Hello,

I have a question about the grades that grad schools look at. I have found that most look at your 3rd and 4th year grades, does this include any 2nd or 1st year course electives that were taken in this year as well?

If they are looking at your grades for a particular year, I'm assuming that they would look at the grades from all courses taken during that year.

I'm pretty sure they don't look at other years, unless there's certain required/recommended courses you've taken in those years. Your best bet is to email the admissions for the programs you're interested in though!

Depends, some will look at all the courses you took in your third/fourth year, others will only look at 3 and 4 level courses, best to check with the schools themselves.

I had to input my grades from my whole undergrad when I applied to U of T. I'm not sure how many of those years they actually took into account.

To give you some idea, I was admitted at a competitive program with a fail in a relevant second year course, and a horrible first year.

If you crush your 3rd and 4th year, it won't matter. If theres a recent blemish, make sure your references discuss it.

Originally Posted by WalkerBlue

To give you some idea, I was admitted at a competitive program with a fail in a relevant second year course, and a horrible first year.

If you crush your 3rd and 4th year, it won't matter. If theres a recent blemish, make sure your references discuss it.

Hey what do you mean by that? thanks

Originally Posted by mcmastergcdb

Hey what do you mean by that? thanks

What I think he meant was like if you got a C, have a reason other than "I suck at physics." be ready to own up and justify to your mistakes, and show you've learned from it. And if you have a LOR to back you up on it, all the better.

For instance, suppose you failed Stats in first year. This might concern a graduate admissions comittee who would like some assurance that you can count. Having one of your references meantion that "little Johnny excels at quantative and qualitiative aspects of ____" might help. This is really only relevant if the course was either recent or extremely important. In my case, a reference was able to hilight the fact that there were issues with the professor and that I've matured as a student.

If it isn't already apparent, references matter. If the individual is someone the admissions comittee respects, having them say "So-and-so is a once every five year student" will make an impression. I am convinced that adcoms didn't read my SOP.

American schools take everything into account I think? As in cGPA, but Canadian universities tend to be nicer and only look at your last two years. It's the only two that are relevant anyway though having an amazing average in all four years doesn't hurt xD

It completely depends on the school and the program. It's best to call and ask them. Most will only look at your final two years, but some might look at all four years.

Relevant question: if I came back and did a few courses after graduating from engineering (math courses, not really related to eng), would grad schools look at those courses as my "last year" or would they look at the last 2 years of my major?

Originally Posted by klibzy

Relevant question: if I came back and did a few courses after graduating from engineering (math courses, not really related to eng), would grad schools look at those courses as my "last year" or would they look at the last 2 years of my major?

If you are applying to an ECE masters then they would definitely look at your ECE courses. But 12s in higher level math courses will obviously count for a lot as well. If it is a math related masters you are applying for then more emphasis is given to your math courses. It's not so much as two straight years, but your ability to do well in higher leveled courses in the related subject.

Obviously, I'm not in grad school so I could be completely wrong