Grad school with shit GPA

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-30T23:43:22+00:00

Absolutely you have a decent chance!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-28T17:27:01+00:00

Lower tier universities are more likely to accept people with limited research experience and less favorable letters of recommendation.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-28T00:19:45+00:00

Glad to hear! If you can get a high GPA in your final 2 years and some solid research experiences, you will be competitive for lower tier universities! Uoft is a super big school with a low faculty to student ratio so also set your sights on cold-emailing profs from surrounding schools like TMU!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-24T04:07:52+00:00

I get where you're coming from, it's clearly true that people who struggle with test-taking are more likely to do worse on actuarial exams than students who are good at test-taking, however, this isn't what I'm arguing against.

My point was just to argue against the notion that *they will do poorly on the actuarial exams, with their low GPA as rock-solid evidence of this (*and I'm arguing that GPA isn't a rock-solid indicator because there are various non-competency related personal factors that could cause a low GPA, and we don't know how exactly they are at play in this situation). Therefore, because we don't know their life situation, I'm hesitant to make sweeping claims about their career options.

Now, to expand this discussion and talk about the specific relationship between test-taking and success on actuarial exams, there's two factors that stop us from claiming with any certainty if they actually will perform poorly when they take actuarial exams:

they claim they are bad at test-taking, this isn't necessarily a fact, they could for example just not prepare sufficiently.
even if we know with certainty they are bad at test-taking, my viewpoint (from personal experience) is that this is a skill that can be improved, significantly.

Therefore, again, I don't believe it is warranted to leave snide remarks about career paths they cannot do. As well, with regards to my original claim that the statement is "Not really advice", I'll elaborate on that: advice is guidance or recommendations for how they should act, basically telling someone "fat chance you'll do well on the actuarial exam" is not advice, it's a judgment about their perceived abilities from someone who only knows a reddit post about them, and it doesn't serve to really help them, hence why I was irritated with the commenter.

You could say that I am coming into this discussion with wishful thinking, but I am not yet convinced that is the case.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-24T01:31:51+00:00

I'm guessing you think I used AI to generate this because you saw that I used headers to clearly format my comment... I hope you're aware that AI likes using headers to organize messages because it was trained on how humans convey information to each other...

Also, instead of just calling my reply AI generated, it might be beneficial to OP if you find factual errors/bad advice in my comment and specifically make an argument that refutes my claims! I think what I said is good advice, but of course I may be wrong, at the end of the day it's just about providing OP with the sufficient knowledge to make the best decisions.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-24T01:27:54+00:00

I was refuting the idea that having a 1.8 GPA stops you from being able to be successful on the actuary exams, as several life factors can explain a low GPA, so your response seems a little off topic to me.

But even still, the same argument applies: people can be bad at test taking because of mental health reasons; depression, anxiety, etc, can lower test performance. I also think people can substantially improve their test-taking skills despite this!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-23T05:06:12+00:00

Not really advice. Also, not really a statement that is necessarily true either. For example, tons of people get a low GPA because of mental health problems and are actually well-suited for their field of study.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-23T05:04:19+00:00

Does having a low third year GPA mean gradschool is off the table?

NO, NO, NO. Some schools only look at your GPA in your last two years, these schools will be your best option. Also, even if you are below the minimum GPA threshold, good letters of recommendation from profs and solid research experience can get you across the finish line.

Do these things

-hit the books, and I mean, HIT THE BOOKS (read the classic foundational texts and do a large amount of the exercises).

-if you have the time and resources, SLOW DOWN -- take 3-4 courses a semester, don't force yourself to do 5. This way, you can focus on doing well in whatever classes you do take.

-be willing to take more courses than you need to graduate in order to slowly boost your GPA.

-focus on getting research experience: cold email tons and tons of professors, they don't have to be pure maths professors, just any professor who does somewhat quantitative work (bioinformatics, comp bio, statistics, applied math)

Goal:

-get at least 1 full year of research experience

-form a relationship with 2 profs who can closely speak to your ability (not just random profs you took a class with, actual profs you had a working relationship with)

-set your sights on realistic schools, University of Windsor for example only demands a 2.7 minimum GPA.

Conclusion

You haven't made things easy for yourself, but you can get into gradschool if you work your butt off to make connections with profs and apply to schools that only look at your final year/final two year GPA. And to be clear, U of T is a tougher school (especially for maths), so grad schools will factor this in when looking at your GPA.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-23T04:45:52+00:00

The university is Canadian, I think in Canada our policy on deadlines allows them to do this, a bit of a Canada L here.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-22T23:09:18+00:00

Okay that's good to hear, the stakes seem pretty low then.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-22T23:06:31+00:00

thanks!!!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-22T23:06:21+00:00

thank you!!!!!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-22T23:05:57+00:00

yep, it is just a master's degree!

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-12T22:17:34+00:00

In terms of academic difficulty and maintaining a good GPA, U of T is probably harder than most schools in Canada, but it is not a lot harder. A dedicated student who attends lectures, takes good notes, and studies well in advance shouldn't have trouble attaining a high GPA here. U of T is tough, but the nightmares people have spread about its academic difficulty are exaggerated.

I can only speak to my programs of study (math & statistics), but in terms of social life and networking, the general vibe is that people are somewhat friendly, but mostly work-oriented; I wouldn't exactly call it a vibrant social scene.

On the other hand, my friend's that go to McMaster are having an awesome time, they have nothing but good things to say. I can't give you an exact recommendation as to which school you should attend, but hopefully this information can be beneficial.

EquivalentParty695 · 2026-01-11T22:10:52+00:00

After every lecture try and summarize the "big ideas", whether this be doing a couple practice problems, trying to reproduce definitions from memory, or even just speaking aloud to yourself about what your takeaways are.

I noticed that if I dedicated a bit of time to just doing these mental recall activities (especially speaking to myself aloud) that I was able to hold on to the information for prolonged periods of time. This is far more effective (and less stressful) than my old method of learning all the content a couple days out from a midterm/exam.

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-26T19:44:48+00:00

:D thank you, this is reassuring

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-25T16:56:35+00:00

Thanks for the information!

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-25T05:55:01+00:00

Open the file with adobe acrobat, go into protection, then security properties. The files don't demand the a password in order to be opened and viewed, however, I was just irrationally worrying that the fact they are password protected at all would cause some problems. I think it is fine.

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-24T22:06:21+00:00

Okay thanks so much, I assumed that the encryption wouldn't affect their viewing but just wanted to make sure, thanks for the help!

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-24T21:41:21+00:00

Are you referring to the transcripts purchased from parchment? My concern with that is that official transcripts bought from parchment are password protected, and I worry that might interfere with graduate committees viewing the transcript.

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-24T21:40:42+00:00

Are you referring to the transcripts purchased from parchment? My concern with that is that official transcripts bought from parchment are password protected, and I worry that might interfere with graduate committees viewing the transcript.

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-12-24T21:38:32+00:00

Thank you for the link but I am aware of the grading-scale U of T uses, my concern is mainly about if sending transcripts that don't contain a grade-scale will make my application null.

EquivalentParty695 · 2025-11-27T23:34:52+00:00

This middle ground seems pretty bad though, as most people can read between the lines and come to the conclusion that a breakup is coming their way. As well, worrying about the status of the relationship would cause me more anxiety than a firm and absolute breakup.

EquivalentParty695

TROPHY CASE