Grade 11 Canadian Student, Interested in opinions

Your grades will depend on the school that you go to. For example, to remain in the engineering program at the University of Utah, you had to maintain a 2.5 (out of 4) GPA. While that may seem very low, so was enrollment in the program. When I first entered the program, the minimum was a 2.7 GPA. However, if you look at a place like MIT, Caltech, or other similar institutions, a 4.0 GPA may not get you into the program. So, to ask what GPA is needed, you should look at where you want to go to school.

--------- anyone ??? any of your help is greatly appreciated ---------

The U must be lowering their requirements. When I went there I think a minimum 3.0 was required.

The last I knew was that a 3.0 was required for the graduate program, but the undergraduate keeps being lowered to retain more students. I just shocked myself by looking at the Undergraduate Handbook. This is directly from the handbook: "The grade point average in all completed courses listed above must be at or above the entry GPA ( 2.30 in spring semester 2003)" The same applies to the cumulative. A 2.3 is very low. You almost have to put effort into failing out.

I guess the old saying is true, "The limit as your GPA goes to Zero equals Business."

what I can tell you is that not only are grades looked at, but also your extra-curricular stuff. I have a close friend who is in the advising dept at our state school (OSU). She tells me that 1), while it's true you only "need" a 2.5 to get into the pro school (the jr and sr years of engineering majors) and I think a 2.3 to get into the state school for your fresh and soph years. however, if you want (and can afford) to go to a private school, the selection committees will take a 3.5 with some real-life extracurricular activities (sports, volunteering, meaningful work, etc) over a 4.0 with nothing else. (keep in mind this is the opinion of one advisor at one state school, YMMV speaking to others). It is totally normal for first term physics and chem to be tough. If you start to get a clue as to the concepts involved, you'll be at an advantage in college physics and chem. It sounds to me like you're on the right track. Your grades sound like they will get you into any state school. Having a teenager of my own in

10th grade currently, what I tell her (and will tell you)is that while grades are important, don't obsess over them *during these 2 years* to the exclusion of having any fun- trust me, in ENGR school you'll be doing that for a good 4 years. Have some fun. A bright kid can keep 11th and 12th grade scores up pretty well. good luck and stay in touch, k wallace

No offense but why does it matter what grades are needed? If I tell you it takes a 3.2 are you going to study only enough to get a

3.2..no of course not. You are going to study as hard as you can and do the best that you can and see what happens when you apply. That's all you CAN do. Apply to some schools which you know you can get into,apply to some schools which are 50-50 for you to get into and to some schools which are reaches.

*************************************************************** Peter Attar NRC Research Associate Computational Sciences Branch Air Vehicles Directorate Air Force Research Laboratory