Jeffrey:

I understand that you would like to take the Ph.D. Preliminary 
Exam.  Unfortunately, your GPA is currently below the minimum required for 
admission to the Ph.D. program (i.e. min. of 3.50), and according to the 
GeoEngineering Program policy, only students meeting the minimum GPA 
criterion are eligible to take this exam.

 From examining your record, your Fall semester GPA was 3.275, and I have 
been able to check some of your Spring semester grades to see if you were 
able to bring it above 3.5, and this does not appear possible, as I have 
recently learned that you have earned an A- in 176, B+ in 270B, and B+ in 
272.  Your 270L grade is not completed yet.

I have personally heard much praise from faculty such as Professors Sitar 
and Goodman about your tremendous talent and keen intellect.  Many of us 
were hoping that things would work out better this semester, but they did not.

We sincerely appreciate your interest in joining our Ph.D. program, and 
this may be possible at some later date when the minimum GPA requirement is 
met.  However, at this time, you are not eligible to take the preliminary 
exam.

If you have any questions about this matter, or would like to discuss it 
with me further, please let me know.  I hate telling you this via email, 
but I wanted to be sure to get you this information before the holiday 
weekend, so you did not have to end things early on Monday to get back to 
Berkeley for the test.

Jon

______________________________________________________

Professor Jonathan D. Bray, Ph.D., P.E.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
440 Davis Hall, MC 1710
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Berkeley, CA  94720-1710
Tel:  (510) 642-9843
Fax:  (510) 642-7476
Email:  bray@ce.berkeley.edu
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