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I am a first year PhD student working in molecular simulation and GPU research.

I have poor grades in my bachelor's (49%).

Will this poor grade create a roadblock for me in the future if I want to work as a research professor in academia?

E.g., This advertisement asks for transcripts of records for a PostDoc position.

NelsonGon
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user366312
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    In my experience, nobody pays attention to undergraduate grades once you have your Ph.D. But my experience is not all of academia. – Andreas Blass Feb 06 '23 at 01:41
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    The ad asks for transcripts, but I don't see as asking for undergrad transcripts. You will have transcripts from your PhD too. – Davidmh Feb 06 '23 at 14:49
  • I was recently asked for my GCSE results (i.e. the exams you take in the UK aged 16) for a lecturer position. I assume it was a standard HR thing but then again I didn't get the job so who knows... – astronat supports the strike Feb 07 '23 at 11:19

2 Answers2

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No

Only the grades from your highest degree matters, and even then, not a lot.

We only care about the quality and visibility of your results. Publish strong papers and give brilliant talks at top conferences. Convince well-known active researchers to write letters raving about your work. Make a good product and get superstars to sell it for you. Do all that, and we'll definitely want to hire you, no matter where you got your degree.

Your poor BS grades can sink your application to PhD programs, but given that you're already a PhD student, you've passed that hurdle. Do well in the PhD and your BS grades should cease to matter.

Allure
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I've been asked for undergraduate transcripts when applying for tenure-track professor jobs at universities in the US and Canada. It's not very common. Out of probably 60 applications, I've been asked for such a transcript four times. So probably <10% of my applications, although it might be more common for teaching-focused jobs than research-focused jobs (I've applied to about equal number of both). Three of the times I was asked for it was for predominantly undergraduate institutions, which might make sense. I don't know why they ask for it, but presumably the search committee will consider it. But how much consideration it might be given will probably depend on the attitude of each particular committee member.

Being asked for graduate transcripts is much more common, although I'm still unsure how much they are considered in deciding on whether to offer you the job.

If you do apply to an academic job that asks for an undergraduate transcript, you could probably make it into a positive: you could say something in your teaching statement (or diversity statement) about your struggles in succeeding in your undergraduate academic work and how you could use that experience to help struggling students.

I would like to mention here that, in my experience, the people who did best in classwork do not necessarily turn out to be the best researchers and many successful researchers were not the stars of their classes. In classwork, there is essentially only one path to success, while there are many different paths to success in research. Some succeed in research by having marvelous people skills, building networks of excellent collaborators and efficient research teams. Others succeed by single-mindedly obsessing over important technical problems and solving them. Others get really good at understanding the dynamics of funding agencies and how funding is distributed (nearly all successful independent researchers need some savvy with funding). So don't let some poor grades make you think you can't succeed at research. Best of luck!

WaterMolecule
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