Chances for an English Ph.d with low gpa

[StupidBroccoli]

Hello everyone,

As get closer&closer to graduating from my MA, I am starting to worry about my prospects for a Ph.d and would like to hear your opinions on whether I can get into a Ph.d programme in English that is worth doing with my terrible gpa. I got my BA from a university outside USA that is not particularly well know but hugely respected country-wide with a 3.37 gpa, and continued into an MA in the same university, of which I will be graduating with an even lower 3.26.

The reason why my BA gpa was not very high was that I was only successful in courses that I was really  interested in (and I was consistently successful in them) , but did not believe in the necessity of studying very hard (A level) for other core classes that were not my thing, and I cannot say I regret it very much. And later when started my MA, I came to realize that the programme' s structure and content did not fit my needs at all ,and thus being depressed I decided to do the minimal amount of coursework just to finish the degree and ended up receiving a few bad grades. However, one of the reasons why my gpa got even lower was that I attempted to take a completely irrelevant foreign language course with credit (because having a second language is important, right?) and finished it with a very low grade due to the great amount of coursework that it lay on me along with my other courses.

To cut a very long story short, I got bad grades in my MA from courses that were not even in the area that I want to specialize in (which yet still fall into the category of "English" studies) and I do not really have other merits to compensate for this fact, either;  I have not published yet (though I might), did not attend conferences (because I was not sure whether I finally wanted to do a  phd) , yet I find that I am still hugely interested in the area I want to specialized in and I also know that I can be a good student when I want to. Do you think the the wrong path I took during my MA would completely bar me from a Ph.d that is worth doing ? I do not aim very high but I'd like to be in an institution where I could really flourish. And finally I'd like to add that while my MA dissertation is not (whose is?) brilliant, some people find it at least interesting. 

Any discouragement or encouragement is welcome, and thanks !

[merry night wanderer]

To be honest, I am skeptical - as a professor, you will very likely be required to teach things like survey courses, to say nothing of things like comp exams and Ph.D foreign language requirements. Your devotion to your interests is laudable, and mental health can be a problem for the best of us, but the requirements of a Ph.D are the requirements you'll have to contend with. I don't see any way out of needing to do very well in areas that are not the specific range of things you are most interested in. 

[WildeThing]

What the above poster said is true, you should definitely consider whether this will work out if you have an issue with finishing tasks you don’t connect with. To answer your question, no, bad grades will not necessarily preclude you from being accepted at a program. Ultimately your written materials are the most important factors. However, it is certainly harder. It raises questions and there will be many candidates who are just as good as you who will not have these uncertainties around them. You will need to either outshine them and compensate for these red flags, or be able to explain away these issues. The good news is that you have a way to do that: the SoP or the LoRs. The bad news is that now you are taking time/space to overcome negatives rather than asserting positives (and there is a finite amount of time/space, so this complicates your ability to shine). Also, the arguments you have made here will not convince an admissions committee, if anything they will do the opposite. 

So, all in all, first I’d ask myself if this is what I want and if it is worth it. Second I’d come up with a good way of recasting these issues in a positive light, third I’d strategize on how to make that case and, lastly and most importantly, I’d do my best to make my application the absolute best it can be.

Note: you don’t have to address your grades in your application (and as I mentioned, it might be counterproductive to do so). You can always just do your best and hope they see past your grades. Is it possible that they will? Definitely. Is it probable? In all honesty, I don’t think so, competitiveness being what it is. 

Oh, also, some committees might give some leeway to bad grades in foreign systems if they’re not familiar with them (so bad grades might not be as bad as they look, like how a 74 in some British schools is amazing but only a C in most U.S. schools). Whether this will actually work for you depends on too many factors to be possible to predict.

[Warelin]

There are a few things that might be worth considering here.

1. There will be a number of courses outside of your research interests that you'll be required to take. It's possible that you'll have little or no interest in these courses. How will you assure the committee that you'll excel in these courses? It might also be important to note that individual departments often have higher GPA requirements (than that of the grad school's) that have to be met or you'll be kicked out of the program. I know of several programs that have the minimum set to a 3.7GPA. If you fall beyond the minimum, you get kicked out of the program.

2. Publication isn't a major factor for Ph.D. applications. Though if you do publish, make sure it's from a known journal and not one that you paid to get published in.

3. Being a good Ph.D. student is about more than just doing well in classes.

4. Why do you want a Ph.D.? Does what you want to do absolutely require you to earn a Ph.D. or are you unsure of what you want to do?

5. I think it's also important to note that the purpose of a Ph.D. Committee is to make you a better scholar. Grad School can be an incredibly supportive place. However, it can also means your work will be heavily criticized. You might have to rework a lot in a short amount of time. This will be stressful no matter how interesting others may find your project. Being able to handle criticism will help you make it through. Depression, however, is common in Graduate School and is a leading factor of why people drop out of their programs.

6. I'm sure you're aware but many Ph.D. programs have a low acceptance rate. It isn't uncommon for people to get into 0 schools during their first round. Some people manage to get in during their first round; others might never get in even with perfect scores. The admissions process is a mystery and "fit" can change from year to year.

7. I think it's important for you to talk to your professors to see what they say about your hopes of pursuing a Ph.D. Ultimately, they'd be the ones writing the letters and it'll be important to have a strong backing of support from them.

[cruel optimism]

The above replies have all addressed crucial points. But what I want to reiterate and emphasize is this: you'll likely be required to do not only courses you might not be interested in, but also quite a fair bit of mundane, administrative tasks during your PhD program and after. There may be courses and practicums on pedagogy, seminars on professionalization, plenty of (futile) grant applications, and of course, classes to fulfil the necessary language requirements.

22 hours ago, StupidBroccoli said:

I attempted to take a completely irrelevant foreign language course with credit (because having a second language is important, right?)

And I'd say foreign languages aren't ever irrelevant, especially since it is important that academics are able to search for and read scholarship in foreign languages, even if their main research interests fall under the broader category of "english studies". Working only in one language limits the scope of your research and the perspectives you're engaging with, so the more languages you're functional in, the better, I'd say. 

[StupidBroccoli]

Thank you for all your replies. The emphasis made in each post that even in a phd programme I will ,in all probability, be required to take further courses outside the areas of my interest made me think. I am, of course, ok with the idea of teaching or taking survey courses and being acquainted with different aspects of the discipline (in fact I welcome it) , yet grad level exploration is naturally something different and more demanding. I guess it all comes down to whether I am ready to once again adopt critical stances that I am not necessarily a disciple of in order to pass a course or show that I am adept in them. 

All things considered, at least I now know that I should choose my next programme extremely well, and make sure that I do not end up in one of those that require you to maintain a minimum gpa of 3.7 or even 3.6. The comments here are, for good reason, very cautionary, and I certainly do not think that I will easily land on a great programme- far from it. But since no one yet wrote that I sound absolutely useless, what I read here have somehow gave me hope that I can still  find some place where I can fit, and where I can learn to give up my intellectual zealotry without compromising my priorities. 

[onerepublic96]

6 hours ago, StupidBroccoli said:

Thank you for all your replies. The emphasis made in each post that even in a phd programme I will ,in all probability, be required to take further courses outside the areas of my interest made me think. I am, of course, ok with the idea of teaching or taking survey courses and being acquainted with different aspects of the discipline (in fact I welcome it) , yet grad level exploration is naturally something different and more demanding. I guess it all comes down to whether I am ready to once again adopt critical stances that I am not necessarily a disciple of in order to pass a course or show that I am adept in them. 

Hope certainly isn't a bad thing, and ultimately you are the best judge of what you need or what feels right for you. All anyone else can do is advise you. That being said, a few things about what you're saying here strike me as odd. It's good you appreciate the fact that not 100% of your potential PhD is going to be spent working on things that excite you, but I'm not sure what you mean when you qualify that with 'yet grad level exploration is naturally something different.' The workload you're expected to take on and the depth of critical engagement you're meant to accomplish in graduate school is very different from your undergraduate, but the experience of taking classes that are 'not your thing' is still likely to be very similar. And though I understand that some of your difficulties during your MA were due to depression, the fact that you had a similar issue in undergraduate because, as you say, you don't believe in working very hard on such uninspiring tasks is questionable. Will you be able to work through your feelings and opinions anyway in order to produce quality work and carry on your PhD? I think that's a very important question for you to think about clearly, remember your undergraduate situation, and be honest with yourself. If you're confident that this time you'll be able to do it differently, then great. You haven't mentioned what your goals are for after your PhD (forgive me if you have and I've blanked on this), but whatever they are, I'm not sure if simply choosing a programme that doesn't require you to keep up a high GPA is a way out of the issues you describe. For one thing, I'm not sure how many schools out there will consider anything below 3.50 to be in good standing, and what happens if you slip below 3.00? 

 

[Glasperlenspieler]

8 hours ago, StupidBroccoli said:

All things considered, at least I now know that I should choose my next programme extremely well, and make sure that I do not end up in one of those that require you to maintain a minimum gpa of 3.7 or even 3.6.

 

1 hour ago, onerepublic96 said:

I'm not sure if simply choosing a programme that doesn't require you to keep up a high GPA is a way out of the issues you describe. For one thing, I'm not sure how many schools out there will consider anything below 3.50 to be in good standing, and what happens if you slip below 3.00?

Once you're in a PhD program, grades don't matter until they do. Here's a pretty common (unwritten) attitude towards grades during the coursework phase of a PhD program:

A = you're doing fine work

A- = this clearly isn't your best work, but I don't have any serious concerns about your capabilities as a grad student

B+ = there are serious concerns about your ability to be a successful graduate student.

 

In most PhD programs, anything less than an A- is a very bad sign and is being given as a sort of warning. Even if there aren't explicit GPA requirements, there are GPA requirements.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Glasperlenspieler

[Warelin]

On 11/25/2019 at 2:28 PM, Glasperlenspieler said:

In most PhD programs, anything less than an A- is a very bad sign and is being given as a sort of warning. Even if there aren't explicit GPA requirements, there are GPA requirements.

I think it’s important to note that sometimes a misunderstanding on what a professor expects might also lead to a lower than expected grade. Sometimes, a class might not have anything graded until the very end of the semester. A class or two below an A- might be overlooked but consistently falling below a 3.5 might signal that grad school might not be right for that person.