cynder

This person graduated 7 years ago. Who they were and how they performed 7-11 years ago may reflect nothing of their abilities now, especially if they have worked hard in the field since then and know many languages. That speaks to an upward swing. Also I believe there are some international affairs programs that place work experience above everything so depending on what this person's work experience is it could make up for the GPA in part.


To the OP: You could have a chance, but you should definitely contact the programs and other students who are in this field. Contact POIs where you are interested and be up front and honest with them, and ask for honest assessments of your profile if they are willing/have the time to comment. They might be able to tell you what things you could do to improve or what they are looking for, and then you'll have to decide if you are up for that challenge. In general with any major deficiency like this its a good idea to prove your dedication - pick up some classes, continue to improve your resume, etc. Retaking classes you did poorly in if you can afford it is an excellent idea especially if you think it would show major improvements in your profile.

I very strongly disagree with this post. An educator's primary mission is to enable students so that they can achieve goals they define.

Ideally, students will have the foresight not simply to ask if one can write a letter of recommendation but if one can write them a strong letter of recommendation.

However, that's obviously not a commonplace occurrence. If i had a forgettable student ask for a letter, i think i would give them the benefit of the doubt and rather than flat-out refuse i would ask them to send me copies of their work and tell me more about why they want to pursue graduate study. I'm not arrogant enough to assume that if i can't remember a student that must be their error rather than mine--none of us is perfect.
If, on the other hand, the student just wasn't up to scratch (or it turned out that the forgettable student was forgettable for a reason), I'd tell them that it would be a bad idea for me to write a letter as it would not be a positive one and would certainly hinder their attempts to pursue graduate study. I would probably discourage them from applying altogether.

I think it would be pointlessly cruel not to make the student aware of the lay of the land in this respect, saying yes to all requests, however poor the student. The student's poor performance in your class is "punishment" enough for their lack of effort/ability; getting their hopes up and allowing them to spend hundreds of dollars on applications that will no doubt lead nowhere would be rather beyond the pale, i think.

So, what? How far would you take that "mission"? It is my duty now to lie in a LOR to enable a substandard, uncommitted student to get into grad school? Or to lie to a student, saying one thing ("i will write you a good letter") and doing another?

I think it's perfectly reasonable and indeed ethical to refuse to write a letter if you know it won't be a good one. And if the work they produced for you indicates that they won't do well in grad school--and, come on, grad school is not for everyone and it's not a holy grail--then i really think it's kind to tell them so. If it's a blip and they're acing their other classes, they can always ask their instructors in those classes to write letters instead.

I had the same problem. I have a converted GPA of 3.14, even when I was at the best 15% of my class. At least in my school, I don't know anybody having a converted GPA greater than 3.4. What I did is to ask my school a transcript that included my relative position for each course.

I didn't do anything special. Some schools had a special form for international students where you could write down your GPA in your country's scale, but there was no room for writing comments about the grading system.
However, when I did the campus visit to my current school, one of the professors in the ad com told me that they knew exactly what my GPA meant, that they already had experience with them.
My guess is that schools with a large international student population like mine are familiar with the different grade systems, so I wouldn't worry about it.

West LA, Palms, Venice... all that stuff is affordable, and not even CLOSE to the sketchy east LA scene. I've spent time in Mid-Wilshire, K-Town, and know people who live there for $600-800 even (with roommates though). I might have a different definition of bikable than others though-- I think anything within a half hour on bike (about 6-7 miles) is a reasonable bike commute. If you're looking to stick to that, or well under, probably West LA or Palms is the best bet.

Having a roommate (i.e., sharing a 2 BD with another person, not having someone in the same room as you!) would certainly be cheaper than getting a studio or a 1 BD, which in those same areas can range from ~$700-$1500.

If you're willing to drive, you can find SUPER CHEAP housing (I'm talking under $800 for rent and all utilities), but then you'd have to commute daily from the San Fernando Valley or something and deal with the miserable rush hour traffic on the 405.

Not going to lie, UCLA is pretty high up on my radar, despite the relatively low stipend (proximity to my family is nice). If I go, I plan to get my own place off-campus, probably in the West LA area. The current UCLA students are living there, on that same average (or lower) stipend, and they manage somehow, right?