Need Advice on How To Get Back in the Game

[urbanac]

Ok, long story short, I took a few cool jobs after college and postponed my grad school plans, but have always had the desire to go back for intellectual enlightenment/finding the meaning of life. 

 

Finally getting serious about setting up grad school applications to start applying NEXT fall. 

 

Have some anxiety about how smart I'm not- I want to study legal theory (majored in poli sci and english) and realize that my choices are yale law, oxford, or a top tier political theory program (please do correct me if I'm wrong- my understanding is legal theory/philosophy is not generally offered at most places here) 

 

I apologize in advance for general ignorance of life and things. 

 

Here are my major questions: 

 

1) Great GRE scores won't promise me anything; but low GRE scores may disqualify me...correct? 

 

2) Have been out of academics for about 4 years- can definitely awkwardly manage to contact 2 professors I was close with, but what happens to that last rec I need? Former boss, girlfriend, one of you guys? No seriously, how much does a non-academic rec hurt, keeping in mind I've been working for about 4 years. 

 

3) What do you do to generally prepare for applying to a specific program? Look up publications, essays, and books, read them, and then try to think of one specific thing you want to study in the field? How reasonable of an approach is this with little to no guidance from academic people? 

 

4) How reasonable is it to say, "I'm going to research my own topic and create a writing sample NOW because I'm not 100% satisfied with any of my writing samples from college. I realize I have a full time job and no academic mentoring from anyone currently, but I will still research and write a paper that shows my intelligence and commitment." 

 

I totally get that there are no right answers; that's why I'm applying to grad school ! (i think)..all I'm looking for is some reasonable advice or meaningful experience. If you're first reaction is "Wow dude this is a really dumb plan" let me know- that's valuable feedback for me (and yes, hurtful as well, but the value is worth it).  

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[MsDarjeeling]

I'm not in your field but here are my thoughts on your questions:

 

1)  Great GRE scores won't promise you anything, but they can't hurt you.  Low GRE scores can hurt you.  It really is going to depend how much the programs you're applying to value the GRE and which sections are more important to them.  This is something you'll have to browse their website for and possibly contact them and ask.

 

2)  If you have not maintained contact with those professors be prepared for them to say they may only be able to produce a lukewarm LOR.  You may have to invest some time into meeting with them to discuss what you've been doing since UG, how you decided to go to grad school, what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you're prepared to succeed.  You also need to anticipate them saying no, not being available, that they don't think you're ready, etc.

 

The 3rd LOR can be from a current or former employer if the job you hold/held is/was relevant to the field you want to study in grad school.  Adcom's understand this is the case for people (myself included) who didn't go straight to grad school from UG.  Keep in mind industry people are not academics.  They may not understand the difference between a LOR and a job reference, so you will need to meet with them and give them a lot of information and support to make sure the LOR is amazing.

 

3)  Do you mean how do you decide which programs to apply to?  If so then you want to research each program and its degree options, coursework/training, professors (their research/publications/education), program stats (class size, graduation rates, etc), financial aid stats (funding or no funding, how much, from where), length of completion, location/cost of living, etc.  You want to apply to programs that will not only give you the degree that you want to earn, but also have professors conducting research in the area(s) that interest you.  If your research interests differ from all of the faculty then an acceptance is less likely.  The professors from your UG can provide you with a lot of insight about this process too so don't be shy about asking them.

 

4)  If you don't want to use a paper from UG (or don't have one) you can write a new one now, but you will need it reviewed many times so that it is the best it can be.  Again the professors from your UG can help with this also and if your school has a writing center you can try there too.

 

Also you're not alone being a full time employee and applying to grad school.  There are others and I was in that position before my Master's program.  Now I'm a full time employee, in a full time Master's program, and applying to PhD programs.  It's challenging, exhausting, and parts of the process absolutely suck, but it isn't impossible.  The key is academic mentorship.  Even if you only have one professor in your corner, you'll need that input and support.  It also helps if you have family and friends that are excited for you and willing to remind you to take a break and have fun.

[Guest |||]

I think the above post covers it pretty well

 

 

But if you want to find the meaning of life, as said in your post, well, unless you know a secret way of reading notepad documents...

[juilletmercredi]

I realize that you may be being facetious, but graduate school is not really designed to help you personally enlighten yourself or find the meaning of life.  There are a lot of other free or inexpensive ways to do that (books, mostly).  Graduate degrees are kind of a means to an end - the purpose is to achieve a credential that will allow you to enter a certain type of career field.  Do you want to teach and do research on political/legal theory?  Then a PhD in that field is appropriate.  Otherwise, it may be a frustrating waste of time for you.

Also consider the idea that a JD or JSD may be a better option for you.

1) Yes.

2) For an academic program, a non-academic recommendation is pretty meaningless.  At the very least, the person should have completed a PhD; how else will they know that you are well-prepared and able to complete one yourself?  So you need three academic recommendations; or in a pinch, a recommendation from someone who has a PhD who has supervised you in related tasks.  You may need to reach back out to a professor you were not-so-close to.

3) If you are at the point of having to look up publications, books, and essays and find one specific thing you want to study, you're not quite ready to apply to graduate school.  Not this year for fall 2014.  (Just noted that you want to apply for Fall 2015 - that makes more sense.)

In that case, yes, that's a place to start.  I think you probably already have something interesting that you want to research, so start there.  For example, I started with HIV prevention in adolescents, so I started reading in that area and realized that my interests took me to the media's influence on sexual behavior in that age group, and I took that further into looking at where the gaps are.  (I don't do that anymore - nor do I have an interest in it - so be prepared for your interests to shift in grad school).

I don't think you need much guidance, as I arrived at my research interests with little guidance.  However, you are more likely to find the gaps if you have some guidance, because if you're working with someone who has been in the field likely they know what needs to be done.

4) It's easier and better to edit and expand an existing writing sample that you got a good grade on.  If you need 10-15 pages and all you have is a 5-pager, you may add 5-10 additional pages on the same topic and just edit the paper.

But you can write one from scratch if you are sufficiently motivated and give yourself enough time.  The major problem with that is that you are writing a sample that no one will look at before you turn it in.  This is dangerous - you won't be able to get any feedback from other academics about whether it's good.  That's why editing a writing sample is better; you've already gotten some independent feedback on how it is.

All of these issues may also point to you doing an MA program first.  An MA program will solve problems 2-4 - you'll get more people to get recommendations from; you'll narrow down research areas by taking classes and you'll likely have a variety of writing samples to choose from.

[urbanac]

Wow...thanks for the feedback guys..really helpful stuff. 

 

juilletmercredi

 

Absolutely was being facetious, but point noted. 

 

My concern about the MA is that it's expensive...already in a ton of debt...but again that's my problem and I welcome any advice but won't burden you guys with the question. 

 

Last "thing"- I see there's a lot of anxiety around the writing sample, especially with people who consider creating a new one...wonder if there are current resources or even a forum/board specifically for people who want to start writing samples anew. I also wonder if I could/should create a small cohort of people online who are invested in creating a writing sample for a future application and want to work together for support and advice? 

[MsDarjeeling]

Last "thing"- I see there's a lot of anxiety around the writing sample, especially with people who consider creating a new one...wonder if there are current resources or even a forum/board specifically for people who want to start writing samples anew. I also wonder if I could/should create a small cohort of people online who are invested in creating a writing sample for a future application and want to work together for support and advice? 

 

I don't see why you couldn't start such a thread and/or form such a group of people on here.  There is a forum on here under 'Applications' for writing sample related topics.  Regardless of how you proceed with it I think the best thing for you to do is to enlist the guidance of those professors from UG.