Curious about a couple of grad schools

[JVanUW]

Hi!

I've been searching the web trying to find out the average GPA's of undergraduates in physics
who were accepted to Princeton, Caltech, Chicago, MIT, Cornell, etc... with no luck. Could someone enlighten me as to the approximate tiers of difficulty and the corresponding ~GPA's?

On another note, would a GPA around a 3.8 while taking graduate classes and with several publications make it worth applying to some of these top schools? Any help is greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

 

[Stengah]

Check this out. http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4274

 

[Nabeshin]

On another note, would a GPA around a 3.8 while taking graduate classes and with several publications make it worth applying to some of these top schools? Any help is greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

In short, yes. Browse the physicsgre.com forum about this application year, you'll see a hodge-podge of people who got into these top tier schools. It's not so easy to make a clear criterion (because one does not exist). But a 3.8 GPA with strong research, good recommendation letters, and a strong pgre should certainly make you competitive.

Just on a more anecdotal note, I'm somewhere on that list that was posted and I managed to get into many top-tier programs even though I thought it would be a longshot. It doesn't hurt to apply, assuming you can afford the ~$80 application fees.