GPA 3.0 just to graduate from masters sounds impossibly hard?

Hi all,

I am thinking of doing a Master in Liberal Studies via Fort Hays' distance education unit. (Virtual College). I am totally unfamiliar with the American education system.

But I have read that they require a 3.0 GPA out of 4.0 max just to graduate!? That is like an average B grade or an average of 80%? Is it just me or does it sound impossibly hard?

How many percentage of students actually graduate?

Also I have a 3 year BA from the UK with first class honours. Do you think they will accept my 3 year BA for matriculation into the master program? Do I have to do any SAT or GMAT tests in the American education system?

GPA 3.0 just to pass your master degree!?? What!??

 

This is standard practice for graduate programs at American universities. The standard is set high because in theory a masters degree qualifies you to teach in your chosen field. The coursework is more difficult than the undergrad level, but if earning a graduate degree was easy, then everyone would have one. If you're enthusiastic about your program of study and diligent about cracking the books, you should find that the grades will take care of themselves.

The only school I could find this information for is the University of Iowa. An article in the May 4, 2010 Des Moines Register stated that 55% of students who enter graduate programs at the U of I complete their degrees. Of course, this number includes doctoral students, don't know which way their numbers skew things.

You would have to ask Fort Hays State. I doubt you would need an SAT or GMAT, but they might ask you to take the GRE.

 

No, it's not.

You have to keep in mind that is WAAAYYYYYYYYYYY easier to get an A or B in the USA than in UK or any other European/Latin-American country.

For example, it's not impossible to graduate with a 4.0 GPA in the USA. That would be virtually impossible in my country.

You simply don't get a 10 (the equivalent of a A) that easy in Brazil. Some teacher flat out say "no one deserves a A. Period.".

 

I would agree, having taken both USA and Europe degrees. It is the norm to get a GPA of 4 in USA but try that in the European universities, it is going to be a tough job. Put in the same efforts and amount of work, I guess you will have a A in USA and a C in Europe.

 

Yep, that's why we put a man on the moon, we coddled our scientists with "easy A's"

 

Buckwheat where have you been hiding. Goodness gracious!!!

 

No we put a man on the moon with scientist that defected from Germany before/after WWII. I think the head of the space program was German as well as they guy who designed the rockets we use. Sorry I love America but most of our rocket tech came from overseas. Oh and the A bomb....German as well.

 

In the British system, no one ever gets a 4.0 GPA. Never.

If you can get an 80% grade, it would be exceptionally rare. If 100 students were to do an assignment, only 1-4 would get an 80% grade and above if they were lucky.

A 70% grading places you in the top 10% of your group. This is the same in country such as Singapore as well.

 

Dude, I'm not saying american education is bad - on the contrary, I think it is the best in the world. That's why I'm doing my Master degree here.

But it's a fact that the grading here it way easier than in Europe or Latin America. Everyone expect to get a A here, but in Europe and Latin America that doesn't happen. It's way more difficult to get the top grade there.

Different system and concepts. That's all.

 

If you can get first class honours in the United Kingdom, you should be fine with the Masters reqiurements. I think you may already at operating at the required level. It requires purposeful work, but a GPA of 3 at Masters is, in my opinion, more achievable for most than first class honours in the UK.

I did some subjects in law with the University of London at one time and UOL had not given out first class honours for three years!! I have also done some post graduatework with US universities and found the marking to be less punishing. Perhaps more reasonable?

 

UOL external is probably the hardest distance learning program in the universe.

The examinations are exactly the same for both on campus and distance learning students. As a part time distance learner, you are sitting for the exact same papers as full time on campus students in UOL colleges; whom by the way, are amongst the brightest in the UK.

UOL is easy to get in, but hard to get out.

 

So UOL is like the Hotel California?!

 

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never graduate!

 

Yes we all know about Wernher von Braun...even Kubric addressed the guy in Dr. Strangelove. But I always thought he was choking himself for all of the easy A's he made in Germany
But Braun became a citizen in 1955...so technically he was an American helping another American land on the moon....so na na na boo boo.
Even those sicklegruber-smartsy-rocket-guys at Peenemunde, gave credit to an American for the liquid fuel designs....gosh what was his name...they named one of those HUGE flight centers after him....Goddard! That's it! Wasn’t that guy doing his thing in liquid fuel rocketry in the 1920's?

Tireman, It's always a pleasure!
I just hope you're not one of those easy "A" Americans too. Gosh, if you lived in Texas that would really put you on the pinnacle of the big ol' "Stoopie" list too! We all know how they grade down in Texas!!! ggggeeezzzz
What have I been doing lately?
Well this "easy A" kind of guy has been making his own power in his backyard....check out my latest wind generator at 60 feet... notice the D-Day invasion stripes on the tail ) It's so easy to make the generator and tower even a cave man can do it....as long as he can make an "A"

 

Thats cool as heck, I wanted to do that. It just seems I don't get any wind. So now I have a question for you, does the wind patter change 60' in the air? If there is no wind on the ground will there be wind higer up?

 

I don't think it's that difficult. I earned three accredited masters with GPA's of 3.4, 3.6, and 3.9 and I am no Einstein by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Yes, most people don’t like to hear it, but the higher you can get it the better the efficiency. However if you had two wind turbines at the same height, you might see on going like heck while the other was loping along.
As a rule of thumb, you should be 30 feet above the nearest object within 300 yards... such as trees houses etc.
This turbine has about a 11 foot swept area ( blade diameter)...wood blades...it can generate about 1500 watts or 1.5 KW max when it is completely folded up with the tail in full furl pointing the blades out of a wind in excess of 30 miles an hour
However it can’t withstand these 1500 watts for long before the stator would overheat and burn itself up. So "It's either turn or burn"... furling is essential.
My next machine is a 17 footer, it will generate about 3-6 KW, the tower currently is made from 4 inch steel pipe, schedule 40, I would have to beef it up for the 17 footer. You don’t have to climb these things you lift them with a gin pole and a winch...you raise it or lower it to work on these things, Hopefully I can add two more sections of pipe and bump the tower height to 100 feet. It would probably bump up the efficiency by 10-20 percent.
If you can weld metal and cut wood, you can easily build one of these things yourself
However the magnets are those Neo type; extremely powerful, they could easily break all your fingers if they "clacked" together with your hand between the rotors. Watch this video YouTube - Separating Neo magnets - Part 2 look how this guy struggles to get the larger magnets apart!
On the 17 footer I used 32 magnets .75 x 1.5 x 3 inches 16 per rotor....so just multiply the force by 32 times!, the stator has about 16 lbs of magnet wire in it

 

Very cool. So you built these things yourself? Did you design them too or get plans from somewhere. Can you power your whole home with them or are they just a supplement to your regular power? (Man, has this thread ever gone down a rabbit trail!)