Improving Grades for Graduate Studies Admission

Applying for grad school WILL test your metal. There are those who graduate from their undergrad studies with high grades and are automatically admitted to their school of choice. There are also others, like myself, who did not have stellar grades. Unfortunately, universities today look at your grades first and everything else secondly. In my opinion, grades are not the only factor in what makes a good student and a student that would fit into a graduate program. If your grades are low you can register for further classes following your graduation; this is what I did and it obviously worked. Take only one or two classes and focus on these. Make sure to obtain A's in these one or two courses. This will have two implications for applying for grad schools: 1) Graduate studies looks at only the last # amount of courses (this number varies according to department /school), so the ones you take following graduation will look better than your earlier courses, 2) going back to school to improve your grades can look very favorable in applying to grad school because it demonstrates a willingness to improve and a dedication to what you wish to accomplish.

These additional classes can be taken anywhere. I decided to go to a different university from where I completed my undergrad. This different university was where a professor was working that I wished to be my Graduate supervisor. Through taking courses at that university I became much more familiar with him and the rest of the department. Because of the circumstances I was also allowed to take graduate courses, which allowed me to test the waters of a graduate program, show the department that I can successfully complete a graduate course at their university, and (sometimes) these courses can be counted towards your Graduate degree following your acceptance. Ask if you too can take Graduate. The cost is pretty much the same as an undergrad course, except they are much more intensive. If you decide to do this, make sure to only take one a semester. If taking two courses, make sure the second course is relatively easy. For one semester, I took a Graduate level lithic analysis course (very intensive!) and an introductory Geology course (also known as 'rocks for jocks').

Hope this helps & remember to never get discouraged!

Until next time, keep your nose to the books and your lips to the beer!
~archaeomatt