TESU courses to BOOST my GPA

[timokito]

thank you very much, I will take that class as well.

[sanantone]

Cookderosa asked some good questions because I think some things need to be clarified.

On your evaluation, TESU will calculate a GPA based on all of the courses used toward your degree, but no one outside of TESU will see that GPA. That will not be your official GPA that will be listed on your transcript. It is just an internal GPA for quality control purposes. As Cookderosa said, only TESU courses are included in the official TESU GPA.

99% of the time, grad schools will want transcripts from all colleges attended. If you have a few As at TESU and several Cs, Ds, and Fs at other colleges, you will still have a low, overall GPA. The grad school won't care if you have a 4.0 at TESU if courses from other schools bring your cumulative GPA down.

Under the Per Credit Tuition Plan, it is expensive to take TESU courses; that's why it's a plan designed for people taking 6 or less credits in TESU courses per year. For those who need to take more than 6 credits but less than 24 credits, the Enrolled Options Plan is the cheapest. For those who need to take 24 or more credits, then the Comprehensive Tuition Plan is the cheapest. TESU is actually pretty cheap for out-of-state students under the Comprehensive Tuition plan, but it's not worth it if you don't need 8 or more TESU courses. If you want to bring up the cumulative GPA that grad schools will be looking at, then there are cheaper options than TESU and several have listed them in this thread.

[cookderosa]

its to eventually go to grad school, the school I'm looking at only needs a 2.5. I want to be above that. I have about 4 classes that are not showing up on my transcript because they will bring my GPA below a 2.0 that's why I need to take some classes to boost my GPA

Ok. I give up.

[sammeecat]

Just wanted to chime in and say that this is a really helpful discussion, as recently I started entertaining the idea of grad school -- something I did NOT consider in the past. Like others, I have a mix of terrible and not-so-terrible grades from years past and not too much in the way of classes from TESC. Before this thread, I didn't realize the different ways that the final GPA will be calculated. I will only have 2 grades to factor into my TESC GPA, which probably sets me up to need some additional classes before I apply to grad school, which is making me rethink a few things, unfortunately.

So, thank you Jennifer and sanantone for your thoughtful and detailed info about the grad school/GPA issue.

[cookderosa]

Just wanted to chime in and say that this is a really helpful discussion, as recently I started entertaining the idea of grad school -- something I did NOT consider in the past. Like others, I have a mix of terrible and not-so-terrible grades from years past and not too much in the way of classes from TESC. Before this thread, I didn't realize the different ways that the final GPA will be calculated. I will only have 2 grades to factor into my TESC GPA, which probably sets me up to need some additional classes before I apply to grad school, which is making me rethink a few things, unfortunately.

So, thank you Jennifer and sanantone for your thoughtful and detailed info about the grad school/GPA issue.

sammecat- it's all about big picture. If you're starting from zero, LOT'S of people get into grad school with 0.00 GPA. That's different than starting from poor. When you start from poor, improving your GPA can be easy/medium/hard depending on how many credits you already have (fewer is better) and realize that not all grad schools care. In fact, you can chase your tail with this and dump a lot of money in the process. Before ever spending 1 cent, be sure you absolutely need a higher GPA (because no one else besides grad school will ever care) and be sure that you CAN do it. For example, if you have 30 credits and your GPA is 2.0 going in, taking an additional 30 credits that are perfect (A 4.0) only brings you up to 3.0 *even when your TESC is showing 4.0 for that - grad schools recalculate everything.

Game time!
Let's say you have 60 credits and your GPA is 2.0 before coming to TESU. Now, who wants to guess how many credits (at a perfect A grade- never a single B) it takes to make your GPA 3.75?

Any guessers? (see below)










425 CREDITS

Exactly 425 additional credits earned with a perfect score in each are required to bring a 2.0 GPA (60 credits) up to a 3.75
check your own numbers here: Calculate Your GPA

At TESU it's $520 per credit, so to play this game will take you $221,000 and take 35 semesters of full time enrollment. Piece of cake.

[sanantone]

To be fair, if you had that many credits to take, you would not be paying $520 per credit hour. You would be paying around $8300 per year for up to 36 credits under the Comprehensive Tuition Plan.

It's much easier to bring up your GPA for the last 30 or 60 credit hours, but you'd have to find programs that only look at the last 30 or 60 credit hours. So, while it's possible to still get into grad school, you'll have limited options. If you're looking at programs that only require a 2.0, 2.5, or don't care about GPA, then you have even less options. A lot of those options will be expensive, for-profit schools. There are some schools that will admit you on a provisional basis. If you do well in your first few classes, then you'll be fully admitted. There are also schools that will overlook your GPA if you have a high GMAT or GRE score.

[sanantone]

I'll tell my story to give an example of what can happen. When people go to get a graduate degree, they usually don't want just any degree. I was looking for a program in international relations, political science (internationally focused), area studies, security studies, government (depending on curriculum), or history (depending on the curriculum). I looked at hundreds of programs. Since my overall GPA was low, and I barely had a 3.0 on my last 60 credits, my options were extremely limited. I was not going to pay more than $400 per credit hour, and I did not want to take the GRE (my advice is to just take the GRE, it's not that bad). In the end, I was left with two programs: Angelo State University and the American Public University System. I chose Angelo State because it's not a for-profit. Not only did I not want a Master of Liberal Arts with a concentration from Harvard Extension, but I couldn't afford it. Their graduate courses are $800 per credit hour, and there's an on-campus requirement. I couldn't quit my job and have enough money to move from Texas to Massachusetts where the cost of living is sky high.

Anyway, I managed to bump up my GPA on the last 60 credit hours by taking community college courses. In about a calendar year, if I recall correctly, I finished 48 credits for less than $3,000. The Pell Grant completely covered the cost.

[timokito]

thank you very much for that information, I dont qualify for pell grants. the cost is not really an issue, I will just pay for those 3 classes and go from there.

[timokito]

Ok. I give up.

ok! thank you

[sammeecat]

425 CREDITS

Exactly 425 additional credits earned with a perfect score in each are required to bring a 2.0 GPA (60 credits) up to a 3.75
check your own numbers here: Calculate Your GPA

At TESU it's $520 per credit, so to play this game will take you $221,000 and take 35 semesters of full time enrollment. Piece of cake.

Sure, let me whip out my change purse to cover that.

In all seriousness, being admitted on a conditional basis (as sanantone mentioned), or just taking one class at a time as a non-degree student is probably the way to go for my situation. It's still a "twinkle in my eye" sort of prospect, but it's good to have this info ahead of time.