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kshenko
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« Reply #15 on: October 28, 2009, 12:05:33 AM » |
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GPA matters in getting scholarships and funding. That's the only way the funding agencies can judge students as the content of their research is difficult to judge.
This may be true in some contexts, I suupose, but many top-ranked programs (including the one I attended) don't even give letter grades, and their students get funded just fine. For grad students, funding, job search, etc. are ALL about your research background, recommendation letters, interview skills/research (job) talk, publication record, etc. In fact, most funding agencies don't even ask for transcripts. |
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scampster
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« Reply #16 on: October 28, 2009, 01:18:05 AM » |
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GPA matters in getting scholarships and funding. That's the only way the funding agencies can judge students as the content of their research is difficult to judge.
This may be true in some contexts, I suupose, but many top-ranked programs (including the one I attended) don't even give letter grades, and their students get funded just fine. For grad students, funding, job search, etc. are ALL about your research background, recommendation letters, interview skills/research (job) talk, publication record, etc. In fact, most funding agencies don't even ask for transcripts. In what field? I had to send my grad transcript to NSF, DOD, EPA, NOAA, etc etc blah blah blah. I'm not saying they weighted it heavily, but every external funding for grad school that I have done after has requested transcripts... |
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When you are a scientist your opinions and prejudices become facts. Science is like magic that way!
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barred_owl
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« Reply #17 on: October 28, 2009, 01:40:09 AM » |
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GPA matters in getting scholarships and funding. That's the only way the funding agencies can judge students as the content of their research is difficult to judge.
This may be true in some contexts, I suupose, but many top-ranked programs (including the one I attended) don't even give letter grades, and their students get funded just fine. For grad students, funding, job search, etc. are ALL about your research background, recommendation letters, interview skills/research (job) talk, publication record, etc. In fact, most funding agencies don't even ask for transcripts. In what field? I had to send my grad transcript to NSF, DOD, EPA, NOAA, etc etc blah blah blah. I'm not saying they weighted it heavily, but every external funding for grad school that I have done after has requested transcripts... In your case, scampster, could it be that the funding agencies needed to verify that you were a student? |
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...I can't help rooting for the underdog underbird. |
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scampster
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« Reply #18 on: October 28, 2009, 02:00:22 AM » |
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GPA matters in getting scholarships and funding. That's the only way the funding agencies can judge students as the content of their research is difficult to judge.
This may be true in some contexts, I suupose, but many top-ranked programs (including the one I attended) don't even give letter grades, and their students get funded just fine. For grad students, funding, job search, etc. are ALL about your research background, recommendation letters, interview skills/research (job) talk, publication record, etc. In fact, most funding agencies don't even ask for transcripts. In what field? I had to send my grad transcript to NSF, DOD, EPA, NOAA, etc etc blah blah blah. I'm not saying they weighted it heavily, but every external funding for grad school that I have done after has requested transcripts... In your case, scampster, could it be that the funding agencies needed to verify that you were a student? At least for NSF, the evaluation form you get back explicitly has a line where the reviewers comment on your GPA. None of the applications have ever implied that the only reason for the transcripts was to verify if you were a student. I'm not saying they are actually key in the decision, but they were always requested. |
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When you are a scientist your opinions and prejudices become facts. Science is like magic that way!
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barred_owl
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« Reply #19 on: October 28, 2009, 02:02:56 AM » |
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That's good to know, scampster. It's been a while since I've applied to NSF (and, even then, transcripts were not required, if I recall correctly), and I hadn't done so while I was a grad student, so I find it interesting that they take GPA into account. Just one more criterion, I guess.
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...I can't help rooting for the underdog underbird. |
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