How would I even go about addressing this in my application?

[gnomechomsky22]

I graduated with my BS in Psychology last August (2012). I was not entirely sure I wanted to go to graduate school right away. I wanted to pay down some of my loans and work for a year or two before I applied. Turns out I could not find a full time job and I started looking around April of 2012. By the end of August I was so concerned I wouldn't find anything that I panicked and enrolled in a community college paralegal certificate program. I was concerned about entering the workforce faster and it seemed like a good idea at the time....one year and I could work as a paralegal. I signed up for 3 classes. About 3 weeks in I found a job at a grocery store working almost full time. I was bored to tears in the program and realized I made a huge mistake. I dropped 2 of the classes and finished one class in business organizations (and worked at the store).

 

Anyway, now I am enrolled in the Cognitive Sciences graduate certificate program at the school I am applying to. I am taking graduate classes and working as an RA on a project in a Human Factors lab. I plan on applying this december for their PhD program in Human Factors Psychology but I'm not sure if I will have to send in my transcripts from the community college. It was after I completed my bachelors that I attended so I am hoping this isn't detrimental to my application-I didn't want to spend an entire semester not doing anything productive, but I also wanted to make sure I was ready for graduate school before I decided to apply. I had no idea the certificate program existed until after I had already enrolled in the CC. How should I address this in my application? I don't want to be seen as uncommitted or flighty. I just wasn't 100% sure I was ready for grad school when I graduated. 

Edited February 14, 2013 by gnomechomsky22

[TakeruK]

I think your last line said it best -- that you weren't 100% sure that you were ready for grad school after a BS, so you took some classes at a CC and found a job. But now you can say that the experience has led to you to know that you are now ready for graduate work. Even better, you can do more than just say it -- you can show/prove it because you are in the graduate certificate program. 

 

I think it's completely okay to say that you weren't ready / sure about grad school right after graduation. It's much better that you took the time to realise that you do want to go to grad school than to just jump into grad school right away. By explaining your thought process and showing that you are now doing things to get into grad school, it will show the committee that you are a person that thinks ahead about their future. 

 

I would definitely include the community college transcript if required. Some schools say include transcripts from every place you attended but some only ask for places where you received a degree (or were enrolled in a degree program). But either way, I think I would still include the fact that you were in the paralegal program but changed your mind. I think you have a way to frame the story in your SOP that would make your application stronger, not weaker. But maybe others have a different opinion!

[Monochrome Spring]

I would address it, just as you have explained here, in your SOP.

 

I agree with TakeruK that it will make your application stronger to show that you have that experience. It will show that you didn't jump blindly into a PhD program, but now with that experience you are more ready.

 

Maybe frame your SOP by elaborating on how now you are a better candidate for the program because you know what you want to do and have already seen other options that you aren't interested in. Keep focusing on how it isn't a weakness, but is a strength that other applicants won't have.