Does GPA Matter for University Research Assistant Positions vs. REUs?

[Benzoate]

Does GPA matter as much if you are asking a professor to work as a student research assistant for their research group at the university you are attending as opposed to apply to some REU.

For research in the fall semester, I know GPA is not a factor since you are not really getting paid like you are during the re regular school semester.

 

[bravernix]

I think only the professor can answer that question. If you are asking to be paid, then you probably have to impress him/her somehow.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Does GPA matter as much if you are asking a professor to work as a student research assistant for their research group at the university you are attending as opposed to apply to some REU.

For research in the fall semester, I know GPA is not a factor since you are not really getting paid like you are during the re regular school semester.

GPA is the easiest way to convince a prof that you are smart, conscientious, and hard-working. If you have an alternate way of convincing a prof of these things, a 3.0 is probably good enough. But you need to convince the prof that you are the kind of student who will find a way to succeed at the tasks assigned rather than consistently finding a good excuse for not succeeding.

Michael Courtney