Jenn16

I attend a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts that does not have a geography department. I'm an Urban Studies major and am attracted to studying Geography after undergraduate because I am fascinated with maps and spatial analysis. I have two questions: 1) Since I am not a geography major and do not have access to many geography courses, am I at a serious disadvantage in getting accepted into a M.A. or Ph.D. program in Geography? 2) What experience would I need in order to be competitive for a M.A. or Ph.D. program in Geography? There is no one with a Ph.D. in Geography at the college that I currently attend. I have talked to my GIS professor (He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences) and he doesn't think that my prospects would be hurt, but he asked me to seek a Ph.D. in Geography for more advice. Here is more background information me: Academics: Overall GPA: 3.6, Urban Studies Major GPA: 3.8 No GRE yet Courses that I have taken that are somewhat similar to Geography: Introduction to GIS Introduction to Human Geography (Online) Can fit an Advanced GIS course into schedule next semester I also worked as a TA for Introduction to GIS, received outstanding feedback from students, ENVS professors willing to write recs for me based on the good feedback I have taken intro classes in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, and Calculus as well (not sure if it will be helpful). My grades were in the B range for all of them. Advanced in French, Intermediate in German Other honors: Udall Scholarship recipient Professional Experience (Not sure if it helps): Internship with city development services office, occasionally developing maps for planners, but mostly administrative stuff and grant writing Mini-projects doing online mapping stuff on Google Maps-like platforms for people (not really intensive) - had a poster on a local planning (really small-scale) conference Part-time as a computer technician at college. I will apply to start graduate school for the Fall 2018 or Fall 2019 semester.

If you already know German, don't get Rosetta Stone. It doesn't let your skip lessons. If you want to be fluent, or master the language, Rosetta Stone doesn't teach enough vocab. And also Rosetta Stone does not emphasize grammar. However, Rosetta Stone can be good for you, since it requires patience and takes lessons very slowly. Oh yes you should check out this site: http://www.uni.edu/becker/German2.html. It's a databse of sites that offer German lessons, country info, etc.

Hey, I used these self-studying materials from online during my self-study. If you like to know which level of German you're in on, and like organziation of material, you need to try IE Languages: http://www.ielanguages.com/German.html If you are a visual learn, and focuses on vocabulary, use German flashcards. They have German words and sentences based on levels of beginner, intermediate, and advanced: http://www.german-flashcards.com/ If you focus on grammar, and like insightful grammar lessons, you must try this Georgia Southern University professor's site. It's also great, because it offers exercises for each lesson: http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/german/grammar/grammar.htm My personal favorite are lessons from Deutsche Welle. It's more for young adults and teens, because the lessons are colorful and interactive. They also have a game (MIssion Europe) where you learn German, along with French and Polish, while you play: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html Email me if you want more online resources for your self-study.

So, my neighbor/friend is freaking out. She is in her sophomore year of college at a local university (around top 50-55 for undergraduate). She's doing well with a 3.8 out of 4.0 GPA with a major in Japanese. She is also in a few school clubs with some leadership positions that are unrelated to her major. However, she did not know that, in order, to get into grad school, she had to do things in her major. She even heard that Japanese Club doesn't even count, because it's extracurricular. So how in the world can you do research or get printed in a publication in/about Japanese? Is there something beyond graduate admissions that she doesn't understand or know about?