Looking ahead

[Eddie Kant]

Trying to make a realistic appraisal of my potential in academia beyond my Master's because this assessment will have a huge impact on where I decide to go this fall. I graduated from a Top 40 school with an undergrad GPA of 3.0. It took me two extra years to graduate. Let's assume I ace my way through an unranked Master's program, get excellent letters of recommendation, and write a strong thesis (big assumption, yes). In that case, what would be the chances of me catapulting myself into a Ph.D. program whose ranking and reputation would be high enough to give me a good chance of landing a tenure-track position at some point in the future? I know the employment landscape in the humanities is quite bleak and highly competitive. Top 20 schools are likely out I would think. Am I out of the top 50 as well in that scenario? All thoughts are mucho appreciated!

[myriadways]

I am not actually in academia yet, but I'll add my two cents. I think your various questions will depend on a number of things, not the least of which would be your GRE scores and your ability to write compelling SOPs etc., but also what your transcripts look like. I am coming from my BA with a similar AGPA, but my first two years were in biological sciences and were incredibly dismal. My English/Arts grades, on the other hand, are not. So, they might pay attention to the spread of grades that would bring your GPA down to 3.0 for your undergrad (and if the spread is across all years, and not just the first couple, then you'll have to rely on a strong MA GPA to make a big difference). I know one of my POIs, when I spoke to her on the phone after being admitted, actually laughed about my transcript because it was so easy to read the story of my life via my grade trajectory, despite the 3.0. So, on those grounds, top 20-30 schools might not be out for you.

All that said, I think a lot of what you ask will depend upon the quality of work you put out in an MA, and then in a PhD--ranking does count, but only for so much. A person could graduate from Yale with an inaccessible, disjointed dissertation and receive no job offers, just a nice pedigree. Of course, no one will be able to give you any hard and fast answers, you'll have to just try and see what happens. You'll probably have to be very flexible about what sorts of programs you apply to and most importantly where they are, but I don't think your possibilities are completely erased at this point. Try Canadian programs maybe?(fewer applicants, usually well-funded MAs and PhDs, etc.) These are all things you should be asking your current professors, too, perhaps more so than the people on this site--we haven't made it yet!--and make sure you insist they answer you honestly and candidly with absolutely no sugar-coating. They'll know best.

[Eddie Kant]

First, congrats on your app season, myriadways! Second, thanks for responding to what I later realized was a ridiculously vague name for this thread. I appreciate your input. My poor performance was generally across all domains and so was my success when I turned things around. This is why I am attending an M.A. program this fall: provide more proof that the positive upward trend will continue if I were admitted to their Ph.D. program. It is still encouraging to hear that you achieved very positive results from your applications with a similar GPA.

Not everyone that that graduates from a top 20 program is a competant scholar and instructor. I looked at a few of my professors in UG and asked myself, "How? How do you hold the position that you do?" That's why my hypothetical above assumes I do everything in my M.A. super-awesome-totally-the-best!

I would ask my UG advisor, profs, and recommenders about this, but I graduated 2 years ago. So, this forum has been my advisor (an invaluable one).

The sentiments in this oft-sited article

http://chronicle.com...Go-Part-2/44786

and this thread

are driving me to realistically appraise my opportunities in academia. Attending an M.A. this fall is a sound decision for me for a variety of reasons. However, some programs are more conducive to careers in academia than others.

So, your story is inspirational, myriadofways. Hopefully others have similar experiences and/or helpful input