say you have an average of 7 at the end of second year. is it possible to bounce back and graduate with distinction, or even a 10 CA? If you do really well in all your courses in 3rd and 4th year, is this a realistic goal? I had a lot of trouble transitioning to university and a few courses in second year really weighed down my average, but I still want to graduate with distinction. any past experience someone can share?

Oh, and that being said, is it still possible to go to graduate school with a 10 CA? I know I should probably be asking a science advisor, but honestly the person I always get gives me really negative answers and it's just depressing to talk to them.

Originally Posted by aibu

say you have an average of 7 at the end of second year. is it possible to bounce back and graduate with distinction, or even a 10 CA? If you do really well in all your courses in 3rd and 4th year, is this a realistic goal? I had a lot of trouble transitioning to university and a few courses in second year really weighed down my average, but I still want to graduate with distinction. any past experience someone can share?

I don't think it's even possible to get a 10 now, right? If you got a 12 in your next 20 courses (assuming you averaged 7 in your first 20), the highest you could get is a 9.5 when you graduate.

In terms of the GPA on the 4.0 scale it may be different, but you would have to do course conversions 1 by 1. And I think if anything the 4.0 scale is harsher towards people who get less than a 10 compared to the 12 scale.

Only thing I can think of is to take extra courses or if you haven't taken 20 courses yet or something like that. But even then, I suppose it's possible but unlikely that you'll get a 12.0 in all your courses for the next two years.

Originally Posted by aibu

say you have an average of 7 at the end of second year. is it possible to bounce back and graduate with distinction, or even a 10 CA? If you do really well in all your courses in 3rd and 4th year, is this a realistic goal? I had a lot of trouble transitioning to university and a few courses in second year really weighed down my average, but I still want to graduate with distinction. any past experience someone can share?

You could probably reason the answer out yourself, but it's the summer and I'm bored, so...

Assuming you're in a normal 4-year program with 30 units a year, at the end of second year with a 7 average you've got 60*7 = 420 "points".

During your last two years, if you were to get straight 12s in every course, you'd add 60*12 = 720 points to that, leaving you with 1140.

1140/120 is only 9.5, so you're kind of SOL. You could always overload, but if you wanted a 10 average coming from a 7 after second year, you'd need to take an extra 5 courses and get a 12 in all of them to end up with a 10 average. So while it's possible in theory, not many people go through their last two years with straight 12s while overloading.

That being said, I don't know anything about grad school or graduating with distinction. I've heard that graduate studies only take your last few years into consideration though (not your entire CA), so it's possible that you'd get accepted if you were to finish with a 10-12 in all your third- and fourth-year courses, but someone more knowledgeable can clarify that.

It's not impossible, but it would take some very serious dedication. You would have to get several 11s/12s to boost your cumulative average that high.

As far as I know though, there are graduate programs out there that discount your first year of university when calculating your average for potential admission; so don't stress out too hard.

If you're issue is you simply haven't been trying - try harder.

If you have been trying, but still yield no results, seriously start looking at your study habits. For example, there are people out there that spend a lot of time highlighting or taking notes in multiple colours. Stuff like that is great and all, but it takes a really long time and doesn't really yield much in the end (at least from my experience). It's better to have crap looking notes and know the material thoroughly.

Also look at what you're interested and what you do well in in your particular field of study. It's much more likely you'll get higher grades in courses that interest you or that you're naturally adept in than not.

Most Masters programs don't look at the first two years. Usually the last two or fourth year so I wouldn't lose sleep over your first two years.

Thanks for the input, guys. I feel a lot better about my situation knowing that there are grad schools that consider only your later years. I'll just have to find out which ones do.

And yeah, my major problem was that I took some courses that I wasn't too fond of (and I ended up doing badly in them), just because they were recommended or everyone else was taking them to get a leg up on everyone else. in hindsight I shouldn't have done that, but hindsight vision is always 20/20....

Originally Posted by aibu

Thanks for the input, guys. I feel a lot better about my situation knowing that there are grad schools that consider only your later years. I'll just have to find out which ones do.

And yeah, my major problem was that I took some courses that I wasn't too fond of (and I ended up doing badly in them), just because they were recommended or everyone else was taking them to get a leg up on everyone else. in hindsight I shouldn't have done that, but hindsight vision is always 20/20....

This. I can't even count the number of times I've posted telling people not to do that (and I'm not the only one)....and yet that's what half the posts on the academic section of MI are asking.

Also, assuming you're going for science grad school (since your program is listed as science), you should try to get research experience. That experience plus a good letter of recommendation from a prof that you've worked for will offset a lower average. Grad school is research, so it's more important that you prove you're good at that.

Yeah think it was pretty easy to workout that if you have a 7 right now, the best you could possibly do (which is likely impossible since you only averaged a 7) is a 12 average the last two years, so that would only work out to is 9.5, good luck with grad school tho

Hey if I wanna bring my average up I have to get all 11s this year.
COMMON WE CAN DO IT!

Someone is boasting a bit much ^

Boasting! NU UH I AM WHINING. I let me average slip sloowwwllyyy and now its time to kick it into overdrive if I wana be able to boast about my average when i graduate!

I know exactly what you mean Ayah, I went through the same thing myself, and realistically it IS possible to graduate with distinction, but dont be focussed only on having amazing grades..do that and dabble into something else like fencing, swimming..it could be anything!
People nowadays look at being a good multi-tasker too

Firstly, graduating with distinction doesn't really matter. What you can do, however, is place better (graduate school) than your peers who graduated with distinction.

You might find it comforting to know that your first year was significantly better than mine. I literally had zero chance of graduating with distinction after spending most of first year under the influence. However, you'll need to have very good grades from here on out. All else equal, a higher CA would be nice. The trick is that everything else doesn't need to be equal.

Secondly, this isn't highschool- fencing or swimming doesn't indicate that you can produce meaningful research.

Originally Posted by Abhimint

I know exactly what you mean Ayah, I went through the same thing myself, and realistically it IS possible to graduate with distinction, but dont be focussed only on having amazing grades..do that and dabble into something else like fencing, swimming..it could be anything!
People nowadays look at being a good multi-tasker too

Of all the possible activities you could have chosen for multitasking... you picked swimming and FENCING?
Random and obscure choices you have there, especially with the fencing

Originally Posted by Chris23

Of all the possible activities you could have chosen for multitasking... you picked swimming and FENCING?
Random and obscure choices you have there, especially with the fencing

Well Mac has a fencing team I think

But also, I dont know what the acceptance/interview process is for grad school. But for jobs in general I know they like when you have some cool hobby.

I chatted with an HR rep from Canadian Tire Financial and she raved about this co-op student they hired and how it was a tough interview process but they were really impressed that he surfed in his spare time and went on to teach surfing at summer camp.

When I heard that I was like :O oh no I dont do anything in my spare time