How strong of an applicant am I?

[Vaya]

Hi guys. I apologize for what's most likely a vague question, but it's something that's been plaguing me since I've started to consider returning to school and switching careers.

 

I'm trying to discern how strong my application would be, specifically for a masters of environmental and energy policy, concentrating in political economy. I have fairly humdrum undergraduate credentials, mitigated by what I hope is compelling post graduate experience.

 

1. Undergraduate

Degree: B.A. in political science, minors in political economy and philosophy

School: Temple University

GPA: 3.2 (3.5 in-major)

 

2. Post graduate 

5 years managing projects and writing math, science, and social studies content for a digital curriculum provider, and last year I took the GREs with strong results: 

169 V, 163 Q, 5.0 AW. 

At this point I've lost touch with any professors from undergrad, so letters of recommendation would be coming from the professional side.

 

So my question here is, will my application show a strong candidate with good personal/professional growth, or will I be sunk by having middling grades at a non elite university having done work outside of my prospective field of study for half a decade?

 

[rvict]

Depends whether the program is academic or professional. Purely academic programs do not like professional references. Not having academic LoRs could sink you if your program of choice has a largely academic/research focus.

Check out profiles of current and former students in the program to see what their backgrounds are.

Edit: read your professional experience. Sounds like it isn't related to your areas of interest unfortunately. Mightmake it a harder sell. Talk up the skills you learned. PM experience is great (eeverything is a project!) and so is professional writing experience

Edited March 26, 2014 by rvict

[perpetuavix]

 

Hi guys. I apologize for what's most likely a vague question, but it's something that's been plaguing me since I've started to consider returning to school and switching careers.

 

I'm trying to discern how strong my application would be, specifically for a masters of environmental and energy policy, concentrating in political economy. I have fairly humdrum undergraduate credentials, mitigated by what I hope is compelling post graduate experience.

 

1. Undergraduate

Degree: B.A. in political science, minors in political economy and philosophy

School: Temple University

GPA: 3.2 (3.5 in-major)

 

2. Post graduate 

5 years managing projects and writing math, science, and social studies content for a digital curriculum provider, and last year I took the GREs with strong results: 

169 V, 163 Q, 5.0 AW. 

At this point I've lost touch with any professors from undergrad, so letters of recommendation would be coming from the professional side.

 

So my question here is, will my application show a strong candidate with good personal/professional growth, or will I be sunk by having middling grades at a non elite university having done work outside of my prospective field of study for half a decade?

 

The further away from undergrad you get, the less your grades matter. I also think that there are plenty of programs that look kindly on work experience. Could you talk about skills you've learned that would be useful in your intended field? Have you done anything outside of work to keep up with the field (reading articles, joining a professional society, attending conferences)? 

I do think not having any academic letters would be a problem, but I don't think you need 3 to be successful. You should try to get in contact with at least one, maybe two, professors and see if you can ask them for letters. As long as you're willing to take some time and catch them up on what you've been doing lately, and remind them of some of your best work (ie. send them a CV as well as a paper you wrote for them), I think you could easily have at least one academic letter writer. It sounds like you're looking to apply for 2015, so you've got some time to make that happen. 

Good luck!