Concern about past adventures in the liberal arts.

[DdraigGoch]

I am in a bit of a difficult situation and I could use some advice about the magnitude of my problem and possible options. First, a bit of history...

I had a rough adolescence resulting in graduating two years late. Not doing any studying or homework in high school lead to decent liberal arts grades, awful science/math grades, and taking the bare minimum science and math to graduate. I followed what I thought I was good at and ended up working on an environmental studies BA.

Surprise surprise, I kept doing what I had been doing all along. I got terrible grades in university but I didn't have any better ideas. I kept at it for a bit over 4 years and then bailed with 1 semester left and a GPA in the mid 2.0s.

I took a couple years off school to figure out what on Earth I was going to do with myself. Aided by the cleansing power of manual labor, I decided to chase my childhood dream and try and get an ecology degree.

I just finished my first year in a science program. I am LOVING what I am doing and have managed a 4.18/4.33 GPA so far (At this school A:4.00, A:+4.33). I want to go to grad school. As you can imagine I am concerned about how my previous academic ventures will effect my ability to get into a good graduate program. I am intended to transfer into an honors degree, do undergraduate research, and everything else I can to make up for past mistakes.

Do I have to declare my previous GPA? Will my GPAs just get pooled together for grad applications or can I present them separately? In general I am trying to get a feel for how bad this situation is and what I can do to minimize the badness. Thanks!

 

[daveb]

The graduate school will determine which classes they'll use to calculate your GPA. However, doing what you plan will help mitigate those factors, as will an explanation in your application essay (assuming you go into a graduate program that requires one).

 

[DdraigGoch]

The graduate school will determine which classes they'll use to calculate your GPA. However, doing what you plan will help mitigate those factors, as will an explanation in your application essay (assuming you go into a graduate program that requires one).

Oh, interesting. So I send them ALL of my academic records and they derive a GPA from that? Am I understanding you correctly?
I guess my primary concern is not making it past the initial gpa-cutoff filter. A letter explaining the situation is probably a good idea though. Thanks for the input.

 

[daveb]

Yes, that's right. I got my BS in Physics/Math 2003, but had gone to college for about 1 1/2 years right out of high school for Theater Arts back in 1980. Ohio State wanted all my records, even those from back in 1980.