
Getting into a PhD program with a low GPA - dangoldin
http://3dpancakes.typepad.com/ernie/2005/03/re_phd_with_low.html
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coffeemug
I did this. I had a 2.6 undergraduate GPA. At the time my policy was to go to
a class three times - for the first lecture, for the midterm, and for the
final. The rest of the time I spent working on my own projects. I then went on
to get a job for a couple of years, and by the time I decided to apply to grad
school I was left with a 2.6 GPA and not a single professor who knew me enough
to write a recommendation.

So I took three of the hardest graduate CS classes I could find as a "non-
matriculated student" (basically no degree, you just pay as you go for
"professional" education), got a 4.0 that semester, and got each one of the
three professors to write me a recommendation. Next semester, I was in grad
school.

I maintained 4.0 for one more semester, until it slipped to 3.9. I always
proudly tell this story every time someone talks about undergraduate GPA as a
predictor of anything. (Actually, I would much rather hire people with a low
undergrad GPA that shot up in grad school, than a high GPA all around).

~~~
supahfly_remix
I'm curious why someone would enroll in a college and yet not go to class.
Sure, for frat boys who are going for "communications & alcoholism degrees"
that makes sense, but for someone sincerely interested in learning it's very
puzzling.

~~~
kurtosis
In many cases the prof is doing the absolute minimum so they can focus on
research. The lectures are often unoriginal (they are cribbed directly from
the book). So someone sincerely interested in learning would be better off
reading a few different textbooks or finding better lectures on the internet.

~~~
psawaya
This is why I transferred from a large research oriented university to a small
liberal arts college. The difference in lecture quality was night and day.

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gmurphy
This isn't an American perspective, and I know American academia is pretty
different to elsewhere (wtf 7 year PhDs!) but over my life I've found that the
rules for admissions into various things were usually just rough guidelines
that people take way too seriously.

For example, I have a Masters degree, but I never finished an undergraduate
degree (I dropped out). Similarly, though less bureaucratically, there are
plenty of other dropouts working here at Google leading awesome projects,
despite the 'must come from a top school or have a PhD' image it has.

It's cheesy, but in all such cases, I've seen that the biggest hurdle was
getting over the "no you can't because you don't have X", either by trying
harder, or by having someone else show you the way (or by dumb luck, in my
case).

~~~
barrkel
I think the personal connections angle is often under-appreciated by those who
simply see the formal rules and bureaucracy.

For example, if you can get a job working at a university, that can make it a
lot easier to get into a postgraduate course than if you're some stranger
walking in off the street; and it can end up cheaper, or even funded through
part-time work, etc. This is the de facto angle my girlfriend used to get into
an economics PhD program at LSE, starting in a relatively low-level research
position when getting out of the boring banking sector before the proverbial
hit the fan.

~~~
RK
I've seen people who were able to enroll as non-degree grad students for a
semester or two and then be admitted.

~~~
djcapelis
Unfortunately this route means you don't get any funding. Taking a research
position at a university might be a better path for someone with financial
constraints.

But yes, I've heard of people doing this too and I can imagine it working.
Professors who know you like you a lot more than professors who don't know
you.

~~~
RK
It might also work to be in only one class, allowing you to still have your
normal job, etc. I think the main thing would be to show the
department/professor that you can cut it at the university.

If you can get a research job and take class(es), you're practically a grad
student already :)

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djcapelis
My undergraduate GPA ended up being a 2.6. I ended up admitted to 4 graduate
programs this last admissions cycle. My professors apparently wrote some
excellent letters of recommendation for me.

I thought I'd mention that since the article (and others) mentions that it's
harder to get in with a low GPA these days. This may be true, but it is still
possible.

Your professors should know you after you finish taking classes with them.
Preferably you should also be doing research with one (or hell, more) of them.
Showing a professor your research potential is the quickest way to change your
letter from "smart but lazy" to "smart and hardworking, but stubbornly doesn't
care about the mundane class stuff that none of us really think is that
important for research anyways."

As an aside: If you're interested in doing graduate work in security, please
contact me. (My e-mail is listed in my profile.) We're always looking for good
researchers and if you're good, we'd be interested in your application and
it's possible I can poke someone on the admissions committee to make sure your
app gets looked at thoroughly.

Also: Apply broadly. I had success at a few programs, some ranked higher than
the one I'm in. I'm where I am because I followed funding and I wanted to be
near the Bay Area.

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dagw
I know very few PhDs how got into grad school by having good grades and
sending out applications. Most professors have a certain amount of autonomy i
choosing who they want as PhD students. My girlfriend for example never
applied for anything. She did some work with a professor who then asked her if
she'd ever considered doing a PhD, my girlfriend said it sounded interesting
the professor filed in some papers and that was basically that. I know a lot
of other people as well who basically got in on some variation on that theme.
So if you find a professor you want to work with and that professor wants you
as a PhD student then things often work themselves out.

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cloudkj
Tangentially, how do you get into a PhD program without any academic letters
of recommendation (if, for example, you've been working in industry for a few
years)?

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
Pretty similar to all the other suggestions - make contact with somone in the
department who works on what you want to do your PhD in. Talk to them, find
out what you need to do to get them to supervise you. If they won't ask for
another name.

And be persistent.

~~~
Groxx
And be able to show your skillz, to catch their eye. Otherwise you're just a
name that wants special attention in a (potentially) large, seething crowd.

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RK
His other entry on what to put on your grad school application is pretty good
as well:

[http://3dpancakes.typepad.com/ernie/2009/12/reading-phd-
appl...](http://3dpancakes.typepad.com/ernie/2009/12/reading-phd-
applications.html)

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accoleon
I currently am finishing my Diploma in Singapore Polytechnic. I have a
3.93/4.00 GPA, and is among the top, if not the top scorer in my course.
Unfortunately, I would be unable to enter a local Singaporean university due
to my "O" level results.

I dream of going overseas (USA) for my college studies, but due to the
incompatibilities of our education system (Singapore follows the British
education system), I don't think I'll get to use my diploma GPA for entry.

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jessriedel
> I aced the programming classes

All grad schools care about is how well you did in that particular subject (or
maybe a related subject, like math). You could easily ace your programming and
math classes, bomb everything else, end up with a 2.0, and get into grad
school. This isn't particularly surprising.

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kaffeinecoma
... "the director of graduate admissions, a software engineer, told me he had
burned some political capital to get me admitted despite my crappy GPA, that
he had a lot riding on my success, that he'd gambled on me because of my work
experience, and that I'd better not let him down. (That was the last time I
ever talked to him. A month later, I realized I didn't want to do software
engineering.)"

Wow, and you're proud of that?

~~~
kelnos
I don't think he claimed to be proud of it; he just noted that it happened.
Sometimes that's how things go: you think you want to take one path, but then
soon realize it's not the one for you. It sucks, but would it have been better
if he had stuck with software engineering out of some sense of obligation to
the admissions director, which would have probably made him a miserable,
mediocre student?

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sown
I'm wondering if we're in a another bust or boom. Probably bust so I'm not
eligible. :(

~~~
RK
A bust is not the end of the world. There are many ways to get where you want
to be.

About halfway through grad school I thought I might need to move for family
reasons and thus had to apply to grad schools all over again. Having completed
an MS by that point and a lot more research, very strong recs from people I
had worked with extensively, etc., I got into every single program I applied
to (including the top one in the country). I think my undergrad GPA was
probably of little interest by that point, since they had a record of grad
school performance. As it turned out I didn't need to move...

