Grades
 
How to Recover from a Low Undergraduate GPA Okay, in retrospect, maybe it wasn't the best idea to take Advanced Organic Chemistry during your first, chaotic year of college—your transcript easily could have done without that C- you worked your butt off to score. Maybe you could say the same for Latin III, Ancient Greek History, or any of the other classes besmirching your transcript and making you feel like you will NEVER, EVER get into the graduate school of your choice. We understand: You've got the low GPA blues. But you're not alone—and you have no reason to feel doomed. Here are some tips for bouncing back from a low GPA and developing the confidence necessary to take the graduate school admissions process by the reins. Take a Deep Breath and Relax! While you might imagine the grad school applicant pool brimming with 4.0 superstars just waiting to blow your application out of the water, it's not. You're in the company of plenty of people who wish they had performed better during their undergraduate years and who are now suffering from similar crises of confidence. The good news is that most of you can still get into graduate school if you keep your cool and approach the process strategically. Next Steps  Apply Online: Get the list of available applications  Try a FREE full-length practice GRE  Research schools with the Advanced Grad School Search  Talk about the GRE on the Discussion Board Choose a Realistic List of Schools The GPA Scale Is All Relative Have you made friends with your college's graduate school (pre-law, pre-MBA, pre-med, etc.) advisor yet? If not, hop to it! Or talk to people who have been in your situations, trying to choose universities to attend. The job of an advisor is to help you compile a list of schools that will realistically suit your needs and strengths. He or she will be the first to discourage you from having impossible expectations and will coach you to be flexible. If you think exclusively in terms of "name" schools with national reputations, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed. But you can get a great education at many schools that will primarily consider factors beyond your sub-3.0 GPA, and your job is to figure out which ones they are. Keep in mind: one school's lower-range GPA is another school's highest. Do your research Books such as The Princeton Review's Complete Book of Graduate Programs in the Arts and Sciences and online searches like such as the Advanced Graduate School Search will give you a concrete sense of how your GPA and GRE scores match up with students who have been accepted at the schools you're considering.