Deciding on Grad School

[LunarSilverStar]

Hello, my name is LunarSilverStar and I am at huge predicament in my life. I want to get my masters in political science but I am unsure if its even worth me pursuing. Mainly for the fact, that my undergraduate gpa is 2.4 but my major gpa is 3.4. The reason my undergrad cumlative gpa is so low is because I was a double major in political science and computer science with a minor in a Japanese. However, as I entered my senior year of college I changed computer science from a major to a minor because it was sinking my gpa. Now , I will graduate with a major in political science with two minors in Japanese and Computer Science. I believe I am grad school material because I have done extensive undergraduate research with a professor, presented papers at political science conferences, been published in an undergraduate magazine, and I have worked with teams of engineers to pioneer new technology. But, I still feel my undergraduate GPA will hold me back. Therefore, I am seeking advice by asking if will graduate schools look at my major gpa and my accomplishments? Or am I better off taking a year off to work overseas? Any kind of input is useful.

[eco_env]

Hello, my name is LunarSilverStar and I am at huge predicament in my life. I want to get my masters in political science but I am unsure if its even worth me pursuing. Mainly for the fact, that my undergraduate gpa is 2.4 but my major gpa is 3.4. The reason my undergrad cumlative gpa is so low is because I was a double major in political science and computer science with a minor in a Japanese. However, as I entered my senior year of college I changed computer science from a major to a minor because it was sinking my gpa. Now , I will graduate with a major in political science with two minors in Japanese and Computer Science. I believe I am grad school material because I have done extensive undergraduate research with a professor, presented papers at political science conferences, been published in an undergraduate magazine, and I have worked with teams of engineers to pioneer new technology. But, I still feel my undergraduate GPA will hold me back. Therefore, I am seeking advice by asking if will graduate schools look at my major gpa and my accomplishments? Or am I better off taking a year off to work overseas? Any kind of input is useful.

Most grad schools have a minimum GPA requirement around 3.0 for application (the lowest I've seen is 2.75), and there are plenty of applicants to choose from with higher GPAs. Even a 3.4 is on the low end of accepted students in many programs. Sorry.

[cranberry]

Or am I better off taking a year off to work overseas?

At this stage in the game, you're probably going to have to take a year off anyway - most application deadlines have passed. Were you asking about applying for entry this coming fall? If so, there might be a few programs with late deadlines, but even so, applying to grad school is a huge time commitment and you need months to get recommendations, personal statement, writing samples, and the GRE together.

[LunarSilverStar]

At this stage in the game, you're probably going to have to take a year off anyway - most application deadlines have passed. Were you asking about applying for entry this coming fall? If so, there might be a few programs with late deadlines, but even so, applying to grad school is a huge time commitment and you need months to get recommendations, personal statement, writing samples, and the GRE together.

I plan on taking a year off to teach overseas. However, I am thinking of applying Fall of 2013 for grad school. Are any suggestions for people in my situation in regards to grad school? Should I even waste time trying to apply in 2013 if I have such a low cumulative gpa?

[wtncffts]

I think if your record otherwise shows potential, there will be programs which will overlook the GPA, or at least weight it much less in admissions decisions, especially for an MA. The most important aspect, besides the research fit, is your ability to show that you have some sense of political science as a discipline and the capacities to become a productive scholar.

BTW, I don't understand your timeline. You mean you want to apply in Fall 2013 for Fall 2014? If so, that's actually 3 years off: 11-12, 12-13, 13-14. If you meant applying for entry in Fall 2013, that's still 2 years off.

[SimilarlyDifferent]

If you are taking some time off before applying, you should look into taking some additional undergrad courses during that time to bring up your GPA. You could also start looking at programs that you might want to apply to, contact the departments, and ask what you would need to do to make yourself a more attractive candidate to their program (you might want to wait until after April 15th to do this, though as they are likely very busy still with this year's applicants).

[LunarSilverStar]

If you are taking some time off before applying, you should look into taking some additional undergrad courses during that time to bring up your GPA. You could also start looking at programs that you might want to apply to, contact the departments, and ask what you would need to do to make yourself a more attractive candidate to their program (you might want to wait until after April 15th to do this, though as they are likely very busy still with this year's applicants).

Thanks for the awesome information. I was thinking of getting my masters in Canada at Carleton University or University of Toronto since they give funding to masters students. Guess I will be contacting these schools after April 15th. Is there anyone familiar with masters programs in Canada? Or in the U.S. that give funding to students?

P.S. Sorry for the mistake, I meant Fall of 2012.

[wtncffts]

Thanks for the awesome information. I was thinking of getting my masters in Canada at Carleton University or University of Toronto since they give funding to masters students. Guess I will be contacting these schools after April 15th. Is there anyone familiar with masters programs in Canada? Or in the U.S. that give funding to students?

P.S. Sorry for the mistake, I meant Fall of 2012.

I did my MA at a Canadian university (I'm Canadian), though not one of those two. I don't want to state where here; if you want to PM me, feel free. All MA programs will differ, though, so I don't know helpful I can be.