Any suggestion about low GPA and work experiences?

[wooooth]

I graduated in 2005 and got a master degree of Economics in China, and then had nearly two years’ macroeconomic research experiences in the largest economic government in China and then two years’ research experiences as a chief macroeconomic and investment strategy analyst in a securities company, ranking among the top five of China. Now I intend to apply the doctoral program of Macroeconomics in America(10 Fall).

I am confused that my GPA of undergraduate and graduate program is 79/100 and 87/100 respectively. Based on 4.0 scale, my undergraduate GPA is far less than 3.0, which can not meet the requirement of most Doctoral program of Economics.

My graduate grade is excellent. I have finished all advanced courses in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Econometrics, of which the gross grade ranked No.1 in the whole college, including all PH. D candidates. I also ranked No.1 in my class. Besides, I once was an anonymous reviewer for the best scholarly Economic journal in China for one year.

However, too many people have told me that undergraduate GPA was much more important than graduate, and too many universities said work experience was useless for application. If the committee has a screen system in the first term, concentrating on GPA, GRE(I guess I can get V600+Q800) and Toefl(93), I am afraid that I will have no chance at all.

So what can I do? which school can I choose?

[Gecko]

well - the graduate GPA does offset the damage somewhat but you should really explain why you didn't do well in undergrad~

[tm_guru]

Originally Posted by wooooth

I am confused that my GPA of undergraduate and graduate program is 79/100 and 87/100 respectively. Based on 4.0 scale, my undergraduate GPA is far less than 3.0, which can not meet the requirement of most Doctoral program of Economics.

Where did you get that GPA figure? I mean how did you calculate it?


Just for reference... calculating your GPA in a 4.0 scale is not a straightforward process, and you should be very careful when doing it. You can pay WES to do it or;

(1) You take each individual grade and equate it to the US letter grade you received. According to WES (the most used conversion system from what I see) a grade of 85-100 in China is an A in the US system, and 75-84 is a B, and so on.

(2) You then multiply the score for the grade (e.g. A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0) received by the number of credits assigned to that course

(3) You then add the resulting individual figures together

(4) divide the total by the number of credit hours that were part of your degree.

(5) the figure you get is your GPA

So even though you may have a B average at undergraduate level, this does not mean you have a 3.0 GPA exactly.

Schools have program assistants who input the scores of international students into a WES program available to them and it spits out every applicant's converted GPA, so if you are talking in GPA terms, make sure you calculate it correctly. I think WES charges $8 to calculate it in WES terms, a small price to pay to ensure that you get the same figure the adcom will get on their summary sheet.

[wooooth]

Originally Posted by tm_guru

Where did you get that GPA figure? I mean how did you calculate it?


Just for reference... calculating your GPA in a 4.0 scale is not a straightforward process, and you should be very careful when doing it. You can pay WES to do it or;

(1) You take each individual grade and equate it to the US letter grade you received. According to WES (the most used conversion system from what I see) a grade of 85-100 in China is an A in the US system, and 75-84 is a B, and so on.

(2) You then multiply the score for the grade (e.g. A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0) received by the number of credits assigned to that course

(3) You then add the resulting individual figures together

(4) divide the total by the number of credit hours that were part of your degree.

(5) the figure you get is your GPA

So even though you may have a B average at undergraduate level, this does not mean you have a 3.0 GPA exactly.

Schools have program assistants who input the scores of international students into a WES program available to them and it spits out every applicant's converted GPA, so if you are talking in GPA terms, make sure you calculate it correctly. I think WES charges $8 to calculate it in WES terms, a small price to pay to ensure that you get the same figure the adcom will get on their summary sheet.

THX!

In China, the most rigorous method to calculate GPA is:

90-100: A, 4.0
80-90: B, 3.0
70-80: C, 2.0
60-70: D, 1.0
Below 60: 0

Based on this method, my GPA of undergraduate and graduate program is 2.5 and 3.3 respectively. If I use your method mentioned above, then they become 3.0 and 3.7!