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I think they realize that not all letter writers are equally skilled. At least she put good things in the letter, so they know in general how this LOR views you. Also, I think that letters from bosses can potentially be "mixed." After all, if you're that great an employee, your employer/boss is probably not thrilled about losing you to grad school. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The GPA is not bad at all, but the GRE makes me wonder what sort of school you went to, since the GRE and GPA send very different messages. That is not what you want admissions committees to be wondering about, so definitely take the test again. Even consider a professional course (Kaplan, or the like) and think of it as an investment, unless you are sure you can raise your score by studying on your own. The GRE may not be the most important component of your application, but you want to make sure you are not kept out of consideration because of it.

Yes, you do. ALL of them.

I would also recommend retaking the GRE. I think your low V score will hurt you. The programs you're interested in tend to be very competitive.

Maybe you upset her the first time the topic of letter writing came up and you turned her down . . . . Good luck finding your third letter writer. Applying is such a stressful process.

I second the suggestion to take more classes. Some schools may add them to your GPA. Even for those that don't, it will only help you to prove that you are capable of doing well. Med school is probably out - you'd have a tough time even with a 3.0, I think.

No, scores of 750 were below the 90th percentile. Why would that change?

It is a problem that none of your LORs from 2 years ago (not a long time at all) were strong. To me, it sounds as though you are not ready to apply to graduate school now. You cannot use your poli sci profs from 1999. ONE employer letter would be OK, but to not have ANY chem prof letters would be very bad. It will be a problem in the future, also, since 2010 was not far enough in the past for them to have reasonably forgotten you. You DO need to get some research experience and you NEED a letter from someone who can attest to your ability to do research. Also, if you really can't get a strong letter from any of your former profs, you should look into taking additional classes, with the goal of making a good enough impression to get STRONG letter from some profs. Without strong letters, I think you have no chance of acceptance.

She probably thinks as highly of you as you hope. However, she probably knows that she'd need to describe how she is qualified to write an LOR for you. Prof of one online class may not carry much weight with admissions committees. She may advise you to find someone else, for just this reason.

Agree with OH YEAH. You NEED a better Q score for computer science.

The difference is that people who come to this site are doing the work themselves. They are researching and collecting information that they must sift through. They are not going to professional packagers to get everything done for them. At least, that's my understanding of what these agents do (and how they can charge $200+ /hour for their services). I could certainly be wrong :-) I never consulted with one, so I could be off base on what they offer and do.

If applying to grad school is too hard, you shouldn't do it (just my opinion, but it doesn't get any easier once you're in ... ).

Probably they are mostly to increase awareness of their programs. I would expect they are mostly marketing, and would have little effect (guessing none) on your actual chances.

I don't understand why graduating in 3.5 years would be of any significance. I can understand it might make financial sense, but it is kind of pointless as far as graduate applications go, in my opinion.

Doesn't running a business for four years show leadership?

And remember to let them know when you get interviews and/or (especially) acceptances!

I'd go with the Prof who knows you best and would write the stronger letter. Besides, the skills you need to do well in philosophy are just as important in politics science.

I think the V score will hurt you. Is there anyone from your school you could talk to? Sociology is not a field I'm familiar with, so I'm only guessing on the importance of the verbal score.

Get a third letter. If you are geographically able to, meet with one of your professors and let them know what you're hoping to do. I ran into one of my old profs recently, and she was delighted to see me again and get a short update. You shouldn't assume none of your old profs would be willing to help you. After all, they might even remember you -- you have a great GPA and it doesn't sound as though you've been out of school for very long.

Ditto - I have no idea what your chances are, but your stats look impressive! Good luck!

I don't know about that -- I suppose it's possible. They get so many applications, I'm sure they don't mind if they lose some good applicants in their initial screening. Do any of your LOR writers have personal connections at any of the schools you are applying to?

I see ---- then don't worry about it (since you can't change it anyway). I doubt it would keep you out of any programs. The other components of your application are much more important. Given your publications, it sounds as though your research experience is more than fine and your LORs should be correspondingly strong.

It's really not a BAD score, but given how old the score is, why didn't you just take it again if you were not happy with it?

I could only apply locally - husband has his own career - but the local school was a large school with multiple programs of interest to me. It worked out.

No one can guarantee that it won't hurt your application. I t might look as though the whole test was too tough for you to take at once, so you could only handle it in sections. I don't think it would look good to skip any section of the GRE.