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I transferred schools in my second year of undergrad. I have a 3.8 overall at my graduating institution, but the transcript I'm uploading for my transfer credits is quite bad (I was in the wrong field and life happened). When applications say the minimum GPA is 3.0 is that only the GPA listed by my graduating institution?

I've already made sure to address that transcript in my extenuating circumstances or anywhere else it is relevant. One of the schools I'm applying to only counts the last 90 credits in that minimum GPA, but I can't seem to find any specific answers from other programs.

Does anyone know if my graduating institution will out weigh the poor grades I initially received. I never had the option to retake courses because I changed majors and they just wouldn't be relevant to my degree anymore.

Note: I transferred about 29 of my 131 credits, and they are almost entirely counted as electives if that matters.

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  • Would your total cumulative GPA (e.g., weighted by the number of credits at each institution) exceed the limit? Commented Nov 11 at 22:33
  • @BryanKrause It was an overseas school, so I don't have the exact GPA I received there, I tested with a GPA lower than I think I received, and I think I'm just barely meeting the threshold. Commented Nov 11 at 22:42
  • Probable duplicate of: academia.stackexchange.com/q/223963/75368 Commented Nov 13 at 0:09

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My bottom desk drawer is full of applicant transcripts from the last 10 years. I have looked at a lot of applicants for graduate schools.

I am not sure I ever looked at someone's early college transcripts that were not their graduating institution. Especially when it was not relevant to their major. As a general rule, my institution did not even ask for transcripts for schools you did fewer than 30 credits at and did not receive any degree from.

I want to see an applicant's grades in relevant classes at their degree granting university.

If you include the transcripts from the previous school, I would not even really draw attention to them if the school is overseas. Honestly, there is a decent chance they are not looked at. When I had to review applicants, there were too many applicants for me to be going through foreign transcripts and interpreting foreign grading systems. I was almost entirely focused on core university generals and major specific classes. I did not care if someone got a C+ in social dance (as a math department reviewer) at some prior university.

In a statement of purpose, I would draw attention to your positives at the degree granting university. Something like

At the University of XYZ, I did coursework in [relevant subjects]. My overall GPA at U of XYZ was 3.8 and my major specific GPA was 3.92.

On the whole, I never started out my review process by looking to demote every candidate in every way I could. I looked for the positives. If they had a statement on their relevant degree work, that is what I gave the largest weight to.

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