My daughter has a 2.76 undergraduate GPA (engineering) and is presently employed in Biotech field. She is definite about pursuing a MS but it seems all doors are closed for those with below 3.0 GPA. Can you please advise what needs to be done ?
Thanks- D

I think it all depends on what school your daughter is interested in. Where did she get her undergraduate degree, and what schools has she investigated for her MS? Has she taken the GRE, and if so, how did she do? It might help if she were to take and pass the EIT exam - I know that typically Civil Engineers bother with the Professional Engineer title, but in her case it might show that she has mastered typical undergraduate engineering material.

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Originally Posted by ebaines

I think it all depends on what school your daughter is interested in. Where did she get her undergraduate degree, and what schools has she investigated for her MS? Has she taken the GRE, and if so, how did she do? It might help if she were to take and pass the EIT exam - I know that typically Civil Engineers bother with the Professional Engineer title, but in her case it might show that she has mastered typical undergraduate engineering material.

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From U of Minnesota with a BioMed degree and she had applied for Madison and JHU.
But this time she'll be targeting some East coast state universities.

Why does she want the masters? Job advancement in most engineering fields can happen with just the BS degree.

Does it have to be a research-based program? If so, she should try to work through senior engineers in her company to make some connections. They may be able to find her a decent program where she has a shot.

Otherwise - talk to the departments where she is interested. GPA is not a lifetime ban, but each school will have their own requirements for "rehab".

Tell her to take some extra classes... easy ones to boost her GPA! And don't give up... she needs to write papers and letters to the deans of every college she is interested in. All she needs to do is prove herself in order to get beyond this GPA setback and move ahead.