I'm Being Discriminated Against Because of GPA

[Greenday]

My GPA is a 2.511. It's been three tough years so far. I'm doing the opposite of most people. By the end of this year, my junior year, I'll have nothing but easy classes left. I'm having a good semester and I'm expecting mostly B's and A's. Now, I have gripes against other majors because I have to deal with a lot of them bragging about how high their inflated GPAs are. But this one is actually getting to me.

I've been part of my school's chemistry club since my freshman year. I participate more than anyone else. When it comes to fund-raising tables and ticket selling tables, if we counted the hours at the table, I'd probably have more than the rest of the club combined. I know how everything in the club works inside and out. We had our elections for officers for next year and I won the position of treasurer. I'm good with money and they know I can be trusted with lots of cash. This made me really happy. Our current treasurer doesn't even know how to get money out of our account.

I just got an IM from my friend who will be the president next year, asking me what my GPA was. I did a lil LOLing, then asked why. She just simply asked me again and I told her a 2.511. She then informed me she just found out officers (at least for our club) have to have at least a 2.7 GPA. I figured she was just busting my chops, but apparently she's not. She said she'd look into it and see if anyone was actually going to enforce such a thing. If this crap holds true, shit will hit the fan, I kid you not.

[Giggle Goose]

She then informed me she just found out officers (at least for our club) have to have at least a 2.7 GPA. I figured she was just busting my chops, but apparently she's not. She said she'd look into it and see if anyone was actually going to enforce such a thing. If this crap holds true, shit will hit the fan, I kid you not.

I've never heard of such a thing! I knew that there was a certain GPA you have to hold to be in athletics, etc; but 2.7??? That's so arbitrary!

I think you should be able to do whatever the hell you want as long as you're not on academic probation. Not to mention all the money it costs to go to college that you're throwing at them.

So the current treasurer doesn't even know how to do his/her job; but hey, he's superior because he's obviously above 2.7!!

[AdminAssistant]

Well, initially I'm wondering why your advisor set up your course schedule that way - but maybe it works differently in sciences (I'm in arts/humanities).

Your president has club rules to enforce. It sucks, yeah. If they let it slide, great for you. But, and this is just the TA/budding professor in me talking, wouldn't you rather spend the last year on your classes boosting your GPA? While it doesn't have the impact that it used to (I'm actually told that some places won't hire people with 4.0's because that apparently indicates poor social skills. ) it can have an affect getting jobs and, especially, getting into graduate school.

Why do you feel your classmates have "inflated" GPA's? In most majors everyone has to take the same basic, core classes. Just curious....

I've never heard of such a thing! I knew that there was a certain GPA you have to hold to be in athletics, etc; but 2.7??? That's so arbitrary!

Most organizations require some kind of limit for participation and especially elected/officer positions. 2.7 is kind of weird, seeing as it's usually more rounded (2.5 or 3, most commonly). The GPA requirement for athletics is mostly due to the scholarships that those guys are on, and it's usually something ridiculously low, like 1.5 or 2.0. To put that in perspective, for my undergrad scholarship, the highest academic scholarship, which didn't cover as much as the athletic scholarships did, I had to maintain a 3.5, take honors classes, and write a thesis.

[Greenday]

It's kinda set up so you take a gen. ed. or two each semester, but I had to drop one class then retake it and I'm retaking genetics (got a D+ first time, I'll get a minimum of a B+ this time which will completely replace the D+), so I had to put off a couple gen. eds.

No one in the club knew about the rule until just now. Past few years, we've had some officers who focused more on getting the club going again (it was dead for awhile until my freshman year) and ignored most of the formalities. My friend who will be president is actually checking this stuff out and discovered it.

I'm not too worried about my GPA affecting me after college. I couldn't afford grad school even if I had a good GPA. And most jobs just honestly don't give a crap about GPAs. They just want to see you have a degree.

For my friends in my major, they don't have inflated GPAs. Most of them are around a 3.0 or just below it, except for one friend who is below a 2.5. But in other majors, grades tend to get inflated because those majors need a higher GPA to graduate and the teachers get in trouble if a lot of kids don't get high enough grades, so B's and A's get handed out like candy on Halloween. I know this because my chem teachers informed us all about this. I don't want to rip on other majors on here. We have members on CS who are of the majors I'm specifically talking about, and I don't want to hurt their feelings or take away from what they've accomplished. But I've just gotten sick of people thinking a 2.5 isn't a good GPA when I've been taking high risk classes (classes where a large portion of the class [sometimes over 1/2] will fail the class EVERY semester) since second semester freshman year and other people in other majors might never hear that phrase about their classes.

I mean, I have more experience using instruments than most chem undergrads in the US do. Most colleges don't let undergrads touch the instruments I use on a regular basis unless they are doing research, but still a lot don't even get to do research as an undergrad. I've been specially trained on an instrument that probably costs a little over $1,000,000 and maybe one other college in the US has one for undergrads. People all over from other colleges come to mine to use it and NO undergrads from their colleges use it. But at my college, I'm probably one of the most qualified people to use it, including teachers. The person who runs it has given me the keys at times to the room when he isn't there, knowing I can handle it without anyone holding my hand.

But because I have a 2.511, I MIGHT not be smart enough to handle an officer position of a club. Yea...

[Evil Queen]

Honey, I'm sorry but your GPA sucks. It's not discrimination. You can change your GPA. Not your gender or if your skin is blue, yellow or purple.

[ralerin]

Oooooh, my GPA is 3.6, I'm sooo much better than yooooooou!

You have my sympathy, chemistry is not an easy major to take. I, myself, an an English/Writing major and also probably suffering from the grade inflation thing but you have a harder major. *offers a plate of cookies* Still, yay for the easy classes!

And I agree. 2.7 is pretty arbitrary. I wonder if it was lower before and if they changed it specifically to exclude a certain group of people somewhere in the past?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Is this just a rule for that club or is a school rule for all clubs?

[Greenday]

Honey, I'm sorry but your GPA sucks. It's not discrimination. You can change your GPA. Not your gender or if your skin is blue, yellow or purple.

We'll have to agree to disagree. If I was in high school, the only way I could have gotten a 2.5 GPA was if I tried to get one. I had a 3.8 and I didn't study in high school. If I was in a different major, a 2.5 might suck. But for chemistry, a 2.5 is JUST on the low side of average. In my chem classes, my teachers don't curve. My teachers fail people when they deserve it. Aw, you got a C? Deal with it. I know people in other majors who have bullied teachers into bumping them up full letter grades. I'd be lucky to get a teacher to bump my grade up from say a B to a B+. I've met one person in chemistry whose GPA was above a 3.5. One. After her, I know two people between 3.0 and 3.5. Every other form of chemistry major is below a 3.0.

Is this just a rule for that club or is a school rule for all clubs?

We aren't sure, but we are going to look into it.

[Evil Queen]

But for chemistry, a 2.5 is JUST on the low side of average.

That MAY just be the problem. Now, are you going to do anything about your GPA or are you just going to complain about it? Listen, I know Chem is hard in college. Most my friends are Chem and EE majors. Complaining about it isn't going to change your average.

It's easy to complain about it. How about fixing the problem and saying "FU!" to anyone who bitches about it? I'm sure you're smart, but flaunting the fact you DIDN'T study in highschool and complaining about your college grades isn't really a good idea.

[Greenday]

That MAY just be the problem. Now, are you going to do anything about your GPA or are you just going to complain about it? Listen, I know Chem is hard in college. Most my friends are Chem and EE majors. Complaining about it isn't going to change your average.

It's easy to complain about it. How about fixing the problem and saying "FU!" to anyone who bitches about it? I'm sure you're smart, but flaunting the fact you DIDN'T study in highschool and complaining about your college grades isn't really a good idea.

I fully admit I slacked off freshman year. First semester I got a 3.0, then the next semester I got a 2.3 lowering my overall GPA. From then on, I studied hard as hell my sophomore year, but that was when I had my hardest classes, which explains why my GPA continued to go down. Last semester, I got an A, B+, B, 2 B-, and a D+ (which will get replaced with at least a B+, maybe an A-). A B- in physical chem. A C in physical chem is considered good. There was one grade in the A range, and maybe five-six other people who were in the B range. The way this semester is going, I should get a B+, A, A-, B-, and a C (though the C is up for debate, as I still have an essay coming up and the final, both of which I plan on doing quite well on, especially the essay). That A- could easily be an A by the end of the semester and the B+ could easily be an A-.

I'm working my ass off. I'm doing well in my hard classes. But when my GPA is what people in my major would call normal and is getting called crap by people outside my major, what other option do I have open to me? My senior year I expect nothing below a B in any of my classes, though most should be between A-'s and A's.

[Evil Queen]

Wow, that D+ seems to have really fucked you over. What the heck did you get the D in?

[Greenday]

Wow, that D+ seems to have really fucked you over. What the heck did you get the D in?

Genetics. I hate biology. Just memorizing stuff is boring to me. I like stuff that has application, which is why I do much better in my Chem classes. It's actually quite common at my school for people to have to repeat genetics. It's another one of those classes that more people than not fail.

[AdminAssistant]

You have my sympathy, chemistry is not an easy major to take. I, myself, an an English/Writing major and also probably suffering from the grade inflation thing but you have a harder major. *offers a plate of cookies* Still, yay for the easy classes!

NO.

No no no no no....HELL no.

Hon, every major has it's own special challenges. I study theatre. My undergraduate degree was in performance. And anybody who tells me I had an 'easy' time will get a very very nasty glare. In my four years, I accumulated something like 140 credit hours, took the usual course of basics, along with intensive courses in acting, directing, dramatic literature, theatre management, and all things technical. And worked on productions. And kept my grades up. I didn't have much of a life outside the department, but oh well.

In my book, all majors are considered equal. You probably write a lot, and probably creative writing. To you, this is easy. To others, writing is a very very difficult task. Trust me, I know, I grade the papers. I can tell who the natural writers are.

I fancy myself an academic, but set an algebra equation in front of me and I will give you nothing but a puzzled look. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

We in the humanities really have to fight, because our work is often seen as less valuable as what goes on in math, science, engineering, and such. So, please, don't say what you do...what we do...is less valuable than something else.

[Greenday]

That's what I said to my CRJ teacher. I was talking to him about my grade so far in the class and he asked me what my major was since he could tell it wasn't CRJ. I told him what it is and he was like, "Oh, wow, that's some hard stuff." I replied, "It's not hard, it's just a different style of thinking." I believe that applies to many majors. There are still one or two that no matter what, I will think are slightly less difficult in general, but for the most part, it's just different ways of thinking. If I majored in performance like AdminAssistant, I never could have passed it.

But whereas in certain other concentration's classes, if you get it you get an A, if you don't you get a C at worst, in my classes if you get it, you might get a B, but if you don't get it, a D is doubtful. In my major a 2.7-2.8 would be the average, other majors have an average GPA around 3.4-3.5. Just look at the graduation program and see who is graduating with honors and who isn't. I'm just saying, a 2.5 GPA in my major isn't a 2.5 in a different major.

[Evil Queen]

I hate biology.

I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to be a CSI, right?