what is a acceptable G.P.A to get into a really good graduate school ?

I was wondering because righ know I have a 3.83 gpa but I think I going to get ac in the next class I guess its either burn out or seniorites but I have three classes to go If I go back to my normal studying routine and pass all the classes with a"s I will graduate with a 3.85 or some thing around there I was wondering do you think that my gpa will be high enough to be accepted into a top notch school when I graduate ? like rit , rpi or equvillent or should I retake the classes later to raise gpa to 4.0 before I apply?

 

Different colleges (within the same university) can have different requirements. Sounds hard to believe, eh?

In my college, in order to enter our graduate program, we had to pass the GRE or the last two years of our undergraduate GPA had to be 3.0 or higher.

In a different college (within the same university), they do not even require the GRE and they have no undergraduate GPA requirement.

Go figure.

 

GPA >3.5 will satisfy minimal requirements of the schools u have mentioned.

 

As manjuap said any GPA greater then 3.5 is fine. Once minimum scores are achieved a whole person selection process is normally used. The only qualification I would is having consistent low grades in math could raise a flag to many programs.

John

 

I also agree. For the programs with which I have been involved, someone with undergraduate research experience and good letters from respected academics is going to have a better shot than someone who lacks those but has higher GPA.

But I presume that it must depend on the type of graduate school -- the research experience and letters from academics are important for competitive research programs, but presumably not for coursework-only programs.

 

Thanks for your replies!

I was also wondering do you think top tier school will look down on a online degree from aiu?

 

All depends upon what you mean by top tier...

Traditionally top tier for Undergrad means approximately the top 50 schools (using U.S. News as the standard). The top tier for PhD programs is much smaller. Their are a significant drop after the top 10 and top 20 programs. If you are seeking acceptance in a top tier PhD program their probably is some bias for B&M degrees. Their is probably a stronger bias towards the schools that have high reputation as opposed to AIU.

I must repeat what I stated in my other post though. The whole person is much more important then location of degree and B&M vs. DL. When your talking about the top 10 Universities you probably do need to come from an excellent University, B&M degree, high GRE score, significant math background, etc.... As you go farther down the list you quickly end up with GOOD Universities who accept individuals with solid GRE scores, decent math background, good letter of recommendations, and an accredited degree.

Final note: remember you can pad your degree. I graduated from UoP, but I'm doing a Masters in Economics from OU and taking additional math courses to make myself more attractive to PhD programs. If you are aiming for top tier PhD programs finish your degree from AIU, work through your math courses (Calc I, Calc II, Linear Alegebra, and Discrete Math), and start a DL degree from Harvard.

John

 

Also, for the top tier schools, the type of classes you took matter. I read an email from (IIRC) the department chair of stanford's CS department regarding qualifications to get into their masters program. It was posted online somewhere. The thing that impressed me the most was that they wanted to see that applicants had taken, and done well in, some of the more challenging undergraduate CS courses. They specificly mentioned Theory of Computation, Algorithm Analysis, and Compiler Design. Not saying that you had to take all 3, but they did want to see that you had done welll in one of those types of classes.

Jon

 

Technical Grad Schools...

programs, on average, have 40% or more foreign students. Right now, these students are having a hard time getting visa's etc. to study in the USA. Should be a lot of openings available right now.

However, having said that, why would you want a technical grad degree when you already have a technical undergrad diploma? Technical wisdom is to balance out with a more management type program.

 

Not everyone thinks management is the natural path of progression from a technical position. Some love what they do and want to continue being in a technical position. There are techs I know at work that have been techs while I was in grade school (the lead tech rep in our group was working at an Intel fab in Oregon when Mt. St. Helens blew). Nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of these salty techs make more money than their managers. Sure, they assume some type of lead or supervisory role, but for the most part they fix equipment just like all the others. If you like fixing stuff, do you think an MBA would help? I think a graduate technical degree would be good for someone like that.

Best Regards,
Bill

 

and you are so very right...

But after 16+ years in IT I can tell you you do not need a graduate degree to succeed as a coder. A bachelors degree, supplemented by experience, is all you'll ever need to succeed as a pure techie. Get a grad certificate in program management and save your money for a vacation.

 

Well ,

The first reason I am persuing a master degree is satisfy a childhood dream mostly. I always wanted to get a phd as long as I could remember. If I can get one in a field I love that even better! Your right I can probably could have a successful career with just a bachelor degree ,but if I would not have the option to teach at a university if wanted and thats one of the other things I always wanted to do at some point in my career(probably when I am about to retire). There is so much creditability that you obtain with advanced degrees. For example If I write a book I know a lot of people will look at my creditials as well as the experience I have when they purchase the book to see if I am a quailified author,Because I do all the time ! so am I saying you need a masters or a phd to write a book? No, of coarse not there have been great authors with no degree at all wirte maginificant books, but a degree or a advanced degree just gives you more creditibility when writing them!
The final reason is purely selfish in that I want feed my ego and prove to myself that I can compete with this countrys educationally elite (suppositly anyway)! I would love to complete a program at a top tier school mostly to challenge myself ! Im sure the programs arent much different that any other graduate school and for the most part the only thing I will be paying for is the name but I am just curious how good I am compared to other suppositly best techs in the country as most of you maybe also ! (bookwise anyway)

Thanks for your comments they are very helpful and by all means keep the comming !