zhangvict Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 So I'm a current junior, took the third class of phD micro sequence this term without taking the previous two. I slightly bombed my final exam, but have not gotten the grade yet though. I'm wondering, how bad would it be for grad school admissions if I get a bad grad, i.e. anything that begins with a "B"? I some interest in doing theory, so maybe its worse because of it. I have a good record for all my other math/econ classes, including real analysis etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Food4Thought Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 It could hurt a lot, since it would imply that you were in roughly the lower half of the class in terms of performance. So, if you got a B at a top-X program, why would an admissions committee at a higher ranked program believe you would perform better in their course. If worse comes to worst and you do end up not getting an A, you could have one of your letter writers give comment that the reason for your poor performance is you skipped the necessary pre-requisites and that you shouldn't have taken that course in the first place. It will hurt, but it won't kill your chances anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pch Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 So I'm a current junior, took the third class of phD micro sequence this term without taking the previous two. I slightly bombed my final exam, but have not gotten the grade yet though. I'm wondering, how bad would it be for grad school admissions if I get a bad grad, i.e. anything that begins with a "B"? I some interest in doing theory, so maybe its worse because of it. I have a good record for all my other math/econ classes, including real analysis etc. It will probably hurt you but not a lot, if you try to make up for it.Also note that there is a big difference between B+ and B-. Depending on your school, B+ may actually be above the median. Be honest with yourself, what was the reason for your performance? Was it that you genuinely found the material difficult, was it that you didn't have the knowledge of whatever was a prerequisite, or is it because you lacked the commitment and effort to get a better grade? I think, based on the answer to that, you can decide what to do next to somehow try make up for this grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangvict Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 I think some of it was lacking some intuition and familiarity that came with not taking the previous two classes, but I think it might have been mostly because I was not used to a class where more independent effort is needed beyond assigned work, which was rather minimal. The way the class was conducted, i.e. no midterm, only final exam, etc might have also lent itself to a higher variance. I had some thoughts of trying out another grad class, does that seem sensible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chateauheart Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 This will probably hurt significantly for most people, but in the context of your profile (long string of A/A-'s in advanced math at a top univ), I don't think this matters as much. I think you should try out a couple of other grad classes, and I agree that you'll probably do better, making this particular grade less relevant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeehouse Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 204 used almost nothing from 202 and 203. It couldn't have been that. Maybe you are not used to going home and learning independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chateauheart Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 204 used almost nothing from 202 and 203. It couldn't have been that. Maybe you are not used to going home and learning independently. It's that other university with a quarter system... 303 does use a lot of material from 302. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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