anirudhk2 wrote:
Hello,
I had some questions wondering if anyone on this thread could answer : I wanted to know with regards to grades and GPA :
If you had freshmen year coursework, and sophomore year coursework at one institute, but all your major related classes, upper level classes, and upper level electives at a second institute and the second institute was where you got your degree :
I wanted to know the following specifically {I know you look at both if submitted on the application}:
1) Would the GPA from the second institution be used in the GPA requirements, and for seeing where you fit in?
2) Would the GPA from the second institution since it has more major related courses , major and upper level courses have more importance than the GPA from the first institution?
If you completed a Masters before applying, would the order of priority be the transcript from Masters institution, transcript from bachelors degree granting institution and then transcripts from other or second institutions where only courses were taken having lower priority ?
Would the GPA from the first institution since it had your first year physics, second year physics, first and second year chemistry, math, english, oral communication, and intro electives only weigh less?
I wanted to know if lets say you made a single course P/NP in spring 2020 or any semester after like spring 2021 due to it not going so well due to the online instruction/ COVID,e tc. and that course was a major required course {like an ECE course} . would this go negatively against you in your application? I know applications are reviewed holistically , but would this specific scenario go against you.
I also wanted to know :
I wanted to know how the school looks at disciplinary history information is it just a case of the student had so and so sanction and since they had so and so sanction such as suspension or expulsion, automatic denial? which honestly does seem unfair if the student were to bounce back from it, finish their education, improve their grades, and engage in good work in work force, and in their university both in terms of grades, and other academic related involvement or activity.
9) Can a student be denied solely on the basis of the sanction?
anirudhk2, I'm going to try and answer this though I am not an admissions person:
I was told at a university (not GA Tech but they could be similar) that your undergraduate GPA matters the most because that is how rankings are determined. Your graduate school GPA will be taken into account as a part of their holistic review, but the undergraduate GPA is what is sent to the rankings people. If your total GPA between both schools is around the average, you have nothing to worry about. If not, you will need a GMAT score above their average score to make up for you lowering their average and affecting their rankings. Schools like Arizona State ask for your Junior/Senior year GPA separately from the total GPA to see how you improved over time -- others may do the same. I would definitely suggest you write an optional essay for every school you're applying to about your grades and describe why they suffered and how you improved. If you don't, schools will just make assumptions about your grades.
Regarding the academic discipline history, I think you also need to talk about that in your optional essay and how you've overcome that part of your life and have been successful post undergrad. Maybe reference your graduate school accolades if they are better. Hopefully this helps, but just understand that US News is what people use to find out where to apply, and US News requires schools to submit GMAT, GRE, and undergrad GPAs in their scoring. If a school doesn't, they get penalties for it.