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> GPA was 0.023 too low to pass the automated filters Your application was most likely reviewed by real people, not just automated filters. People with GPAs b
by slumdev 6y ago
> GPA was 0.023 too low to pass the automated filters
Your application was most likely reviewed by real people, not just automated filters. People with GPAs below 3 do get into competitive grad programs (and med school). An upward trend is the key.
- huijzer 6y agoMaybe indeed. Maybe not. It‘s probably more nuanced and random than that.
- lumost 6y agoI'm sure this happens to some people with the right combination of luck, perseverance, and recommendations. It's probably far more likely at your current institution as you already have relationships with professors who sit on the admissions committee. Particularly if you are already productive in a lab and the principal researcher goes to bat for you. That doesn't change the OPs point that this is an uphill battle. If they didn't have the above, or they could only get into the right program then it still leaves them with better alternatives elsewhere. Harvard almost certainly filters all candidates with a GPA less than 3.0. Unfortunately academic grades have a poor correlation with future career or research performance.
- idrios 6y agoAh.. I don't think this comment deserved to be downvoted. I did actually have one place reach out -- a lab at U of Toronto. But they asked if I was international and when I said yes (USA) they apologized and said they didn't have funding to sponsor an international student. But yeah, all the other schools were faceless rejections