I'm a mess and I need help guys.

[Rajon-Baker6]

Hello everyone. 

I recently graduated from the University of Alberta with a BA in Mathematics and Political Science (double major). Let's just say my academic career has been an absolute disaster so far. I finished with a CGPA of 2.4, L2 GPA of 3.1, and a last year GPA of 3.7. My gpa on 3rd and 4th year courses for both majors is 3.6. I have 11 F's on my transcript, including 5 in my second last year (2 in fall, 2 in winter, 1 in spring). All my F's come from math and stats courses. I took 6 years at two different schools to finish this degree. Yeah, I'm a mess. I know. 

 

I went through some stuff that can explain some of it (Pops was diagnosed with cancer and died a year later, had to work full time to support my family otherwise we wouldn't survive month to month), however I take full responsibility for my grades. 

 

I want to get into a biostatistics Msc program but I understand my chances are slim to none. I want to do this because it's my dream to do health research work in my home country as there exists no infrastructure there. I want to gain the knowledge and expertise for this. I busted my ass my last year where I had all my upper level math courses and did well for at least a year. Do I have a shot to get in anywhere in Canada (or even anywhere abroad)? I need to keep my dream alive. I know I'm a mess but maybe there is hope out there. I've done as much research as I can and it looks slim but I want to ask real ppl who have applied and gone through the process.

 

Thank you so much for your time guys. Cheers

[yash13177]

Hi Rajon-Baker6,

First of all, I want to acknowledge that your ability to persevere and continue with your education through all of your hardships is a huge success. I'll do my best to answer your question, but I admittedly am not in your field and do not have experience in any type of situation similar to yours. I also am not familiar with specific admissions requirements in Canada.

From an admissions point of view, I could understand why your grades dropped during your challenges and working full-time. But a tiny flag that may raise itself is why all of your failed classes came from one type of class. It may be easier to understand why your grades in all of your classes dropped instead of ones in a particular subject. Now of course that can be explained: perhaps these math/stats courses required extra out-of-class work which you did not have time to do because of your job, etc. But it is worrisome, from an admissions POV, that you want to apply to a Master's program in the same topic your failed classes are in. But, (correct me if I'm wrong) it sounds like these F's happened in your second-to-last year and your grades in your last year were good? I hope this is the case, because having good grades in your last year will definitely help you. It will help you even more if you got good grades in math/stats courses in your last year. Unfortunately, we cannot go back in time so I would not spend time focusing on your GPA (even though it's hard not to).

The good thing is that applications are not only your GPA! There are many components, including letters of recommendation and your GRE score. If you have strong letters of recommendation, that could help assuage any worries from the admissions team. It will also boost your application if you get a high GRE score. I suggest also taking the Mathematics GRE subject test, which could help counter-balance some of your math/stats grades.

I hope this helps a little bit! Feel free to respond/ask more questions.