doingthings

Thanks for your advice, BBQ, and for taking the time to write me this beautiful wall of text! This has definitely helped to reassure me in what I should be doing. As for the last part about my degree: It was a degree aimed primarily at applying to veterinary school and animal science (dairy, poultry, swine). It required a lot of coursework in agricultural animal anatomy, production, nutrition, genetics, housing, etc. It wasn't until half-way through that I realized that I wanted a degree in marine sciences. After discussing a potential degree change with the marine bio advisor, she convinced me to stick with my degree and just take a few marine biology courses. After graduating and moving back to the states (went international for my degree), I found that I lacked the field work experience required for jobs I wanted to apply for, internships I applied for didn't want to take me because I didn't graduate from a regionally accredited university, and I lacked the fisheries coursework required of fish and wildlife jobs. It could just be me though.

My end goal is a PhD and a career in academia, but I'd like to get an MS first and then a PhD if possible. I have assisted with two graduate research projects, and have one unpublished research paper and one literature review that was made in preparation for a potential research project. My scores for the GRE were 159 Q and 161 V and 4.5 AW.

Hey, guys. According to the master's programs that I was rejected from, the sole issue with my application was my undergraduate GPA and poor performance in core courses (basic chem, bio etc) during the first two years of undergrad. I had a 2.7, and according to my calculations, to even pass the 3.0 mark would require me to take at least 6+ courses with an A in all of them. - I've heard from various sources that a great way to deal with this is to pursue a second bachelor's and, if I do well within the first two years, I can just apply to graduate school with my collective gpa. - I've also heard of going to your target university and taking graduate courses as a non-degree (which isn't possible for my top choice university). - Alternatively, I could just apply during the next application cycle to universities with lower GPA requirements but with faculty whose research I'm not as keen on. - I could also work for a really long time and get more papers published before applying again, AND/OR. - I could take subject test GRE's and score high on the GRE and subject test GRE's. Another issue is that the degree I received is not helping me get jobs in any field I'm interested in working in. Not enough course work in one specific topic has really screwed me over, and I'm cursing ever deciding on the major I graduated with. I feel kind of screwed. Any and all help appreciated.

Rejected from the schools I applied to. Can't say it wasn't out of my expected range of possibilities. The main causative factor was my poor first couple years of undergrad, so I'm trying to decide how I should move forward. Do I just retake those courses? Pursue a second baccalaureate? ETC ETC. Lots of options!

Jeez. I hope they send them out for you soon. Crossing my fingers for you that you hear back this week.

Have people tried this? Has anyone succeeded? EDIT: I'm asking this not as a graduate student or undergraduate.

ARGH!!! Apparently, visitation day for said university is in two weeks. I called again this morning, and the secretary told me she had no idea why it is taking so long for them to review my application. I'm about ready to just email my POI and ask him if he knows what is up, but it seems like a terrible idea. I feel like this thread is basically just me freaking out. Forgive me.

The unofficial deadline was January 5th, if I was considering funding, but the actual deadline for MS students is April 30th. My POI told me they would be making decisions in the second and third week of February, and, since then, a bunch of other admissions have rolled out (on the results search). That's what's getting me anxious. I can't tell if they're just waiting til the end to slaughter me, if they'll review my application after April 30th and then reject me, or some other undesireable fate. Such wuri. Much confyuz.

I've spoken to grad admissions at my school of interest and they have little knowledge of what is happening to my application. There's no coordinator I can email, so I'm just thinking about emailing my PoI (for a master's program). Is this a bad idea? Should I just keep waiting? I'm just so... ;lsakdjfa;lskjfodsi