GPA in math and non-math courses

[sutupidmath]

HI guys,

I was just wondering, so hypothetically speaking, suppose one manages to maintain a GPA of 3.8-4.0 in all math courses throughout the undergrad studies( I am a math major by the way), but for some reason gets a mixture of A's and B's ( where B's dominate) in all other non-math courses, then how badly will this affect your application when you apply to a Grad school for a Ph.D program in Math? I know that it will defenitely affect it, but anyone out there that has more experience in this, will the selection commeete pay too much heed to this part. Assuming also that you have a pretty decent number of math courses, like 2 semesters of Abstract Algebra, the same with Real Analysis, Number theory, one semester of Topology, Complex Variable, etc.??

 

[daveyinaz]

Why are you even worrying? That's a good major GPA to have. You're just opening yourself to more worrying by posting something like this since everyone else will tell you that you are a failure at life if you don't get a 4.0 in all other class work.

 

[sutupidmath]

Why are you even worrying?

So far i am ok! However, the deal is that i always seem to find myself struggling in non-math courses, in other words, i am not that much motivated when i study for them, so i always have to force myself into that. SO, i was just wondering how that would look like? I know that we have to be able to successfuly acomplish tasks that we are not excited about, because in the future we defenitely will encounter things that we would rather not do, but need to get the job done, so i was just wondering if you screw up in all other courses, beside math ones, take a more extreme case now, when you have all B's in your non-math courses, so i was wondering how might the selection commette look at it?

 

[john16O]

well, obviously A-A-A-A in non-major courses looks better than B-B-B-A...however, the A-A-A-A you received in your "major" courses is very pleasing, but there are many people who also have an A-A-A-A in their "major" courses as well, but they may have the A-A-A-A in their non-major course. So what this tells me is that they have a wider range of knowledge, so to speak, to incorporate in their area of study, more or less, they are more well rounded as a student. However, grades and gpa are not EVERYTHING, and you seem like you care about your grades, so just do your best in every class. I'm sure you will be fine...

 

[sutupidmath]

However, grades and gpa are not EVERYTHING, and you seem like you care about your grades, so just do your best in every class. I'm sure you will be ...

I completely understand this, and i personally don't care what grade i would take in any of my math courses, as long as i would feel pleased with my understanding of the matter. In other words, i do math not to get a good grade, but rather because i derive pleasure from dealing with it. But, when it comes to non-math courses, unless it is a science course or sth that really draws my attention and interest, all i care is a good grade!

I just wanted to know how this would percieve by some selection commeete in grad school, when we also know that almost eveywher else in the world college students, say math majors, are not required to take any other courses besides math ones and probbably one or two in science, which are usually electives, and you can avoid them, during their undergrad studies.