Paving the Way for Grad School: What Can I Start Doing Now?Paving the Way for Grad School: What Can I Start Doing Now?

[blob192]

I was hoping people could give me some advice on things I can start doing now to help pave the way into a top tiered Phd Program. I want to do it in either Political Science, sub-specialty Ethnic Democracies or in Political Theory exploring the social contract. I'm more interested in the theoretical aspect of things than the hard core regression statistics. I want a career in academic research so I’m aiming for the more competitive programs at top tier research universities like Cornell, NYU, etc.

But, for family reasons reasons I can't go back to graduate school any time soon. In the best case scenario. I might be ready to go back in another 3-4 years. I've already spent the last couple years working in a completely unrelated field. I’m a English teacher at an alternate high school in East Asia. I also coordinate some of the school’s intervention programs and do teacher training for the district on pedagogy and curriculum design for at-risk learners. But those extra tidbits seem largely irrelevant to an admissions committee in a unrelated field.

Academically, a bit about me; I got my A.A. in Liberal Arts from a small Community College with a 3.3 GPA. Then I got my B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Syracuse with a 3.3 GPA. I admit my grades aren’t the best compared to the kinds of people I’ll be up against and in general I tend to do bad on standardized tests. But before I left school; I took a lot of graduate courses as electives to give me an idea of what grad school was like. And help me weigh my application away from standardized scores. I figured, I could point to a proven track record instead of trying to sell them on my hopes and dreams. I took about 3-4 entry level graduate (500-600 level) and 2 doctorate courses (800-900 level). I did pretty well in them.

I also got recommendation letters written before I left school and stored on file. But unfortunately since none of the professors remember me, I can’t ask them for advice on what I should do now. And I don’t enjoy teaching English as a Foreign Language enough to spend the rest of my life doing this.

So are there any suggestions on things I can start doing now to help me improve my chances of getting into a competitive phd program? Like internships, editing academic papers. Just something extra I can do or look into while I’m teaching.

Because the only option I seem to have is take a couple years off after I finish teaching to join the Peace Corps or something else with high prestige, minimal commitment just to get that government experience. If I was completely bilingual, I could get some part time jobs with the government as a translator-editor. But since I’m not, the most I can get is a on and off again editing job for a consultant who works with a lobbying group.

Edited April 13, 2011 by blob192

[tt503]

Hi there,

The best thing that you can do at this point is study your ass off for the GRE and hammer out a great statement of purpose. Your GPA Isn't bad, but it isn't stellar either. You will need a really solid GRE score be considered for the programs you want. The best thing for Cornell (besides grades/GREs), is fit. I overheard a conversation about the poli sci grad admissions process (here at Cornell), and they said that they throw out applicants that don't demonstrate a good fit right off the bat, or if they say they want to do a particular research topic that the department isn't well-known for.

Honestly, I think the going back to grad school thing in 3-4 years is in your best interest. It puts some space between your undergraduate GPA and gives the admissions committee reasons to believe you have matured. While you're teaching, you may want to read lots of academic papers and write something that might be suitable for a conference. That can be a very good (and somewhat easy) thing to do that a lot of people don't take advantage of.

Also, I would also not worry about names/prestige, particularly at this point in the game. Read a LOT of scholars in your field, and then find places that you fit the research that is being done, with a good placement record, and apply for those. This may or may not be "name recognition" school, which has nothing to do about your abilities or how smart you may be, but the process is insanely competitive. For example, I have two B.A.s, two Masters degrees (one in the humanities, one in the social sciences from Cornell), have published, presented, taught seven college courses, taken the requisite languages/coursework, a 1400+ GRE score...and I don't think I'm even applying for any Ivies in the Fall. I am applying for one outstanding program, and two great programs, and are still looking for other programs that I'm excited about/fit the research/love to go. Two out of these are state schools that I would jump up and down and scream like a little girl to attend. However, I'm worried about getting shut out and not being competitive anywhere, because I have a less-than-stellar undergraduate record from 10 years ago.

I was hoping people could give me some advice on things I can start doing now to help pave the way into a top tiered Phd Program. I want to do it in either Political Science, sub-specialty Ethnic Democracies or in Political Theory exploring the social contract. I'm more interested in the theoretical aspect of things than the hard core regression statistics. I want a career in academic research so I’m aiming for the more competitive programs at top tier research universities like Cornell, NYU, etc.

But, for family reasons reasons I can't go back to graduate school any time soon. In the best case scenario. I might be ready to go back in another 3-4 years. I've already spent the last couple years working in a completely unrelated field. I’m a English teacher at an alternate high school in East Asia. I also coordinate some of the school’s intervention programs and do teacher training for the district on pedagogy and curriculum design for at-risk learners. But those extra tidbits seem largely irrelevant to an admissions committee in a unrelated field.

Academically, a bit about me; I got my A.A. in Liberal Arts from a small Community College with a 3.3 GPA. Then I got my B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Syracuse with a 3.3 GPA. I admit my grades aren’t the best compared to the kinds of people I’ll be up against and in general I tend to do bad on standardized tests. But before I left school; I took a lot of graduate courses as electives to give me an idea of what grad school was like. And help me weigh my application away from standardized scores. I figured, I could point to a proven track record instead of trying to sell them on my hopes and dreams. I took about 3-4 entry level graduate (500-600 level) and 2 doctorate courses (800-900 level). I did pretty well in them.

I also got recommendation letters written before I left school and stored on file. But unfortunately since none of the professors remember me, I can’t ask them for advice on what I should do now. And I don’t enjoy teaching English as a Foreign Language enough to spend the rest of my life doing this.

So are there any suggestions on things I can start doing now to help me improve my chances of getting into a competitive phd program? Like internships, editing academic papers. Just something extra I can do or look into while I’m teaching.

Because the only option I seem to have is take a couple years off after I finish teaching to join the Peace Corps or something else with high prestige, minimal commitment just to get that government experience. If I was completely bilingual, I could get some part time jobs with the government as a translator-editor. But since I’m not, the most I can get is a on and off again editing job for a consultant who works with a lobbying group.

[blob192]

Hi there,

The best thing that you can do at this point is study your ass off for the GRE and hammer out a great statement of purpose. Your GPA Isn't bad, but it isn't stellar either. You will need a really solid GRE score be considered for the programs you want. The best thing for Cornell (besides grades/GREs), is fit. I overheard a conversation about the poli sci grad admissions process (here at Cornell), and they said that they throw out applicants that don't demonstrate a good fit right off the bat, or if they say they want to do a particular research topic that the department isn't well-known for.

Honestly, I think the going back to grad school thing in 3-4 years is in your best interest. It puts some space between your undergraduate GPA and gives the admissions committee reasons to believe you have matured. While you're teaching, you may want to read lots of academic papers and write something that might be suitable for a conference. That can be a very good (and somewhat easy) thing to do that a lot of people don't take advantage of.

Also, I would also not worry about names/prestige, particularly at this point in the game. Read a LOT of scholars in your field, and then find places that you fit the research that is being done, with a good placement record, and apply for those. This may or may not be "name recognition" school, which has nothing to do about your abilities or how smart you may be, but the process is insanely competitive. For example, I have two B.A.s, two Masters degrees (one in the humanities, one in the social sciences from Cornell), have published, presented, taught seven college courses, taken the requisite languages/coursework, a 1400+ GRE score...and I don't think I'm even applying for any Ivies in the Fall. I am applying for one outstanding program, and two great programs, and are still looking for other programs that I'm excited about/fit the research/love to go. Two out of these are state schools that I would jump up and down and scream like a little girl to attend. However, I'm worried about getting shut out and not being competitive anywhere, because I have a less-than-stellar undergraduate record from 10 years ago.

I can't figure out how to do the multi-quote function so bear with me. I tried to respond as close as I could to a point by point format

I'll do what I can to try to boost GRE scores. I'm gonna have to go back to Community College as a non-degree student to get a crash course in all the math. Besides basic statistics I never learned the more advanced quantitative stuff.

Having to wait another 3-4 years was my biggest concern . I thought that it would severely hurt my chances since I'm aiming for an academic program instead of a professional one. What you said is definitely a relief. But, I don't understand what you mean by writing something for a conference. Do you mean related to what field I want to do my phd in? Is that something a recent graduate with just a B.A. could do? Or did you mean to try to get conference experience in general? If that's the case, I'm sure I can find something. The field I work in is an academic black hole, there is nothing in mainstream or even peripheral research on anything related to at-risk learners in a Foreign environment learning a foreign language.

I completely understand what you mean about name brand schools. I'm only interested in the Ivies because they generally collect the the best researchers for that field and the by product is that these schools are generally good at everything. No single program dominates the rest and the professors have experience doing interdisciplinary research. Like for Cornell, unless Dr. Anderson retired. His specialty was particularly narrow. I think it was Indonesian history or something along those lines. But his theory on Imagined Communities inspired and anchored a lot of the more recent stuff in subaltern studies, collective memories, and geopolitical identities. But I admit that banking on working with a top researcher in the field is a hit or miss, especially if I list that in the SOP. if the professor doesn't have room than they won't even let me into the school

Does anyone know if graduate schools will let less than picture perfect candidates in on a kind of probation trial period? If your professors don't think you can perform in X time than your asked to leave?

My only issue is getting into these competitive schools, once I get in. I'm pretty sure I can perform beyond expectations. And what about internal transfers from a Master's Program into a Phd Program? A professor I had suggested this to me a few years back but, I always thought that back door was more of the exception than the rule.