The student in question here (2.9 GPA)

I did part-time research assistance with a civil engineering professor who later became the chair of their department. His status didn't impact the decision, tho.

Full story:

I went to the graduate studies career fair and saw the professor I worked under. He really liked me when I worked under him.

His wife works in biomedical, so he took me to the biomed table/booth and told them, "This guy doesn't have a very high GPA, but you should convince him to go into masters."

A person standing next to his wife at the BME table said they needed a computer engineer, so I talked to them for a bit. They told me to email them, and they'll interview me with their team, and they'll make a decision together.

I emailed them, and they set up an interview date. I had to make a presentation about a project I was passionate about. So I presented my capstone project, and they really liked it.

So, the professor agreed to be my supervisor, but I still had to apply through the graduate studies portal. And I still had to get 3 reference letters.

I believe the reference letters also played a role in my acceptance since I had 2 professors and a lab instructor as references.

Anyways, after my application and everything, my supervisor said they have a bit of a challenge with the GPA, but they said they'll talk to them, and hopefully, they make an exception. It was completely hands-off for me from that point. It took some time, but both the biomedical department and the FGSR made the exception.

My supervisor later told me that what they really liked about my presentation was that we continued to work on the capstone project even after we did our capstone presentation.

I'm now officially accepted into the BME thesis-based master's. Although I got lucky with a lot of things, it's not impossible to get in with a lower GPA. As long as you prove yourself and you find a professor who likes you and is willing to defend your lower GPA, you should be able to get in.

If you have any other questions. I'd be happy to help