Terrible GPA in Undergrad, Money Getting Tight. What do I do?

[NEWater]

Hey all,

 

Graduate school is something that has been burning at the back of my head since 2012 and as things have progressed recently, I've come across more and more obstacles and questions to which I cannot find answers. Any help that you lovely people of this community can offer is greatly appreciated.

Where do I start? I'm from Singapore. I served for 2 years in the Singapore Armed Forces as part of my mandatory stint in National Service. It was there when I noticed my snoring and sleep apnea became a problem: not only was it keeping my bunkmates awake at night, but I was noticing deterioration in attention span and concentration.

 

Fast forward several years, I am in Baltimore, Maryland in a mid-tier liberal arts college majoring in International Relations. It's a far cry from my (Asian) parents' preference for me to go to Harvard/Yale/whatever, but I am/was happy there. Students are laid-back and professors are incredible, and small class sizes a huge plus. The small class size afforded me tons of opportunities I could only have dreamt of: an independent summer research project with a generous stipend, and going to London on the next summer with the Hansard Scholars Programme where I got to attend classes at LSE and snagged a fantastic internship with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. I was the outlier guy - everyone else got stuck in Westminster making tea for MPs while I was collecting data for IISS's publications and participated in so many interesting and fruitful discussions.

 

The huge cloud looming my college life, however, was my sleep apnea. It progressed into a chronic stage where I'd involuntarily fall asleep during classes and while I was writing my papers. I'd doze off while I was in the middle of writing down notes despite two full cans of Red Bull and a steaming cup of triple espresso coffee in hand. My once-decent GPA of 3.7 plumetted to 2.8 and hasn't been able to recover since. I went through a set of surgical procedures to get that fixed last Christmas, but when I returned stateside earlier this spring, I bled profusely out of multiple orifices as my surgical wounds had yet to recover properly, and the 36-hour flight and erratic winter weather didn't help either. I had to withdraw from all my classes and took a leave of absence until Spring 2015 before I can graduate.

 

So here I am in Singapore, in perfect health and with fantastic sleep. I'm on an internship with a chemical industry NGO writing a hefty position paper on emerging chemical regulations. I want to apply for graduate school but my rotten GPA is sapping my confidence, and the financial situation at home isn't reassuring either. If there is any upside to all this, I have professors who won't stop telling me how I'm one of the smartest students they have ever come across, IISS is perfectly willing and ready to write a recommendation letter on my behalf, and I am also working on getting published with the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy.

 

Right now, I have my sights set on the University of Oslo and their Masters of Conflict and Peace Studies mostly because of their free tuition. Other than that, because of the financial situation at home I'm dry on ideas here. Do you have any suggestions on what other schools I can apply to, and how I can guarantee my financial security? I'd love to get on with Masters or PhD of International Relations, or anything related to security and defense issues.

[NEWater]

Bump? Anyone?

[lzs]

Talk to your recommenders about it. If they really believe in you, and it sounds like they do, they can go to bat for you (for example, call up a colleague and explain that their student will be applying and is awesome but had medical problems that are now fixed).

[OldManStudent]

If you aren't in a rush, have you considered retaking some of the courses that you performed poorly in to increase your GPA?

[IWing]

If possible, have your recommenders help explain your GPA situation by mentioning your medical condition.

Search for grad programs that can provide full funding, and start contacting professors. If some professors give a very positive respond, go for it.

[biisis]

You aren't out of the count yet! Medical things happen, and as long as you explain it tactfully in your personal statements, have have really awesome GRE marks/professional experience/letters of reference and maybe a publication or two, you could be a very competitive candidate.

 

(And in the future, register with your school's office of disabilities if stuff like this comes up again. They can be an invaluable advocate to get you the time and resources you need to avoid bad turns in your grades.)