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Is there any way for a non-URM to get YS with a GPA between 3.75 and 3.79 short of curing cancer/winning an Olympic medal/publishing a novel, etc.? And would those schools look down on taking a couple of online classes to bump up to a 3.8?

aboo5674 wrote:Is there any way for a non-URM to get YS with a GPA between 3.75 and 3.79 short of curing cancer/winning an Olympic medal/publishing a novel, etc.?

Yes.

And would those schools look down on taking a couple of online classes to bump up to a 3.8?

Yes.

Y and S would potentially look down on it, but the benefit of having a 3.8 over a <3.79 would far outweigh the downside of having obviously-padding coursework.

If you have the time and motivation, absolutely take easy classes to boost your GPA (as long as you haven't graduated yet, that is.)

I haven't graduated yet, but for any more grades to count I would need to wait late in the cycle or apply a cycle past the one I was planning on. I'm about to take a year and a half off, but I'm taking my last semester and graduating in Fall 2015. I had planned to apply early in that cycle.

An above-3.8 GPA is better than the advantage of the early application (which is virtually non-existent in this day and age).

Thank you, that's really good to know! As for the online classes, do you think it makes a difference what school they come from or what subject they're in? I'd love to take language or history classes from BYU independent study. I had thought about doing it just because I'm interested in the subjects they offer that I can't fit into my schedule at my school, even before I started thinking about the GPA incentive. I'm not necessarily looking for blow-off classes, just some more classes that I can work extra hard in to compensate for my below average performance on science & math requirements.