How to apply with a scattershot transcript? or, A Desperate Cry for Help

[scratchedrecord]

Hi all,

So, I’m hoping to apply to English MA and/or PhD programs this upcoming cycle and I’ve got a bit of a weird situation. This means that I’m not confident of my prospects either way and I have no idea which sorts of schools I should even be applying to. I was hoping y’all could help me out and figure out just what the hell to do in applying for graduate school.

My undergrad experience was extremely rocky. I spent over half of it pursuing a fruitless double major in both math and English that ended up giving me a disproportionate amount of stress and sunk my GPA a ton. I ended up with a cumulative GPA of 2.87, which, since COVID-19 has forced our entire spring trimester into a pass/fail grading system, isn’t going to change no matter how well I’ve done this term. My major change doesn’t explain my entire GPA situation, since there was one term where I took only English classes and still did kind of average. Yet, since winter 2019 – that is, in the past five terms – I haven’t got any lower than a B+ in any English course – and that B+ was from a creative writing class. Everything else has been an A- or higher, including all advanced-level courses. During one particularly bad term last year, where I had a pretty severe bout of depression and as such received Ds (or lower) in three other classes, I still came out with an A- in a 400-level English class. Furthermore, despite my low cumulative GPA, my major GPA is 3.41, and my senior year cGPA is 3.58 – a far cry from the 2.87 from all four years, and one which surely would have been higher had I not been forced off campus and into online classes. My poor GPA, then, clearly isn’t an indication of inability to do the work. Far from it: in fact, I know I have the ability to excel in English. My senior year grades prove it.

Right now, I’m thinking that my main prospects are to either A) take non-degree-seeking classes in order to boost my cGPA above the 3.0 mark or apply to MA programs in order to have a better shot at PhD applications next go-around. Problem is, the former would take quite a long time, and the latter has limited options due to the former. Plenty of MA programs have GPA limits, and I have no idea where to start looking for universities that would accept a student with my GPA. I don’t want to be stuck taking more undergrad classes at my local state university in a non-degree trajectory that has no definitive end. I’m just confused as to what to do. I don’t want to be held back by who I was in my underclass years, but it feels like every minimum GPA is saying that that’s going to be the case. Anyone have advice for my situation?

[Rani13]

22 hours ago, scratchedrecord said:

Hi all,

So, I’m hoping to apply to English MA and/or PhD programs this upcoming cycle and I’ve got a bit of a weird situation. This means that I’m not confident of my prospects either way and I have no idea which sorts of schools I should even be applying to. I was hoping y’all could help me out and figure out just what the hell to do in applying for graduate school.

My undergrad experience was extremely rocky. I spent over half of it pursuing a fruitless double major in both math and English that ended up giving me a disproportionate amount of stress and sunk my GPA a ton. I ended up with a cumulative GPA of 2.87, which, since COVID-19 has forced our entire spring trimester into a pass/fail grading system, isn’t going to change no matter how well I’ve done this term. My major change doesn’t explain my entire GPA situation, since there was one term where I took only English classes and still did kind of average. Yet, since winter 2019 – that is, in the past five terms – I haven’t got any lower than a B+ in any English course – and that B+ was from a creative writing class. Everything else has been an A- or higher, including all advanced-level courses. During one particularly bad term last year, where I had a pretty severe bout of depression and as such received Ds (or lower) in three other classes, I still came out with an A- in a 400-level English class. Furthermore, despite my low cumulative GPA, my major GPA is 3.41, and my senior year cGPA is 3.58 – a far cry from the 2.87 from all four years, and one which surely would have been higher had I not been forced off campus and into online classes. My poor GPA, then, clearly isn’t an indication of inability to do the work. Far from it: in fact, I know I have the ability to excel in English. My senior year grades prove it.

Right now, I’m thinking that my main prospects are to either A) take non-degree-seeking classes in order to boost my cGPA above the 3.0 mark or apply to MA programs in order to have a better shot at PhD applications next go-around. Problem is, the former would take quite a long time, and the latter has limited options due to the former. Plenty of MA programs have GPA limits, and I have no idea where to start looking for universities that would accept a student with my GPA. I don’t want to be stuck taking more undergrad classes at my local state university in a non-degree trajectory that has no definitive end. I’m just confused as to what to do. I don’t want to be held back by who I was in my underclass years, but it feels like every minimum GPA is saying that that’s going to be the case. Anyone have advice for my situation?

All is not lost! I had a catastrophic transcript that I thought would sink my PhD applications. Happily, that was not the case. Here’s what helped: I did an MA in English, this (good) transcript superseded the one from earlier. I also went after whatever opportunities and honours my MA institution offered (research fellowships, writing awards). In my PhD SoP, I focused mainly on pitching my proposed project (which I made sure was well defined) and also elaborated on the honours I had received during the MA. I only devoted a few short sentences to my past failures and described what I had learned from them before returning to my current work and inquiries. I also asked my advisor to briefly address the problem in her letter and affirm my commitment as a graduate student. Considering the circumstances, I had an unexpectedly good season. I recommend a (funded) MA because graduate training will always matter more than adolescent mistakes!

Good luck to you!