capturedinwords

Just another option. UT Austin offers macro and micro econ courses as a self-paced program. The tuition was $550 last time I checked and it's a regular 3 credit course. You can sign up for the courses any time. http://courses.webhost.utexas.edu/dec/college/coursedetails.cfm?CourseID=558&CourseTitle=Introduction%20to%20Microeconomics%20(Online) that's the link for the microecon course listing.

Ok so here's my history. I started my education in Engineering at a top engineering school. I was extremely unhappy there and perhaps even depressed though I never went to see someone about it. 2 years later I was put on academic suspension for having a GPA of 1.8. After coming home and realizing I had been an idiot I did the following: 1. I never returned to that school but instead changed my major to Political Science and finished my undergraduate degree at a smaller school near my home. It's one of the top ranked schools in my state, but not particularly impressive nationally. 2. I pulled my cumulative GPA up to a 3.3 and GPA in major a 3.7 3. Graduated with honors 4. worked full time (and sometimes 2 jobs) to finance the rest of my education 5. took on 2 minors in National Security Studies and Asian studies 6. volunteered at international organizations 7. volunteered as an English tutor for adults at a non-profit in my city 8. Interned at the State Department in D.C. 9. Currently teach English in South Korea 10. I am really involved in the community here in South Korea from working with DPRK refugees to editing news articles for an online publication. I have some great rec letters. My GRE scores are competitive. I'm hoping my PS is good. So here's my question. I want to get in some of the most competitive IR programs in the country/world. Georgetown, GW, SAIS, American ... would you say that my screw up is going to completely wipe me off the map for possible admission to these programs? I'm hoping that because I completely turned around my life they'll take that into consideration but I dont know. Also I'm hoping that because my screw up had nothing to do with IR it won't weigh too heavily but... What do you guys think?