPA is to a program

Strong GPAs are important to grad schools because they emphasize your dedication to academia and your chosen field of study . GPAs also provide schools with a clear idea of how well you’re likely to perform at a more demanding educational level.

Occasionally, grad programs may want to see your major GPA, but the importance of a major GPA varies depending on the program and what you majored in .

Not all schools require a certain GPA for grad school applicants, but if you’d like to figure out what your programs’ GPA expectations are, follow these steps:

• Make a table for organizing what you find
• Search for GPA information on school websites
• Compare the competitiveness of your programs

Worried your GPA is too low for graduate school? Here are some tips you can use to increase your chance at getting accepted:

• Score highly on the GRE (both general and subject test, if required)
• Open up about your low GPA in your statement of purpose
• Secure quality letters of recommendation, preferably from former professors who know you well
• Contact professors
• Get some practical experience in your field
• Take individual courses in your field

In the end, don’t spend too much time worrying about graduate school GPA expectations. If you’ve got a high GPA, great! But getting into grad school with a low GPA isn’t impossible, either — it just takes a little more elbow grease.

With that, I wish you the best of luck on your grad school applications!

What’s Next?

Confused about grad school?  Read  our article on what grad school is and what it can offer you  to learn about the differences between a master’s degree and a Ph.D.

Wondering if you should take the GRE? Our detailed guide answers all of your questions  about getting into grad school — with or without GRE scores!

Got questions about the GRE? Check out our comprehensive GRE FAQ , and get information on  how the GRE is formatted and what it tests you on !

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Hannah Muniz

Hannah graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in English and East Asian languages and cultures. After graduation, she taught English in Japan for two years via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel. View all posts by Hannah Muniz

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A New Book Argues Grades Are Failing Students. Here’s Why

Joshua R. Eyler gives the U.S. grading system an “F” in his new book, "Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, And What We Can Do About It."

Joshua R. Eyler gives the U.S. grading system an “F” in his new book Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, And What We Can Do About It . In it, which publishes on August 27, Eyler makes the case that grades hurt academic success and are helping to fuel the ongoing youth mental health crisis.

Eyler is director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and an education professor at the University of Mississippi. I recently spoke with him about how he came to these conclusions and the alternative grading systems he’s studied that thousands of schools are already using.

Is It True Grades Aren’t Linked To Academic Success?

One of the main arguments in favor of grading is that it inspires students to do work, and without it, students wouldn’t have any motivation.

The research doesn’t really support this claim, Eyler says. In his book, he points to a 2021 meta-analysis of many previous studies looking at the impact of grading overall . The study compared three groups of students, one who received grades, a second group that received feedback but no grades, and a third group that received no grades or feedback. The study’s authors note: “Overall results indicated that grades positively influenced achievement but negatively influenced motivation compared to no feedback.”

Perhaps more significantly, students who received comments without grades saw increased achievement and motivation. “Compared to those who received comments, students receiving grades had poorer achievement and less optimal motivation,” the study’s authors conclude.

And this research is not an outlier. “That work really confirms research that has been around for decades showing the [negative] effect of grades on performance learning and motivation,” Eyler says. “It’s a continuous thread that we see through these investigations.”

Why Do Grades Seem To Decrease Achievement?

Education scientists often talk about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. Grades, most agree, are extrinsic motivators. “They're the prize, the candy, the reward that students get for following the rules and moving through the system,” Eyler says. “What we know about extrinsic motivators is that they are good for compliance. They work to get people to do things that they don't want to do. And so, yes, they can work to get students in seats, to get them to turn things in on time, to get them to participate.”

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However, there’s a catch. “An extrinsic motivator can never guarantee that someone will learn just because they're forced to be in a classroom,” Eyler says. “Learning depends on intrinsic motivation which grades affect pretty negatively.”

Additionally, grades can often interfere with fundamental patterns of learning. “The natural way that we learn something from a scientific perspective is we try things out. We make a mistake. We get feedback on that, and then we try it again,” Eyler says. “This is a cycle that our brains are really built to go through as we learn new things and grades arrest that process before it can ever take place. So we get to the trying things out part, and then we get a stamp of how well we tried them out without the opportunity to benefit from the feedback and the trying again.”

Beyond academics, grades are consistently linked to stress and negative mental health in students, Eyler says.

But Isn't Doing Away With Grades Impossible?

Grades seem so engrained in our education system that even talking about a school without grades feels radical. But there are many that exist. More than 3,000 Montessori schools, including 500 public schools, are gradeless. Beyond these, many K-12 districts and colleges across the U.S. have embraced nontraditional grading systems, Eyler says.

“There are definitely some great models and examples of schools that don't have any grades, both at the K-12 and college level,” Eyler says. But he’s not advocating schools across the country pump the breaks on all grading. “I think a lot of this conversation is really trying to get from the traditional grading schemes that we're in now to reorienting students' relationship with grades by trying out some of the alternative grading models that people are using.”

Many school districts are moving toward standards-based grading, which is also referred to as competency or proficiency mastery grading. Other grading methods include portfolio grading, collaborative grading, and specifications grading.

“There’s lots of different ways people are experimenting with the kinds of evaluation that they’re using to release the pressure valve and put the emphasis back onto learning and less about the grade itself,” Eyler says.

What Role Can Technology Play In This Conversation?

Technology isn’t needed to move from traditional grading to another grading method but it can make it easier by allowing teachers to create multiple opportunities for success through their LMS or other tools.

Elyer points to a colleague at the University of Mississippi who offers an unlimited retake system on chemistry classes. To do this the professor created a vast dataset of questions. “She has all the possible problems in the LMS and it generates new exams kind of randomly pulling from that databank. So it saves time. It helps to automate the process,” he says.

Additionally, new software is being developed to translate mastery-grade transcripts into their traditional grade equivalents. Eyler says these later tools may be helpful but aren’t necessary because colleges can already evaluate non-traditional transcripts.

What Are The Biggest Grading Misconceptions?

Many proponents of traditional grades say that without grades there is no way to tell if students have learned, but that’s not true, Eyler says. “There's nothing inherent to a grade that is intrinsically connected to whether or not a student is learning something. We can give students that information through written or oral feedback just as easily as we can, in fact, better than we can, just by putting a 92 or a B- on something.”

He adds this idea is tied to another common misconception that grades are necessary to maintain rigor and academic standards. “That's not true, either, for many of the same reasons,” he says.

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Erik Ofgang is a Tech & Learning contributor. A journalist,  author  and educator, his work has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Smithsonian, The Atlantic, and Associated Press. He currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program. While a staff writer at Connecticut Magazine he won a Society of Professional Journalism Award for his education reporting. He is interested in how humans learn and how technology can make that more effective. 

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I believe my PhD dissertation was unfairly graded too low (cum laude): what should I do?

I recently completed my Ph.D. in Germany. I believe my dissertation was evaluated extremely unfairly. For my dissertation, I published seven papers in high-impact international medical journals (IF from 3 to 6). I used four of them as core papers and three of them as additional publications. I also have six conference papers. My seven papers have been cited about 34 times so far. The first one was published in Oct 2017.

For the written theses, I had two main reviewers and one of them suggested my grade to be “strong magna cum laude ” and the other one said it should be cum laude ¹. Then, I was very much prepared to change the second reviewer during my defense. I did an excellent presentation and defense (that is what everyone who was there told me). The second reviewer asked only four questions during the defense. I answered them properly although one was unrelated to my work.

After the defense was over, I was told to go out with the entire audience until the review committee decided my grade. They took a long time and I was sensing there must be something they didn’t agree with. Finally, I was called to go in and one of the reviewers said: “Congratulations, you passed. Unfortunately, your grade is cum laude. We are stuck in the middle.” This was extremely disappointing to me and I believe the whole process was totally unfair as everyone else also think so.

As I heard from the student members who sat with the committee, this reviewer said I didn’t include a reference for the animated graph that I have produced myself, and insisted that I don’t deserve more than cum laude. They were fighting for a long time until the first reviewer gave up. I, my wife who also has a Ph.D. from many years ago, and the entire audience didn’t expect my grade would be like that. In fact, many believe that I am unfairly treated because of my skin color. This is the most difficult situation for me. I am very much stressed and I don’t know how much impact it will have on my career at least to get a postdoc position. What bugs me is that this reviewer doesn’t have a major point.

I am now considering to appeal to the university. But, I am scared. I also wish to retract my thesis and submit it to another university in Germany and defend it again. Please advise me on what to do.

• 2 You only have two reviewers? Did you already have a look at the written reports? My own advisor gave me the worst mark for my phd (cum laude) while two other gave me magna and another one summa. Now guess who understood the most of my topics? The one who gave me summa and I think my own supervisor understood the least. This is not his problem, of course not, my research just got more and more complicated and mathematically over time, that's why I tried to fill my panel with as many mathematicians and computer scientists as possible. But I was only allowed to select one.. who gave me summa –  Ben Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 6:23
• 2 That's a terrible situation, I'm sorry that you have to go through this. You should talk to your advisor and to the doctoral examination board about the situation and check for your options. Also, consider that outside of Germany, your PhD grade doesn't mean very much. –  lighthouse keeper Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 7:48
• Thanks. I will meet the head of Promotionsausschuß and see what next. –  user115916 Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 8:06
• 2 Not sure about Germany. In science nobody really care of those marks. In medicine a kind of phd might be sort of mandatory so I am not sure if is the same as well. If it would be chemistry or physics I would tell you to forget and relax. –  Alchimista Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 9:10
• 1 What do you want to do after your PhD? –  Anonymous Physicist Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 10:01

4 Answers 4

Why it matters.

In my field, cum laude or rite (the two worst German PhD grades) are rarely ever awarded and if they are, it’s usually a sign that there were major issues and a strong hint that the PhD should not consider any career aspirations in academia. Such PhDs often end in positions which mainly care about the title for its own sake (e.g., to impress customers). Your field may differ a bit, but even in law (which is known for using the entire spectrum of grades), such grades would not bode well on an academic career.

I would be careful with taking the position that the grade does not matter. As already said, the vast majority of PhDs that stay in academia have either summa cum laude or magna cum laude (the two best grades). Since getting a summa requires at least a bit of luck in many examination rules¹, many people do rightfully not care about the difference between the two. On the other hand, not having either is likely to raise some eyebrows and may prevent you from getting your desired position without you ever knowing why. Even if you find stories of people who had a successful academic career in your field with a cum laude, beware of survivor’s bias.

Moreover, many job offers in Germany (in particular at government agencies) explicitly require a very good PhD². This includes professorships to the extent that it is in the text of the respective laws (Landeshochschulgesetz), e.g., the one for Northrhine-Westphalia states (translation mine):

Einstellungsvoraussetzungen für Hochschullehrerinnen und Hochschullehrer sind […]: […] besondere Befähigung zu wissenschaftlicher Arbeit, die in der Regel durch die Qualität einer Promotion nachgewiesen wird; […] Preconditions for being hired as a professor are […]: […] an outstanding qualification for scientific work, which usually is evidenced by the quality of the doctorate; […]

Now, this does say “usually”, which means it is technically not impossible to get a professorship with a bad PhD, only more difficult. But that already can be a severe disadvantage and may mean that you are ending up with a considerably worse position.

One function of such rules and phrases in job offers are things like avoiding nepotism or having to hire a bad candidate due to lack of better ones. Still if the criterion is phrased respectively, it may be legally impossible to hire you since you fail a hard criterion. If I found out that the successful candidate for a public job I failed to get only has a rite, I would certainly suspect foul play and consider legal action.

All in all, this grade may very well be career-ending.

¹ I know of cases where somebody did not get a summa only because they did not perform top-notch in a one-hour oral examination on their field of study that was unrelated to the topic of the PhD. Consider a theoretical cosmologist PhD being asked about lasers. ² Including your grades on your CV as well as providing a copy of the actual PhD certificate is the default in the hiring process, so you cannot really hide it.

What to be scared of

I am now considering to appeal to the university. But, I am scared.

It sounds like you have little left to lose here. If your PhD gets re-evaluated from scratch, you are very unlikely to end up with a worse grade. There is a small risk that you earn a reputation over making a fuss about this, but those who care about this will also likely care about your grade. On the other hand, if I were to consider you for a position and asked you for the story behind your grade (and I probably would), I would rather be negatively surprised if you hadn’t made a fuss.

Now, every faculty in Germany has its own PhD rules and therefore it is difficult to make any general statement here. However, there are several aspects of your story where my PhD rules could have kicked in:

There would be two further members of the committee who can intervene in case of major disputes or grades being given with questionable reason or an accusation of academic misconduct (using material without a reference) against which you could not defend yourself.

The entire committee (four professors) grades the defense.

If the two main examiners differ by more than one grade, a third examiner would have to be consulted.

If your thesis is deemed to have major flaws, you have to be given the opportunity to amend it.

Grades for the thesis have to be given independently and cannot be changed afterwards. (It sounds like the “bad” examiner wanted to give a cum laude, so it cannot be the middle, unless he changed it to a worse grade later.)

There is a written record of committee’s decisions.

Nobody else would have been admitted to attend the committee making the decision. It is particularly weird that students can attend, but you cannot.

I recommend that you thoroughly read your faculty’s PhD rules and consult with whoever oversees the process (usually the dean). Also talk to the “good” examiner (your supervisor, I presume) to get a more detailed story of what happened.

Note that most PhD rules also forbid you to just submit your thesis to another university.

Beware that you very likely did not get the full story so far. For example, attendees of the committee’s decision tend to primarily report the most egregious aspects even though other points had been made.

• 8 Excellent answer, just a small clarification: "All in all, this grade may very well be career-ending." (for a career in Germany). –  lighthouse keeper Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 9:06
• 2 Indeed, career-ending (for a career in Germany) -- because a substantial part of the rest of the world doesn't have grades in PhDs and will likely not care one way or the other. In fact, I would suspect that if you have a 3-year postdoc and publish lots and in good venues, nobody will care any more about the PhD grade when it comes time for a Juniorprofessur. No "foul play" involved, just looking at a candidate's trajectory. –  Wolfgang Bangerth Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 15:04
• 3 @user115916 -- Don't get your hopes up yet. In the end, the grade is a judgment call: It relies on the evaluators' experience, comparison with other candidates, etc. You will find that by and large, unless you can prove concrete misconduct , the Pruefungsamt will generally defer to the evaluators in their judgment. If they say that "in their professional judgment", the grade should be X, what should the Pruefungsamt do? Say they know better? –  Wolfgang Bangerth Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 21:23
• 2 +1 This advice is pertinent to Germany. "It doesn't matter" is only true if candidate seeks employment in academia outside of German-style academic environment (this includes Austria, Switzerland, possibly Netherlands, not sure) –  Captain Emacs Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 11:33
• 2 @captain emacs We only have two grades in the Netherlands: "passed" (95% get this) and "cum laude" (5% get it, it's a really special honour). So also here one would not care. In general, an excellent answer for Germany, though! –  damian Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 16:06

Maybe I can reveal that I actually got rite for my PhD. I think my second reviewer is a psyco who never let his PhD student passed. I think I am the first one getting away from him.

So in the end I got rite . He was so delighted and told me that with that grade I may not be able to find a post-doctoral position. Outside Germany no one asks about the grade. In Germany I still got an academy position in a research center.

I believe the grade matters. But the reality is that fewer and fewer people want to do academia and therefore you might still get a position since you are still a Made-In-Germany PhD. Best wishes to you.

[EDIT] Updated 2 years later

I am now still a post-doctoral researcher in the research center for the 4th year. First of all no one ask for my grade. Second my advisors are happy about what I did for them.

One of my friends with made-in-Germany PhD, who also got a rite because the second reviewer did not like his research topic, is now an association professor and also the Institute Head in our home country.

I just want to address that rite is not the end of the world.

Welcome to the cum laude club! I've been a full professor at a polytechnic in Germany since my defense, am now retired. Since there is such an inflation of mcl and scl grades, search committees for which I have read the decision book or participated in myself are more and more disregarding it. The papers (in our field, computer science) at least, especially the conferences, are the ones looked at. And as someone noted above, many professors are retiring in the next years, so there will hopefully be many positions to fill.

Trying to challenge a grade in Germany will be difficult. You can obtain the protocol of the deliberation with a freedom-of-information-act application to the official office of the university (it will differ from state to state). Generally these tend to offer little possibility for requesting redress legally, and that can take anywhere from 3-8 years, as the administrative courts are overworked.

Oops, just saw this is three years old - so tell us, what happened?

• 1 The user that posted this question was deleted, so I highly doubt they will see your query. –  Ian Commented Aug 25, 2023 at 21:27
• I know, I saw that too late. But I thought it might be useful for some readers. –  Debora Weber-Wulff Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 6:13

At least if you are or plan to be in the United States:

Let's come to the important point first: Nobody will ever ask you about your grade, and if they did, it would have no impact at all. The point of a PhD is to show that you're a capable researcher, and you've made that point. Beyond that, it's about the concrete accomplishments -- papers, presentations, where and what you published, etc. You have a bunch of papers in good places already, and so anyone who evaluates you has plenty to work from.

In other words, you worry unnecessarily. In the 17 years since I got my PhD, nobody has ever asked me how it was rated, and I've never asked anyone that question either. So just let it go and move on: focus on the things you can affect (your next publication) and not on the things where you feel like you didn't get a fair shake.

• 19 Nobody will ever ask you about your grade, and if they did, it would have no impact at all. – Given the vast inhomogeneity of academia, I would not accept such a bold general statement without very good evidence. Many job offers in Germany (in particular at government agencies) explicitly require a very good PhD and including your grades on your CV as well as providing a copy of the actual PhD certificate is the default in the hiring process. This includes professorships to the extent that it is in the text of the respective laws (Landeshochschulgesetz). –  Wrzlprmft ♦ Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 23:26
• 8 Therefore, hiring somebody with a rite (worst-grade) PhD for such a position sounds next to legally impossible. Mind that I totally agree that the difference between summa and magna is overrated and acquiring a summa requires at least some luck, but if I were facing a candidate with a rite PhD in a hiring process, I would certainly expect them to have some good answer what went wrong there, no matter the publication record. At least in my fields, this grade is rarely ever given, and cum laude is already regarded as an award of tenacity rather than skill. –  Wrzlprmft ♦ Commented Nov 4, 2019 at 23:28
• 5 At least in the US world, no grades are attached to PhDs. I bet that half of my colleagues here wouldn't even know what the grade terms mean. In fact, I didn't know: I have a summa cum laude PhD and have always known that that was a distinction, but cared so little about it that for 17 years I've never looked up what the other grades are. Goes to show how little importance the issue has in my world. –  Wolfgang Bangerth Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 14:59
• 3 I think down voters are too harsh on this answer. This is the correct answer with the caveat OUTSIDE GERMANY which should simply be added to it to make it correct. The highly upvoted answer does not seem to even include the opposite caveat that it is completely incorrect outside germany. True the question is flagged Germany but that could have been simply because the PhD was obtained there and an academic career is inherently international. –  Kvothe Commented Mar 29, 2023 at 15:32

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Justify bad grades - PhD application

Hello, I am applying for PhDs in the US this admission cycle. I have 8 yrs of professional experience and 6 years of teaching experience. I have a Masters degree. But my grades in undergrad and masters are pretty low. 5.5/10 in UG, and 2.3/4.3 in masters. The programs I am applying to do not have a minimum grade (I checked with admin). However my concern is that my grades would be a problem. I just got diagnosed officially with ADHD last week, and I have realized how bad it was and why I was the way I was in college. I am interested in my field and I do enjoy it immensely. I will soon be starting with treatment so I hope it will be better. However, I would like if I should justify my grades in my personal statement due to problems caused by my ADHD or that would be a cause for them reject it. Does anyone have experience regarding it? Did anyone of you guys disclose something like this in your applications?

To add - one of the programs I am applying to, the whole research in based on ADHD and Autism, so I believe my experience would help in that.

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