Hello all,
I am in the middle of applying to about 10 schools (between masters programs at UK schools and some PhD programs in the US) at the moment, looking to study Ancient Philosophy. I come from a Great Books school (Thomas Aquinas College -- essentially like St John's College) that tends to have a harsher grading standard than most schools, and so my GPA ended up being 3.2 overall. I'm working to compensate this by seeking out tutors (their version of professors) that knew me well and that I did well with; working on an improved writing sample from a philosophy essay in school; and redoing the GRE to get better/improved scores, or at least noticeable scores.
All that said, I'm still concerned about my GPA. Just for quick background, I'm looking at Catholic U, Notre Dame, St Louis U, U of Toronto (all for PhD programs), (potentially) VA Tech as a backup masters, Oxford (B.Phil), Cambridge (M.Phil), U of St Andrews (M.Litt), U of Edinburgh (M.Phil) and (also potentially) U of Leeds (M.Phil). Most schools I'm looking at have a GPA requirement of 3.4 or 3.5 and up. I've been trying to ask each school how they specifically GPAs from schools with distinct grading standards, and am uncertain of whether I still have a chance with these particular schools or not. What gave me especial concern was U of Edinburgh, for instance, which responded to my question by saying "standard conversion-system which allows us to calculate the GPA for any student (in theory) from any institution in the world, and that is an agreed measure that we apply universally."
I'm left to wonder if it will be enough to improve the other aspects of my application to get a chance to get in to some of these schools or if I should reconsider higher aspirations for a more lower-grade masters program at more local schools. Any advice, anyone? Definitely very much appreciated! Thanks again,
Jon
