Fall 2019 Applications

[harpert1]

Test.

Edited December 7, 2018 by harpert1
Duplicate forum

[harpert1]

Hello, everyone!  I know that it's a bit early in the admissions cycle, but I recently submitted my application to Case Western and I started getting excited.  Hoping that we can share information about decisions and scholarships, and anxiety as time goes on! 

[harpert1]

Hello, everyone!  I know that it's a bit early in the admissions cycle, but I recently submitted my application to U of I and I started getting excited.  Hoping that we can share information about decisions and scholarships, and anxiety as time goes on! 

[MettaSutta]

Although my undergrad GPA was a 3.82/magna cum laude (3.92 in major), I did very poorly in law school, and ended up with a cumulative GPA of 2.87.  What impact will this have on my admissions cycle? 

[doctormelody]

5 hours ago, Bodhicaryavatara said:

Although my undergrad GPA was a 3.82/magna cum laude (3.92 in major), I did very poorly in law school, and ended up with a cumulative GPA of 2.87.  What impact will this have on my admissions cycle? 

How long have you been out of school? Did you take the bar exam? Did you try to practice law and decide it wasn't for you? An admissions committee is gonna look at both things and wonder why you made all that effort to finish a degree that you clearly didn't enjoy and didn't do well in. I think you should worry less about your GPA and more about your personal statement, tbh. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but especially because law degrees are SO expensive, my first question as an ad com would be why on earth you gave up on the profession so easily. Unless I'm missing something that you could clarify here?

Also, if you have extenuating circumstances that are the reason for your poor performance, I would mention that as well.

Edited December 8, 2018 by doctormelody

[MettaSutta]

6 hours ago, doctormelody said:

How long have you been out of school? Did you take the bar exam? Did you try to practice law and decide it wasn't for you? An admissions committee is gonna look at both things and wonder why you made all that effort to finish a degree that you clearly didn't enjoy and didn't do well in. I think you should worry less about your GPA and more about your personal statement, tbh. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but especially because law degrees are SO expensive, my first question as an ad com would be why on earth you gave up on the profession so easily. Unless I'm missing something that you could clarify here?

Also, if you have extenuating circumstances that are the reason for your poor performance, I would mention that as well.

I graduated in 2017, registered for the bar, and have been working in a JD required position.  I did write an addendum addressing medical reasons for the application.  

To give some context, law school is graded on a forced curve.  At my school, the median was set to a 2.9/3.0ish, meaning that 50% of the class had a 3.0+ GPA and 50% class fell below.  2.87 looks bad to someone who's not familiar with law school grading systems, but based on the forced curve, I'm in the middle 50% of the class.  So not remarkable, but not bottom of the barrel either.  

Are MSW programs graded on a forced curve?

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Bodhicaryavatara

[doctormelody]

So you registered for the bar but did not take it? I'm sorry, I still feel like I need more context. And what do you mean by medical reasons for the application? Also, what was your undergrad degree in? And what law school did you attend? They may be more sympathetic to the lower GPA if it was a highly-ranked university.

I still think your best bet is to write a strong statement of purpose explaining why you want to make the transition to social work so soon after graduating from law school and hope for the best. I sympathize with your anxiety, believe me, I do, but the only way you can know is to apply. I was admitted to Columbia last year with a 3.5 undergraduate GPA in an unrelated field and absolutely no social work experience. You can't know unless you try.

No MSW program is graded on a forced curve, to my knowledge. 

[doctormelody]

I just called my professor who still hasn't submitted my recommendation or replied to my email asking if she got the link. No answer, so I left an incredibly long and meandering message on her office phone. I genuinely just want to cry at this point.

[catatap]

23 hours ago, doctormelody said:

I just called my professor who still hasn't submitted my recommendation or replied to my email asking if she got the link. No answer, so I left an incredibly long and meandering message on her office phone. I genuinely just want to cry at this point.

Ugh. I think it's time to ask someone else. It's not worth risking your entire application because of one person.

[hilaryp]

On 12/10/2018 at 1:35 PM, doctormelody said:

I just called my professor who still hasn't submitted my recommendation or replied to my email asking if she got the link. No answer, so I left an incredibly long and meandering message on her office phone. I genuinely just want to cry at this point.

I don’t know the whole backstory, so my apologies if you’ve explained this. Have you been in contact with anybody who works with her? Someone like an assistant, grad student, or fellow faculty members. I wonder if she’s in sabbatical or not available because of illness. I hope not, but maybe finding out will make help ease your concern that she hasn’t done it yet because she’s unwilling. 

[doctormelody]

4 hours ago, catatap said:

Ugh. I think it's time to ask someone else. It's not worth risking your entire application because of one person.

Thank you, I think so too. I'm honestly just so confused because I didn't think she was this type of person. But you're right, it's time to move on.

2 hours ago, hilaryp said:

I don’t know the whole backstory, so my apologies if you’ve explained this. Have you been in contact with anybody who works with her? Someone like an assistant, grad student, or fellow faculty members. I wonder if she’s in sabbatical or not available because of illness. I hope not, but maybe finding out will make help ease your concern that she hasn’t done it yet because she’s unwilling. 

I haven't, I called the office that she works in and they put me through to her direct phone line, which is how I left the message. This led me to assume that she is not on sabbatical or anything, but I don't know for sure. I also don't know of anyone that works with her besides fellow faculty members (both of whom are professors that I'm considering asking for the recommendation now, yikes). I'm considering calling the front desk again tomorrow and seeing if they'll tell me if she is out sick or something, but they might not want to give me, a random stranger, that info on the phone. It's bothering me SO much that if she never responds I may never know what happened, if she hates me, etc. I know I need to get over it and ask someone else (which I will do tomorrow, no point now since it's after 5) but I can't help but be hurt in the absence of an explanation.

[doctormelody]

Okay, friends. I am deeply sorry for spamming this board, but I need advice/maybe some talking down from the ledge here.

I called the office again just now and the front desk guy said she is definitely teaching this semester. I drafted a very sad email to the other professor this morning which if she doesn’t respond by 2 pm I am planning to send. HOWEVER - another idea just occurred to me, and I need to know if it’s insane or if it just might work.

Just how crazy and stalkerish would it be if I went to the office to try and see her? I live in PA and I could theoretically drive to NY tonight because I have tomorrow off, stay with friends, and then go to the school tomorrow morning and essentially just wait for her to show up. I realize that this sounds a bit crazy, BUT of course I would say that I just happened to be in the city visiting friends (which will technically be true). If she doesn’t show up/says she doesn’t want to do the recommendation for me anymore for some reason, I can always go ask the other guy in person, which might be nicer than sending an email asking for a favor after not speaking to him in three and a half years?

HELP. I know this sounds insane, but this is my entire future. I’ve worked so hard for this. If I lived in NY I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by. Gahhhh. I keep envisioning myself being escorted out by security. Then again, I also keep envisioning myself not getting to go to grad school next year and being heartbroken. Ugh. I just don’t know what to do.

[loves_kwaito]

1 hour ago, doctormelody said:

Okay, friends. I am deeply sorry for spamming this board, but I need advice/maybe some talking down from the ledge here.

I called the office again just now and the front desk guy said she is definitely teaching this semester. I drafted a very sad email to the other professor this morning which if she doesn’t respond by 2 pm I am planning to send. HOWEVER - another idea just occurred to me, and I need to know if it’s insane or if it just might work.

Just how crazy and stalkerish would it be if I went to the office to try and see her? I live in PA and I could theoretically drive to NY tonight because I have tomorrow off, stay with friends, and then go to the school tomorrow morning and essentially just wait for her to show up. I realize that this sounds a bit crazy, BUT of course I would say that I just happened to be in the city visiting friends (which will technically be true). If she doesn’t show up/says she doesn’t want to do the recommendation for me anymore for some reason, I can always go ask the other guy in person, which might be nicer than sending an email asking for a favor after not speaking to him in three and a half years?

HELP. I know this sounds insane, but this is my entire future. I’ve worked so hard for this. If I lived in NY I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by. Gahhhh. I keep envisioning myself being escorted out by security. Then again, I also keep envisioning myself not getting to go to grad school next year and being heartbroken. Ugh. I just don’t know what to do.

@doctormelody Gosh, I am sorry that you still have not heard back.  IMO I think showing up without an appointment would be unprofessional, unless you had a casual relationship that involved unannounced drop-ins. Also, most professionals would typically respond to emails within 48hours. Your professor's conduct is highly unusual, especially because she is in session.  

I would suggest that you contact your plan B even though you have not been in touch for a while. Personally one of my references was my community college counselor and supervisor ( I was her office assistant for 2 semesters) . I had not spoken to her since July 2014 (4 years) . She was however very excited to  provide me with a letter of recommendation. Educators understand graduate school applications' bureaucracy.  As long as  you did well in his class, and had a cordial relationship, he will not overthink providing you reference. He probably has been there himself.

Alternatively, you could also leave a message with the front desk guy if that is an option. If you still do not hear from her in 48 hours you can make a decision on how to proceed.

All the best!

 

[doctormelody]

21 minutes ago, loves_kwaito said:

@doctormelody Gosh, I am sorry that you still have not heard back.  IMO I think showing up without an appointment would be unprofessional, unless you had a casual relationship that involved unannounced drop-ins. Also, most professionals would typically respond to emails within 48hours. Your professor's conduct is highly unusual, especially because she is in session.  

I would suggest that you contact your plan B even though you have not been in touch for a while. Personally one of my references was my community college counselor and supervisor ( I was her office assistant for 2 semesters) . I had not spoken to her since July 2014 (4 years) . She was however very excited to  provide me with a letter of recommendation. Educators understand graduate school applications' bureaucracy.  As long as  you did well in his class, and had a cordial relationship, he will not overthink providing you reference. He probably has been there himself.

Alternatively, you could also leave a message with the front desk guy if that is an option. If you still do not hear from her in 48 hours you can make a decision on how to proceed.

All the best!

 

Thank you so much for responding!! That’s a good point. I know it would be unprofessional and kind of insane, but I also feel like her not responding to my emails or calls is unprofessional? Even if she is so annoyed that she doesn’t want to write me the recommendation anymore, the decent thing to do would be to at least tell me that, I think.

I honestly did not do well in my Plan B’s class senior year. I took two of his classes before and he loved me, but senior year I was in the midst of the worst depressive episode of my life and ending up taking an incomplete, finally finishing my final paper for a fall semester course in the beginning of February. He still gave me an A, which I absolutely did not deserve. I still feel bad about it.

 

[loves_kwaito]

1 hour ago, doctormelody said:

Thank you so much for responding!! That’s a good point. I know it would be unprofessional and kind of insane, but I also feel like her not responding to my emails or calls is unprofessional? Even if she is so annoyed that she doesn’t want to write me the recommendation anymore, the decent thing to do would be to at least tell me that, I think.

I honestly did not do well in my Plan B’s class senior year. I took two of his classes before and he loved me, but senior year I was in the midst of the worst depressive episode of my life and ending up taking an incomplete, finally finishing my final paper for a fall semester course in the beginning of February. He still gave me an A, which I absolutely did not deserve. I still feel bad about it.

 

@doctormelody I agree that her conduct is definitely unprofessional. Professors would typically politely decline instead of leaving you in limbo. If you dropped by, and she felt obliged to provide you with a reference, would you feel comfortable not knowing what she has written about you? Especially since admissions favour recommendation letters that students have waived their rights to access.

As for your plan B, since he gave you an A despite turning the assignment late probably means that you still had some goodwill from your two classes. Or you probably did deserve it due to the good work you did-either way it is a win win.

If you feel deep down that your professor would be the best person to provide you with a reference, I would say go for it show up and make a personal inquiry. You however do not want to wait too long to ask plan B.

 

Sending you positive vibes!! You will get through this soon!!

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by loves_kwaito

[doctormelody]

2 hours ago, loves_kwaito said:

@doctormelody I agree that her conduct is definitely unprofessional. Professors would typically politely decline instead of leaving you in limbo. If you dropped by, and she felt obliged to provide you with a reference, would you feel comfortable not knowing what she has written about you? Especially since admissions favour recommendation letters that students have waived their rights to access.

As for your plan B, since he gave you an A despite turning the assignment late probably means that you still had some goodwill from your two classes. Or you probably did deserve it due to the good work you did-either way it is a win win.

If you feel deep down that your professor would be the best person to provide you with a reference, I would say go for it show up and make a personal inquiry. You however do not want to wait too long to ask plan B.

 

Sending you positive vibes!! You will get through this soon!!

 

You make a good point. I’m also just so frustrated because I asked her if she would mind writing me another letter in JUNE and she said yes. I then sent her the link in September. She had plenty of time to tell me if she couldn’t do it for whatever reason. I’m also a second-cycle applicant, and she wrote me a rec last year that was good enough for Columbia, so Idk. The more I think about it, the more confused I become.

I guess part of me is hoping that this is somehow all a misunderstanding, that she either forgot or I offended her in some small way that could be smoothed over with a personal apology. 

I did end up sending my other prof an email. Idk. I don’t feel good about it. Thank you so much for your kind words.

Edited December 12, 2018 by doctormelody

[doctormelody]

I’m currently sitting outside her office. Every time I hear footsteps I nearly have a heart attack, lol.

How are everyone else’s applications coming?? I mean that sincerely. I feel so guilty for taking over this thread. ? If anyone has any questions about the application process at Columbia, Tulane, Simmons, Boston University or Boston College, PLEASE feel free to ask me!

[StHoly]

doctormelody I'm so so sorry you're experiencing this! This is definitely nerve-wrecking! I am also applying to Columbia and Boston University! How are the applications going other than the recommendation letter? I have not submitted my applications for Columbia yet, I'm still waitin for a recommendation to come in. I do have 3 though, so it's enough for submission. Do you think I can submit the application and the letter come later? 

[doctormelody]

7 hours ago, StHoly said:

doctormelody I'm so so sorry you're experiencing this! This is definitely nerve-wrecking! I am also applying to Columbia and Boston University! How are the applications going other than the recommendation letter? I have not submitted my applications for Columbia yet, I'm still waitin for a recommendation to come in. I do have 3 though, so it's enough for submission. Do you think I can submit the application and the letter come later? 

Thank you! I actually managed to speak to my professor in-person and it seems my email just got lost in the shuffle. Idk how she missed the phone call, but I guess maybe she just doesn't check her messages that often? Idk. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. She apologized and didn't seem mad or anything, and told me to remind her as many times as necessary. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't DRIVEN TO NEW YORK, but all's well that ends well, I suppose? Is that premature? I don't care, actually, I'm still relishing in the thrill of accomplishing what I set out to do/not dying on the Pennsylvania turnpike.

I am actually just applying to Pitt this year - I applied to the other schools last year. Sorry for the confusion! As for your application, are you saying you have four recommendations total for Columbia? I would definitely go ahead and submit it either way, anything you can do to expedite the process at Columbia is a good idea. I don't know if their admissions process will be as much of a disaster this year as it was last year, but better safe than sorry.

[Cass2113]

n ?

Edited December 14, 2018 by Cass2113
Wrong forum

[TooExcited&Nervous]

Those applying to NYU and are looking for insight on the school, just PM me! I am down to answer any questions.

[StHoly]

This is a response for the post below, couldn't delete this post unfortunately. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by StHoly

[StHoly]

7 hours ago, doctormelody said:

Thank you! I actually managed to speak to my professor in-person and it seems my email just got lost in the shuffle. Idk how she missed the phone call, but I guess maybe she just doesn't check her messages that often? Idk. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. She apologized and didn't seem mad or anything, and told me to remind her as many times as necessary. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't DRIVEN TO NEW YORK, but all's well that ends well, I suppose? Is that premature? I don't care, actually, I'm still relishing in the thrill of accomplishing what I set out to do/not dying on the Pennsylvania turnpike.

I am actually just applying to Pitt this year - I applied to the other schools last year. Sorry for the confusion! As for your application, are you saying you have four recommendations total for Columbia? I would definitely go ahead and submit it either way, anything you can do to expedite the process at Columbia is a good idea. I don't know if their admissions process will be as much of a disaster this year as it was last year, but better safe than sorry.

Wow! Very good to know everything has been sorted out!! I'm happy for you and glad to hear that! It makes me nervous when the email / phone call/ msg just get lost like that! It is great you actually went there physically to give her a gentle nudge! Good for you!

[doctormelody]

5 hours ago, StHoly said:

Wow! Very good to know everything has been sorted out!! I'm happy for you and glad to hear that! It makes me nervous when the email / phone call/ msg just get lost like that! It is great you actually went there physically to give her a gentle nudge! Good for you!

Thank you!! I'm indescribably relieved.

[BackNSchool83]

Those applying to UCLA looking for program reveals or who have questions, let me know ❤️ Go Bruins