runningincircles

Hi all, So I'm not a math major. I have a ba and ma in social sciences from the uk. Plus I have a community college teaching certification from sac state. Originally wanted to try to do a phd in social sciences, but for personal reasons can't. So, trying to retool myself for a career/ job that has decent prospects and good pay. I love research and analysis, so thought stats would be a good way to go. Currently moving through math courses with an eye on doing linear algebra, a year of calculus, and some upper division stats courses at uc davis ( one of the colleges I plan on applying to.) I plan on only applying to 2 colleges, ucd and csu Hayward. I can't apply to any others due to family commitments. I plan on doing some SQL courses and basic c++. My main question is: what do you think a student in my position should do. Is it reasonable to think I might get in to these programs without an undergrad degree in math, or am I just kidding myself? I have a great gpa right now. (4.0) and have good gpa's from my undergrad and graduate degrees. All my courses in the U.S. are 4.0 I have twin toddlers that are 18 months, so I'm taking my time and will be applying in the next year to grad schools. Any advice and recommendations would be much appreciated.

Hi all, I'll get to it quickly: I'm a mother to 9 month old twin girls, I have a bachelors in political science & Japanese, and a Masters in gender studies. I'm a Brit who immigrated to the U.S. in 2007, and graduated from my masters program in 2008 (did my dissertation in the U.S.) I was educated in the U.K., and thus am totally green when it comes to the U.S. education system. I'm in CA and studying a community college teaching certification at Sac State, but with the way the system is in education, there's absolutely NO jobs. So, I'm looking at going back to school for the fall of 2014. However, I'm stuck! I desperately want to do a Ph.D in the social sciences, and have wanted to since before studying my masters. However, I can only really apply to a couple of schools - Stanford, Berkeley, and U.C. Davis. I applied to U.C. Davis in 2009 when I was in Boston, and was rejected. We moved to CA for husbands job, and I can't look out of state for doctoral programs because we have a home and kids, and husband has a job here. Stanford, Berkeley, and Davis are all very competitive, and trying to find someone who might be interested in my topic (masculinity, nationalism, military and ptsd) is frustrating. I want to apply, but I don't want to waste the upcoming year/18 months, if I'm unlikely to make it in to any of the programs. I have a 3.5 GPA equivalent, and a 4.0 in my current teaching program. I'm working on the math to improve my quantitative GRE scores, and I've been contacting a bunch of people to work as a research intern/graduate assistant (idea is to get some formal research experience, other than the stuff I already have.) If I don't make it into the Ph.D (which is highly likely - seeing as they have such competitive acceptance rates) I was thinking of looking at MPH and MPP programs. However, I'm not sure whether these programs are worth the $$ they cost, as public services/government in CA is a disaster. I've been accepted early over the phone/email at Sac State to two masters programs, one in Gender Equity and another in TESOL. But again, what chances are there of getting a job? TESOL has a better chance, but Gender Equity? I've been looking around and running around like a headless chicken trying to find a program (other than the Ph.D) that might work - I hate the thought of not doing the research that I so desperately want to do, and the only programs I've come up with are the MPP and MPH. I primarily want to do research and analysis, so they seem like a good fit (possibly.) So questions are: 1. What advice would you give someone like me about the application process for the Ph.D - anyone at any of the schools I've mentioned, what did you do to get in?? 2. Given the low chances of me making it in to these programs, would you just not bother going for the Ph.D, and try for the Masters degrees instead? 3. Anyone with a TESOL masters degree? Anyone studying a TESOL Masters? What's the program like? Anyone currently working with a TESOL masters? I know all of this is probably way too complex for me to be putting up on a site like this, but I just need some other students to talk to/people to give me their opinion. Basically, my question is: what would you do if you were in my position. Thanks, and please be kind.