mountaingirl135

Hey everyone! I was just waitlisted to my top choice and only applied to one other school, so i'm obviously a little anxious (not too surprised though). Should I follow up with the program director expressing my interest in the program I was waitlisted at or just wait to be contacted? I'm a few years out from when I did undergrad and am not sure what my next steps should be!
 

YES! There is absolutely, 100% hope. I had the same GPA as you did and got into one of the four schools I applied to in my first application cycle! Here's the things I focused on:
-Doing as well as I could in my prerequisite classes. Since you were a CSD major, if you're going to retake any classes, I'd take those ones.
-Doing as well as I could on my GRE. If you are planning on submitting your apps this December, I would take the GRE ASAP to get a feel for your score now so you can work to improve it. You'll need to take it again at the end of the summer, early fall, so you can get the scores sent over to the schools without having to worry about it being late. I am naturally a good test taker so I didn't have to do anything too crazy, but I did buy a GRE book after taking it the first time, and went over the stuff I had more trouble with. If you have a low GPA I think it's a really, really good idea to get great GRE scores if possible.
-Crafting a really excellent LOI. I worked SO hard on my LOI, keeping it short and sweet but still touching on all the things I wanted to focus on. I talked about finding the field, what it meant to me, and how I wish I'd known about it sooner (because then I would've focused more on school, rather than my full-time job as a restaurant manager). Your LOI will obviously be different because you were in a CSD program, but I'm sure you can write something great. I looooove to edit so if you want a second set of eyes on it, message me and I'll send you my email! (This offer is open to anyone reading this, BTW!)
-Getting great LORs. Everyone told me I should really get 3 professors... but I wasn't close with very many professors in undergrad (went to a commuter school, worked 24/7). I got just one letter from the one professor I knew very well, one letter from the owner of the private practice I shadowed at, and one letter from my former boss. All these people absolutely loved me, believed in me, and wanted to see me succeed. That was MUCH more important than just proving to admissions that I could get 3 professors to write a letter. When you're asking for LORs, make sure you tell the recommenders what you need them to write. If you're doing it by email, explain the field to them (if necessary) and explain the type of characteristics grad schools look for. They'll use that email to write your letter, which is perfect!
-Getting experience. Seems like you are already doing great on this front, so don't stress. I would try and really shine in that hospital internship so you can get an LOR from your supervisor there! Since I had zero experience in the field, I did an internship at a private practice.
-Trusting the process. Seriously, worrying about it will NOT HELP. Do everything you can now, there's absolutely no use wasting energy thinking about the past, regretting past decisions or thinking about what might have been. I am a strong believer in the law of attraction, so I would literally picture myself reading an admissions letter all the time! Weird maybe but anything helps!
The school I am going to (Emerson) is one of the top 20 programs in the country, Don't feel like you have to settle or apply to the weirdest programs super far from you just to have a chance. Look on their websites and see their minimum requirements. Emerson didn't have any GPA requirement which was awesome! Look for schools that DO care about the GRE--if they don't care about the GRE, it means they probably REALLY care about GPA. Get hella organized. Make an excel spreadsheet of all the schools you want to apply to, with the requirements and deadlines laid out in front of you. Decide right away if you're retaking classes, and do that ASAP. Figure out your timeline and absolutely crush it!
I seriously believe in you so much. If you have passion for this field, you will make it work!!! Good luck and keep us updated!!