votanor

It all depends on if their area of expertise is related to the program you want to go into. If they have a Phd and you've worked with them, and if they say that they are willing to write you a strong LOR then I say go for it. If possible, you can inquire if any professors at the universities in your area would be willing to take you on as a research assistant. That way you kill 2 birds by gaining research experience and having another potential letter writer.

same as kitkat I don't know much about social work programs but I would stick with the required 4 letters and the judge sounds like an excellent choice especially since she commended you on your work. In what capacity did you work for the judge - was it during a paid position, internship etc. and did you report directly to her? These would be things to consider but if she agreed to write the letter then it means she knows you and likes you enough to make a strong statement about you.

thanks for all the help. the grade isn't going to deter me from applying, I am going to apply regardless. I just want a realistic idea of how the C+ looks on a transcript but yeah there is nothing I can do about it now so no use in freaking out over it.

yeah totally. I mean it's not research oriented, which is what my intended grad program is geared toward, but it shows that I made a long term commitment and stuck with it, and as long as the other two letters speak to my academic capabilities I think it could be okay. thanks again for your help!

thanks for the response. I actually did set up an appointment with him earlier in the semester before the grade came out, to ask about the program and get some pointers etc. so he knows I am interested. when we had that discussion he said that doing well in the class would definitely be good for my transcript so we kind of already covered that topic. I don't want to become a nuisance by asking about the grade when I have already asked him for advice. that's a sure way to hurt my chances of acceptance, and just bad form. basically I would be asking him the same thing I am asking here, the difference being to him I feel I would be calling attention to the bad grade, whereas here everyone is in the same boat pretty much.

no, going for a master's right now. gpa is 2.85. I showed improvement in the last 40 units and major gpa is a little higher - 3.3. I think I have a chance but it's definitely not as solid as I'd like.

hey thanks alot! yeah they really drill psych majors on the statistics

thanks for the advice. although - I wasn't the greatest student and I asked several of my old professors for letters, and a few told me they wouldn't be able to write me a strong letter. I do have 2 professors who I can ask that will write a good letter but the third letter is what I am worried about,.I went through a list all the professors I had and no more spring to mind. so between getting a mediocre letter from an academic source and a more positive statement from a non-academic one, it's a tough call.

I don't understand - why are you applying to another place if you are already in an MS program? do you want to pursue a second master's degree? in any case you should contact the head of the department for that program and they can tell you if they will use your undergrad gpa, or grades from your current MS program or both. generally the gpa that is considered in graduate admissions is everything you've taken up until the time you recieved your degree. after that your gpa is set in stone and your non-matriculated classes will not impact your undergrad gpa. they will appear on the transcript but will not be used to calclulate your cumulative gpa. in most cases they only look at the last 60 units of your undergrad career, but again that's for classes you took until you got your degree. but if you are applying to a second master's or phd program then you can ask someone working at the school.

quick summary about me: applying to program in experimental psychology. I have 2 professors who will write me a letter but for the last one I don't have any other professors I feel comfortable asking. I volunteer once a week at a veteran's hospital, pouring them coffee, playing board games, things like that. I have been doing it for about a year and they know me pretty well. I was thinking of asking the lady who is in charge of the program for a LOR. I know what I do there isn't related to experimental psych in the least bit and barely related to psychology, it's more clinical psychology if anything. I think the supervisor might write me a letter saying that I'm a great guy and helpful and so on but it's not going to be about anything academic. she's a licensed social worker but that won't make a difference. of course I would prefer all three letters to be from sources familiar with my academic work but given that I don't really have a choice, does it look bad to send in a letter talking about your volunteer experience which has nothing to do with the program you are applying to? and more generally, I have read somewhere that volunteering and community service don't help on grad school apps as much as I thought, unless you are going for something related to that, like social work. anyone know something about this? thanks for your time.

Hi I just signed up. going for an MA in experimental psychology. undergrad gpa was not so good (2.85) and gre is okay but not amazing (1240: 570q 670v.) So, to show that I capable and to improve my application I took 2 extension classes after graduating. I got a B in the first one (advanced statistics) and a C+ in the other which was a graduate level course (multivariates statistics.) I took the two classes at the same school I graduated from and it's that same school I hope to get in to. applying to 4 other schools as well but my alma mater is the first choice. so the question is: how bad does that C+ look? I checked with the department at my school and they said that the psych department gives credit for a C+ and higher. say I was to be accepted to the program I would have passed those two classes already. but for one thing, the professor who taught the class happens to be the head of the department so he is going to be on the admissions commitee and he might question my ability and work ethic. also the thing I am really worried over is I I took the class specifically for the purpose of having a better chance at being accepted and now I feel that with the C+ my application would have looked better having not taken it in the first place. as a side not I worked really hard in the class too, but the curve was much steeper than I am used to (it was all grad students of course.) and it relied heavily on computer software that I had trouble understanding. I know if I get accepted I will be %100 dedicated to grad school and will suceed. it's just that one class was very hard and I kind of messed up before I even stared. sorry for the long post but I am so so nervous about that one grade, especially since my cumulative gpa was below a 3 anyways. so you think it's not a big deal or does getting a C+ in an extension class really hurt my chances? any advice on the matter is greatly appreciated. other info: overall gpa was low but my major gpa is a little better (3.3) and also I am a research assistant for one of the professors at the school. once a week I go in and do various research assignments. so these aspects of my application are good but I'm still afraid not enough.