Hey all, glad to be here. First time poster, but lurked for a while. Did a search on this, but couldn't find anything, so hopefully I'm not repeating a topic.
Brief history: I applied to 4 grad schools last year, was rejected by three, wait-listed by one. Don't think I'll be getting off that wait-list, so I'm trudging forward in reapplying. Will be increasing the number of schools I apply to.
With that, I have a few questions:
- My gpa, sadly, is mediocre. My cumulative GPA is under a 3, while my major GPA is a smidge over 3. Some schools claim they only count your major GPA, but I'm not so sure of the veracity of such a statement. Either way, my GPA is not the greatest. Last year when I applied for the first time, I never made a reference to it in my SOP, since I didn't want to highlight a percieved weakness in my application, and I felt I didn't need to. But I've been thinking about talking about my GPA when i rewrite my SOP this year, offering an explanation and maybe writing how embarrassed I am about it. I could express how I can use my GPA as a motivating factor to do better academically (which is true, I plan to kick butt if I ever do get into grad school). So, is this the right path to take concerning my GPA, by bringing attention to it? Or should I not even mention it?
- I've been unemployed for quite some time, which will most likely hurt the strength of my resume. I hate it, but I can't do much about it. In the meantime, I've been working with my parents at their small mom-and-pop store to keep myself busy, but the work is just that: busy work. Has nothing to do with what I studied in college. Should I list their store in my resume to fill a hole, or don't bother? Also, should I make mention of my unemployment in my SOP, or no?
- With letters of recommendations, did you guys switch recommenders, or stick with the ones you used in the previous year? If you used the same recommenders, how did you approach them to vouch for you again? Recommenders probably don't care, but I dunno... i feel a little sheepish and maybe even a little ashamed in having to ask for their recommendation again. It's like, "Hey, I got rejected. Help me out again, please?" They might be used to students asking for a resubmission of letters, but we'll never know.