I know this is a strange question, but hear me out.
I attended a top 10 business school in my undergrad and just got out in May. Unfortunately, I was depressed, had an eating disorder, had to drop out for a semester, failed a class, got D's in other classes, hated my major, changed my major 4 TIMES, and as a result, graduated with a 3.0.
A stark contrast to high school, where I was a straight A student and got a 32 on my ACT.
I recently decided to go to graduate school after working a string of terrible jobs where I was under appreciated and treated poorly. My watershed came to me one day, and I realized I wanted - I NEEDED - to start over, do it right this time. I was writing copy for a (small) company (in addition to being a secretary, doing 5 people's jobs and being severely underpaid) and wanted to do it faster and better. I said to myself, if I only had the skills and training to do this on a professional level. It ties back into discovering my passion my senior year of college. I fed my love of writing and became deeply interested in marketing/advertising/PR aspects of companies, what grows them, what engages their audience. I started off as a staff writer of a local publication, was promoted to Editor in Chief within 2 weeks, and grew the readership by 200%. When I want to do something, I can, and will pour my whole heart into it.
But I wandered, floated, and walked around in a circle before I decided, enough is ENOUGH. The time to turn your life around is now.
The problems? 1) I decided to make this life changing decision a little late, and for certain schools I only have a month to pull it together, and 2) I am shooting for the stars. My top choices are Northwestern's IMC program at Medill and Columbia's Strategic Communications program. It's a long shot, but I figure I won't know if I don't try. I plan to ace the GRE, blow them away with my essay, and spin it as "the girl who has promise, found her passion, and will work her tail off" because frankly, there's no other way I can spin it. I have unimpressive credentials, a mostly flubbed up track record, and even my rec's aren't world famous Deans or CEOs or whatnot (but they're well respected in their fields).
I guess I'm poking around for an honest response. Do you think I HONESTLY have a shot at getting in somewhere good, or am I wasting my time? Should I forgo grad school and try to get a job related in my field, and work my way up somewhere? Easier said than done. I'm just tired of going nowhere with my life. I have back up schools in case the big ones don't work out, but I figure I've got nothing to lose, I'm hopeful (hence, the username) and plan to pour everything into trying, then pray, pray, PRAY it's enough. It's all I can do at this point.
