How much does non-major GPA matter?

[eurekameh]

How much do you guys think that non-major GPA matter in terms of grad school or employment?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Six.

Seriously, how can one answer this question? It depends on how low the grades are, what courses they are in, whether this is a one-time thing or a trend, who is reading the application, etc.

The better question is, "why aren't your non-major grades all A's? Is it because you cannot do better, or choose not to do better?"

 

[eliya]

The better question is, "why aren't your non-major grades all A's? Is it because you cannot do better, or choose not to do better?"

Seems to me like both answers will be frowned upon by grad schools.

 

[DR13]

Six.

Seriously, how can one answer this question? It depends on how low the grades are, what courses they are in, whether this is a one-time thing or a trend, who is reading the application, etc.

The better question is, "why aren't your non-major grades all A's? Is it because you cannot do better, or choose not to do better?"

I don't think it's a bad question. He is wondering whether or not he should worry about his grade if he is close an A/B cutoff. Is it worth investing the time studying for a non-major class when classes in one's major need work? Obviously, the answer is not absolute (some time has to be spent all classes).

 

[eurekameh]

The better question is, "why aren't your non-major grades all A's? Is it because you cannot do better, or choose not to do better?"

The answer to that question is that I choose not to do better in these courses which have nothing to do with what I want to do and/or am majoring in. General education courses are plain stupid, in my opinion.

Seems to me like both answers will be frowned upon by grad schools.

Why is this the case? Are they really going to frown when you have a C in a music class not related to your intended masters / PhD degree?

 

[eliya]

The answer to that question is that I choose not to do better in these courses which have nothing to do with what I want to do and/or am majoring in. General education courses are plain stupid, in my opinion.

Why is this the case? Are they really going to frown when you have a C in a music class not related to your intended masters / PhD degree?

I haven't applied to grad school, but what I get from reading around here is this:
There are all kinds of "chores" you'd have to do in grad school. Grading papers, teaching, etc. These might not interest you so much as your classes/research, but the university will expect you to put a lot of your effort and time into it. So showing that you were slacking on classes that you think you weren't contributing from might imply that you will slack on teaching, grading, etc.

I don't know if they'll believe someone who has a 4.0 major gpa who says that he couldn't handle some art class. I might be wrong though.
All in all, if there are two identical students (of course, that can't happen), except that one has a 3.9 major gpa and the other has a 3.3 major gpa, then the grad school committee will choose the 3.9 student.

 

[DrummingAtom]

The answer to that question is that I choose not to do better in these courses which have nothing to do with what I want to do and/or am majoring in. General education courses are plain stupid, in my opinion.

Why is this the case? Are they really going to frown when you have a C in a music class not related to your intended masters / PhD degree?

Well do you think every single part of your PhD is going to enjoyable? There's a lot of grunt work in research and if you aren't doing the grunt work in gen ed classes then that might throw up some flags.

 

[gb7nash]

If somebody's a math major and they get a B in english, I would understand. However, if somebody got a C in something nonmajor, then that would make me wonder what was going on.