c12

I graduated 3 years ago with a degree in health care management. This was from a public (secular) university. Now I want to go to divinity school to get a degree in theology (most likely with a concentration in pastoral studies). Most programs want two academic recommendations. I'm at a loss for what to do. My professors were all hospital administrators and public health officials who only taught part time, and several of them are retired now. On top of that, I don't think any of them have ever had to write a recommendation for seminary programs before. I'm worried that they'll be completely baffled by my request and not know what to write. Do professors even write recommendations during their retirement? It was a small program and I was one of the top students in my class, so I'm certain that all of my instructors would remember me, but I'm still worried about getting appropriate recommendations from them. But maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. The other option I can think of is to try to hunt down my old core humanities professors from freshman year (who will not remember me). They might be able to write a more relevant recommendation ...but again, I don't think any of them will remember me at all. I've also toyed with the idea of working with private tutors in Greek and Hebrew over the next few months and having them write recommendations for me. I'm going to need to learn those languages anyway, so it would be worth the money, and they would know me well enough by March deadlines to be able to write good recommendations. Learning a dead language is a sure sign of academic skill...but I'm not sure if I can get away with using those? Advice?

If I don't get in anywhere during my application cycle, I'm thinking of doing a semester as a non-degree student before reapplying. I obviously haven't done it yet, so I can't tell you much in terms of personal experience, but I don't think you'd have to worry about people judging you or anything. Grad school is pretty diverse with people coming from all different situations, many of whom have been out of school for quite some time.

I'm currently about to start my junior year (undergrad). I know for sure that I want to go to grad school, and I'm trying to get a head start on the process as much as I can. The big concern I have at the moment: I have a few small questionable spots on my transcript. The past year or so has been really hectic for me. I've been really sick and have spent most of the past year in and out of doctors offices non-stop. We've gotten to the point where things are finally looking up...some of my problems have been resolved, and we've finally found the right mix of medications to take care of the others. But during the span of time when I was ill, my academics suffered slightly, so I can't claim a great sophomore year. My load got a bit too heavy during the year, so I ended up switching to audit mode for a couple of my classes (one each semester). These classes weren't ones that I could pass off as having taken for my own fulfillment or anything like that, so I'm sure it will essentially look the same as having two Ws (and to be fair, I guess that's what they technically were). I also got a D in one of my gen ed math courses during summer term. It's just a gen ed, not a class important to my major, and I don't think it's even a requirement for any of the grad programs I've looked at. But still, I know a D is never good. My overall record is good. I have a 3.45ish, and only a few Cs (mostly all As and Bs). I do well in my major, which is what I'll be primarily taking classes in for the next two years, so I think I could even bring it up a few points more (I could envision maybe a 3.6 or so by the time I apply). I tend to do well on standardized tests, so I have high hopes for the GRE as well. I don't know how to treat this, so I have a few questions: 1. I'm not looking to get into top schools. I'm not after prestige. I just desperately want to be able to continue my education. So at the average school, would a few blemishes on my record be enough to mess with my admissions chances, if my record is good otherwise? So many people have told me that I'll be fine since I have a good overall GPA, but I can't help but be skeptical...as having a D, 2 audits, and a few Cs (actually, one of them may have even been a C-) isn't exactly regarded as a good thing. 2. Should I try to have my circumstances explained? I know that undergraduate applications usually have a space for you to explain any special circumstances, but I haven't really seen this on grad schools apps so far. I'm sure there's some way to have my medical issues accounting for (mentioned in recommendations, perhaps?), but I'm not sure if I should. Part of me thinks that my GPA is high enough that I shouldn't bother, because it might seem like I'm trying too hard to make excuses for what is technically only one bad grade. But another part of me feels like I should absolutely account for the blemishes, no matter how minimal they are, so that schools know that I can do much better. Thoughts? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.