nersavad

Guys, Thank you for taking your time and answering my question. I really appreciate it. Even though i didn't explain much about my situation and gave just a little amount of detail as if I don't actually take it seriously, you guys taking your time and elaborating on the topic with patience to my ignorance was really incredible. And I almost made my decision -- i.e., to wait one year, finish the school and apply for my degree. I will lose one year again but I won't be fiddling around in that time period. But if I explain my situation more and if you could look at it from your perspective, you could have some insights which I don't see. Therefore allow me to describe how I ended up here and where I am heading. I might have sounded anxious in my previous question, the reason was that I wanted to include as much as possible detail and also I have squandered so much time after graduating high school and didn't want to lose another year if possible. While I was in high school, I wasn't the brightest one, more like those lethargic doing nothing, making no troubles kind of boys. Actually I don't even remember doing any homework, all i did was play computer game which was the only thing that was available to me. In my senior year when it was time to get into university, I totally panicked and started to study Mathematics from scratch. And when the national college entrance exam came, to my great astonishment I got the highest possible point which is 800( not the only one though, they give 800 to top students and goes down. Not like SAT where only by almost perfect performance you get 800). I am from Mongolia by the way, and our Mathematics course is not that easy though. Since we were in Soviet Union, our Math is derivative from them and school curriculum was still tough. After I graduated from high school, I got into Mongolian University and studied there for one year. And in summer my friend persuaded me to give an exam for Turkish scholarship program which I did without giving any thought. Surprisingly I got the scholarship, but to my disappointment that year our degree programmes were pre-chosen by our government since our country needed specific field engineers to develop the critical sectors. All my years I never even thought about becoming anything but businessman/politician, my passion was politics. Since I had no knowledge of the existence of Political Science discipline I had chosen economics in my university. But still I went to Turkey since people around me and my father advised me to do so and I did it, not because out of obedience but because they were my adults and they knew better than me about life. And, yes, they know better than me. If you take career opportunities and possibilities on my Turkish degree which was Leather Engineering, it was so prosperous for my life. (Turkish Leather Engineering program is the one of only several universities in the entire world that offer bachelor degree in leather sector). Thus I went to Turkey and started Turkish language school which was obligatory and for about one year. First semester of my bachelor degree, it was quite good. I would go to library (I have never went before embarrassingly), I would explore new activities in my universities, I would study new languages but in my second semester, I found out about something which blew my mind. That was you have an opportunity to go to top universities and you can get scholarship if you prove yourself to be worthy (Also i found out the existence of Political Science). Out of anger and amazement of my new discovery, I started to study my English to give SAT and apply for Harvard in political science. First three days I didn't get any sleep and next month I slept 5 hours a day and studied non-stop throughout a day and memorized thousands of words, read several books. But I was nowhere near around getting top grades in SAT. This process continued for about 2 months and my vigor started to decline. I lost my focus and was easily distracted. I was trying so hard to concentrate on learning but my previous persistence had gone. And as time passes I was less studying but worrying and when I try to study, I was fretting on the times I spent worrying. It was like those poverty trap and continued until the time of application by which I had no confidence about getting admitted. And yeah I didn't even apply and went back to my school. The reason why I academically failed in my major was that I had no passion. I had no passion because I thought it had no alignment with my desired career. I thought it had no benefit into my future. Don't get me wrong, as I said before this major has great career opportunity if you chase it. But I had no desire in making money or having prosperous life. So I neglected it few years but after a while I saw that this sector has great influence in the countries it had prospered. And this major opened my eyes in things I have been ignorant: science and agriculture(many other things ofc but these two are major academic disciplines). I have never known that agriculture was this essential to the country, especially those developing. That is why I have chosen to study my graduate degree in agricultural development. I found several schools which are great and also focuses on agricultural development in developing countries. I might have sounded so fixated on studying politics or other related disciplines like I am some privileged monarch descendant that whatever I do, in the future, I would be running the country. Don't get me wrong guys. If the environment I was raised weren't so bad, or the people had better life, I would be most happy to pursue science; trying to unravel the mysteries of universe; or explore the astronomical world; studying the neuroscience; philosophy; physics; mathematics; sociology, anything beneficial or supplementary to the knowledge of humankind. But I can't. Even though I somewhat consider politics as an zero sum game, I can't be ignoring the issues we have as a nation. By nation it doesn't always convey the meaning it meant. When any kind of problem or crisis arises, it always affects to those who are poor, uneducated, or those who carry any kind of difficulties that obstruct them from chasing normal life. That's why I believe, it is the fortunate ones' responsibility to take care of the unfortunate ones. It is my belief that didn't just come out after some pondering or calculation but had always been in my heart and never faded but strengthened ever after. I wanted to explain a little bit but digressed too much, only wanted to comprise the main points. I hope I didn't tire you. As of recently I had been mainly considering to apply for ETH Zurich for agri-development degree, but found out that they don't provide scholarship for intl students in first year and other scholarships are very hard to obtain. With my horrible curriculum vitae, I think I have no chance of getting there. So I thought instead of making same mistake. Study one year patiently and at least get something to show, meantime searching for scholarships. I will lose one year, but I won't be sitting idly. This is what I concluded currently, but I am all open to suggestions, advises, criticisms, if you would care to any.

Hey guys! My application is a disaster. I have extended my undergrad 2 years and i am not graduated at the time. And my GPA is below 2.0 If i could get high score in GRE and good LOR SOP, can i get into top grad schools? Or should i stay one year and graduate, raise my GPA as high as possible and apply? Or should i try Problem is that i have an financial difficulty and i couldn't afford to waste money on application fee GRE, TOEFL fee and application procedure expenditures, scholarship fees etc., if i can't get accepted