CageFree

I won't be doing a MA thesis in my program. Granted it's a Ph.D. program but traditionally you would still have to do a thesis and pass qualifying exams before advancing. We're doing a year-long research seminar in which we are to produce a journal-quality article, so similar to what CSUN is requiring. I doubt a program will look down upon you for not having a MA thesis, personally, especially if by skipping that you've been able to produce something that is publishable and will fit nicely as a writing sample in its entirety.

Gotcha

The MA program at many CSUs is geared toward part-timers (like teachers), many of whom won't do a thesis (they do have the exam option?). Still, it's not fair to you to change your program the year you're supposed to finish. You need to speak to your adviser because you agreed to go into the program knowing you could do a thesis... you wouldn't have gone to the program if you couldn't, right? I can see changing it for the incoming class (don't agree with it, but I understand), but not to people who are almost done. What if you'd already started?

Just a thought, but why don't more people use SugarSync? You get 5 gb to start, instead of 2, and it works just the same. I've been using it for a year.

When you buy something from a private party, it's generally understood it's a final sale. Not your fault she changed her mind.

Trolling a different board now, huh?

I haven't started yet... I'm on the quarter system. I did buy all of my books and I have 28 to read in 10 weeks. I'm scared. LOL!

NEN - Nope, I have agreed with you for quite a while. Let's stop feeding the troll, guys.

This comment really hit a sour note for me. I understand you're trying to explain the socioeconomic dimensions of the achievement gap, but the 'reason' you give for it is just flat-out wrong. I taught in the inner city for two years too, and then spent several years in a diverse, yet suburban district... I had kids from both sides of the tracks and got to compare them "side by side." It is easy to talk about "choices" when you've grown up having a wide array of choices available to you. Coming from a "privileged" background, you can choose to care or not; you can choose to work hard or skate by. However, these choices are NOT available to kids in poor, inner-city neighborhoods; their available choices are limited by their environment and situation, and often times, those "choices" are about survival. In the inner city, many of my students lacked the most basic resources to be truly successful. It was not about "poor" choices... it was about having parents who were working 2-3 jobs just to put food on the table, so the kids had to stay home and babysit, or were not allowed home until after the parent(s) came home. I had kids who lived in motels. It was about not having books or a computer around the house. I met with parents who said the kid didn't have time to complete homework because they needed his or her help with the family business. Many of my students had spent at least a year with a string of subs because their school could not hire and/or retain teachers...heck, my first year of teaching, one English teacher left for Winter Break and never came back. My kids didn't have an English teacher the rest of that year. There were a number of unfilled positions at the school where I taught. Even the interns didn't last. I won't even get into the issue of the kids whose parents didn't speak English and had discouraged them from speaking it until they started elementary school, setting them back several years. I taught about 15 miles from the beach, and in most of my classes, at least 50% of the kids had never seen the ocean in person. I saw more "bad choices" in the suburban district, and they were usually made by the more well-off kids. Kids who didn't want to do homework and whose parents made excuses; kids who got involved in 20 extracurriculars that left no time for studying; kids who thought they could wait till the end of the semester, turn in "late work" or ask for "extra credit," and ran into a brick wall (i.e., me), then threatened and screamed when they didn't get their way. Kids who lied to their counselors and sat in their offices to get 'excused' from a quiz or test because they didn't bother studying. In short, kids who had a huge sense of entitlement and didn't understand the word "no." My 'underprivileged' students were the ones who came after class to get extra help, asked questions, and made good choices just by showing up every day... even if they had been up all night because their little sibling (or son/daughter) had been up sick all night, or were working 30+ hours a week to help support their families. They didn't do the prettiest, most perfect work, but it was their own work; they didn't cheat, and then threaten to sue me and the district because I 'dared' accuse them of cheating. I did not grow up in the inner city and can't even begin to pretend to understand what it's like to grow up in such an environment. But I tried spending time in the community, and I talked to them about it... and one lesson I DID come away with is that I had to abandon my naive idealism, borne from a combination of the desire to "change the world" and a feeling that I "knew better," and start LISTENING to my students, before I could teach them effectively.

I think the diversity of experiences you have will be an asset. You want to play up how "special" you are. So... you have two graduate degrees, went a non-traditional program... I think those are huge positives.

It's just like those students I used to have when I was a teacher, who did nothing all semester, then at the end came up and asked for extra credit projects to get their grade back up so they could "pass."

Your situation is very different from that of someone who just did nothing for 3 years and then suddenly realized they didn't want to go out into the real world. Having a M.A. and M.L.S. with high grades will more than offset your undergrad grades, especially given you have extenuating circumstances.

Conventional wisdom is, a bad GRE won't keep you out if everything else is very strong, but can be used to weed people out with lesser credentials (eg. bad GPA + bad GRE = weed out). It can also help make a difference if they are trying to decide between two people. The math really doesn't matter for admissions purposes, though it can make you competitive for fellowships.

It doesn't matter. You're not going to get the answer you want to hear no matter how many "what ifs" you throw into the equation. You are not going to erase a bad GPA with "independent study," "publishing," "good writing samples," "blogs," etc.. Bottom line is, you have not shown yourself to be a good student. Therefore, your chances of making it into a top or even second-tier graduate program are virtually non-existent. I suppose it's possible. It's also possible that tomorrow the sky will be red. But it's not likely. Your best bet is to get a MA in History (PAYING for it, you won't get one with funding), work your behind off, get close to a perfect GPA, write one hell of a master's thesis, ace the GRE, and hope and pray you can get into a second or third tier Ph.D. program.

Just a thought: becoming very strong in Spanish would be very helpful if you were looking at Latinos because it would help understand Latino culture much better. Keep in mind that in Latino neighborhoods, most people Spanish with just enough English to get by. It would also give you access to sources written in Spanish by Latino authors.

Anyone else notice that the username changed? This person created a second user name.

Bingo!

Are you serious?

Getting into a Ph.D. program is very difficult, even with a 3.0. A 3.0 is a bare minimum requirement... how are your grades in History? Do you have a thesis planned? Will you have strong letters from faculty? it's very tough to gauge some of these things from reading a message board but I don't get a sense that you appreciate how hard people have to work to make it into A program, let alone a top program. It's not about a minimum GPA. A 3.0 by itself is not going to cut it, even for a middle-of-the-road Master's. Your grades in HISTORY need to be stellar (think 3.5 and up), and you have to be able to show that you have drive and a strong passion for whatever field of knowledge you plan to pursue. That comes from doing a research project, such as a thesis. Once you've got the basics covered, You need to find faculty who are passionate about the same questions you are asking, and who are willing to mentor you. You need to write your tail off. And on TOP of all of that, you need a lot of luck. LOTS of luck... This is not to discourage you, but to get you to think about all of these different factors, rather than fixating so much on your GPA. Sure, you could take a bunch of BS classes and raise your GPA above a 3.0 but that's not going to count for much. You have to show you are an outstanding HISTORY student before any program (including a MA, and even without funding) will want to consider you.

I recommend waiting, personally, esp. if you want to use your current profs. as recommenders and want to use your MA thesis. But you can apply using your undergrad paper if it's very strong, since it's finished.

Is the GPA you mention overall, or within your major? I ask because a 3.0 overall is a base requirement for every decent Ph.D. program, and a 3.0 within your major would keep you out of any decent Ph.D. program.

I've had her since she was a puppy... she's 6 now. We had to search (and pay higher rent for) an apartment that would not only let pets, but would not ban German Shepherds specifically. Cats are great pets for students, IMO. They are relatively cheap (i.e. they are small and don't eat much), and if you feed them well, keep them indoors, and take care of them they are generally pretty healthy. Socrates has been the picture of health and she's 8 years old already. Other than "checkups" she's never had to go to the vet.. she's never been sick, thankfully.

This is a very good approach. As a high school teacher, I also found that often it was because they hadn't done their reading/HW. I also use the Socratic method... I make sure to call on every student at least once each day, ask a couple of questions (one builds on another) and I don't let them get "out" of answering a question. Make them accountable.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with this pen: http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/ I've been thinking of getting it. It integrates with OneNote, which is definitely nice...you can even hook it up to your laptop while you write, so it's almost like a tablet.

That's pretty unprofessional (not you, the faculty showing cleavage and underwear). I live in California (which is infamous for being "too relaxed" and I've never encountered faculty dressed like that.