id quid

This is how the US Department of State scales it: http://careers.state.gov/gateway/lang_prof_def.html There's not a direct equivalency, but it gets across a sense of steps.

Can't really answer the first question, but for your second: Find a list that posts calls for papers (CFP). Then, participate! Submit a prospectus. Write the paper whether you're accepted or not. And if you're accepted? Excellent! You know you're on track. Is there any way you could audit some classes in the interim? Or even take one? Keeping in the academic mindset is hard once you're out of school, and it's helpful to have the classroom structure (particularly if you can get in on a graduate course) to keep you going. Good luck!

(tentative) SUCCESS!! I managed to catch her before her class started, and asked if she had a few minutes after class. She suggested her office hours, and my heart sank -- but then it turned out they were today (man I dodged a bullet there). So I camped outside her office 30 minutes before they started, since I know she's a popular professor and would have a line, and met with her. She remembered me! Even though I haven't seen her in about four years. That was awesome. She also remembered my coursework, and my paper. She filed out the form right then and there (gave me an A- for the course, which, hey, is DAMN better than an F!), then asked me to wait in her office while she dropped it by the department office! I'm calling it a tentative success until it actually changes the grade on my transcript, but WAHOO! This is a massive weight off my shoulders. Also: she agreed to write letters for me, and agreed with my list of schools, including encouraging me to have Oxford and Cambridge among them. SO. DAMN. HAPPY. And relieved. I just have no words.

Sitting outside Elusive Professor's next class, an hour early, hoping to ambush her. It's my last chance to get that F cleared off my transcript, and, if she's still willing to write a letter for me (like 2 years since the last time I connected with her) apply to more than one program. Yikes! Not like my whole future is riding on this one encounter or anything...

I'm 4 years out of college, so it's not inertia driving me. I genuinely miss the academic setting, and contributions that feel -- to me -- far more meaningful than the marketing work I do for a video game company. Don't get me wrong, it's kind of neat to be part of pop culture, but it's so hollow sometimes. Even if I don't end up in academia, I will probably still end up in a menial wage job. "Meaning" holds a much greater place in my heart than comfortable living. I lean toward writing and art (I actually ended up in Marketing purely by accident; I started in Editorial at a publishing company), and heaven knows those concentrations aren't noted for their high salaries. I only have two letter writers. If I can't track down this professor, I'm limited to programs that only require two letters. (This, kids, is the danger of specializing too early in school!) IIRC, York is the only school on my list for which that is true. I'll submit the app there if it comes down to it, but that's banking my future on a long shot! So it goes, and so it will continue to go if I want to stay in the field. I may as well get used to it now. -- Maybe I'll go back to school for a second bachelor's in computer science, artificial intelligence, or cognitive linguistics. I did always want to work with robots...

I still have some attempts left for my individual situation -- going to drop in on Elusive Professor's class next Friday; can snail mail stuff to her to at least get her attention -- but it's running thin, and obviously time is running out. The department chair is no help, unfortunately. This all seems to boil down to "my department is in the top 5 so no one has time for this insignificant stuff," especially since I'm no one's star pupil. I could have one of my letter writers explain the F, but it would be FAR less than ideal and likely still represent a waste of money in app fees for two reasons: 1) Neither professor taught the course in which I have that F 2) With that F -- in my major, in my junior year of courses -- my GPA tanks. It's something like 3.2 with the F, 3.6 without it. I'll more than likely get rejected on a first pass, before anyone even gets to the letters. It's why I'm looking at other options. It'll take me until I'm 50 to get my degree if I have to work around this, but it's something I want to do, damn it! I'll go crazy if my entire working life is devoted to selling random crap to people who are being tricked into buying it (yay marketing). -- For the bigger picture, I think it might be helpful to hear some stories about people who have had to get around their undergrad degree in some way. There are undoubtedly resources and "best practices" for handling this kind of thing, and I'm positive I'm not the only person having the kind of problem that forces you to, essentially, start over.

Some of you may have seen my intermittent drama with trying to track down a faculty member and correct a grading issue on my transcript (it was an I which lapsed to an F -- but it shouldn't have, and it just takes paperwork to correct). Whether I get this issue resolved or not, the sheer amount of stress this situation has been causing me has brought me to consider Plans B, C, D, and et cetera. How do you start all over? If you have to abandon your previous degree -- for GPA, for field, for lack of courses in the subject you want to pursue, because you can't get letters of recommendation, because you finished your last degree 20 years ago -- what's the optimal way to move forward? Do you get a second B.A.? Do you take non-degree courses from extension? Do you apply to bottom-tier programs for a Master's?

The department chair is one of my letter writers, and even she doesn't know of a better way to get in contact with the professor. I swear this woman is a wizard; she has a tenure-track position, is VERY talented, all her students love her, but she is incredibly hard to track down outside of class (which she also very occasionally doesn't teach, for various reasons, without warning) and it's hard to find her publications. When I last managed to be in contact with her, she was extremely supportive and said she'd be more than happy to write about it in her letter. I'm grateful for that, but if I try to submit applications with a 3.2 GPA, I'm going to get laughed out before they even read letters! Now I just need to find a convenient time to call in sick to work... I'll laugh about this, I know I will. I'm almost laughing now because of how absurd it is. But its impact on my applications is not something I'm laughing about. Silly professors with their lives outside of school.

I have mentioned this in the past, but it's come up again. One of the reasons I took such a long break from academia was because of a standing grade issue. In the semester a year before I graduated, I needed to take 2 classes as Incompletes due to some real-life complications. I successfully cleared both of them with the professors -- but only one of them actually submitted the paperwork. So since summer 2009 -- the year I graduated -- I have been attempting to resolve this Incomplete-Lapsed-to-F in my major in my final year of coursework. Obviously I cannot complete an application without this grade being resolved; it seriously tanks my GPA, understandably, as well as being an F in my field! What's worse, this professor was really supportive of my decision to go to graduate school and would provide a solid recommendation... If I could get ahold of her. She's notoriously difficult to track down (individually schedules office hours, never answers her email, doesn't always check her mail, doesn't have a phone, etc.), and I don't live very near campus anymore. It looks like I'm going to have to invest the day to go up on campus on her class day to ambush her after her class. I hate to do that, but this single issue has caused me more grief over a longer period of time than nearly any other of my #firstworldproblems. I want to move on, dammit, but I can't until this gets resolved and I do my next degree! Argh.

fry cook

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