So can someone tell me PLEASE why it is important for predoctoral internship sites to know the names, majors and GPAs at every undergraduate University I attended? I had a really rough time in my undergrad years (Major depressive episode that lasted most of my first two years) and I graduated with my BS in a field completely unrelated to my current one back in 1989. Does the fact that I sucked ass for my first two years as a Physics major at UC Boulder (that's Colorado) have any bearing on where I am now? I transferred and did better, though not spectacularly, at CSU, my alma mater. And then I went back to school in the early 90s b/c I thought I wanted to get a masters in Genetics. I took a boatload of Chemistry, Physics and Math to get myself up to speed; all the things that had killed me off at Boulder, and lo and behold I STILL sucked wind in those areas. Well I did ok in Chem, but the others dragged my GPA at that University down too. I dropped the whole idea and took my life in a different direction. My masters GPA was a 3.97 and I have about that now in my doctoral. So WHY to they need to know more than my BS, my MA and my current school?
Do I have to put that shit down? How will they ever know if I don't?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Any reasonable person would not hold your undergraduate GPA against you. They might ask those questions to get a sense of your full educational background -- like if you majored in something that might help -- but I don't see the point of asking about GPA. I think you'll be fine because you have excellent grades for your MA and Ph.D., which represents your most recent performance.
It would be silly to look at GPA even for someone who came to the Ph.D. program right out of undergrad (meaning, like 3-4 years ago) but I think in your case it will carry even less weight given your MA and Ph.D. performance, which is excellent.
It's ridiculous when we get these questions! I'm seeing it periodically in job applications and, thankfully, my GPA's associated with my degrees are great. But, oh boy, my undergrad GPA sucked when I went to UC Davis for a year, all because of external things going on in my life. I'm glad I don't have to list that one, at least, not yet!
Donna
PS: how'd ya like the lightning storms this morning? Hopefully, there were no fires close to you.
Hmmm...I'm thinking that maybe the undergrad GPA issue could work in your favor! I'll explain...
You had a goal and worked at it but found you weren't so great in that field (or maybe not as interested?). THEN...you found the right field, made appropriate changes and your GPA reflects that. Something that you will probably help at least one patient/client do sometime in your career.
OT...in reply to your comment on our blog...
our T actually reads our blog. However, that post was also printed out and handed to her.
Thanks everyone! I decided that since it asked what degree I'd received that was an invitation just to put the places where I'd actually graduated from something.
Battle Weary, you are SO right, and what a great idea to use for my essays on the APPI!
Actually, your idea of only listing the places you've graduated should work just fine. I used to list all my schools (I took classes at two universities at one time but only graduated from one of those, for example) and once got questioned about it during a grad school interview. Since then, I only list the schools where I got a degree and, not only is the list cleaner, no one has ever asked about those other schools.
Donna
Thank you Donna, that confirms the decision for me!
You're welcome :)
Donna
Post a Comment