Do I have a shot in hell?

[sunnyfeathers]

I want to go to Boston Uni for a masters in forensic anthropology. However, I was told that I need a 3.8 GPA. While I know that is not strictly true I do have some fears.

My profile is this:

GPA 3.30 in my major (anthropology) 3.65

GRE (all my practice tests are around) 1100

I have great letters and I will have a great SOP when I finish editing it like crazy.

Do I have a shot in hell or should I focus my attention on my other schools? I have some states school's I'm looking at but I really want to go to BU. The program is perfect for me.

[jacib]

I want to go to Boston Uni for a masters in forensic anthropology. However, I was told that I need a 3.8 GPA. While I know that is not strictly true I do have some fears.

My profile is this:

GPA 3.30 in my major (anthropology) 3.65

GRE (all my practice tests are around) 1100

I have great letters and I will have a great SOP when I finish editing it like crazy.

Do I have a shot in hell or should I focus my attention on my other schools? I have some states school's I'm looking at but I really want to go to BU. The program is perfect for me.

I don't think its reasonable to assume you need a 3.8 GPA. In fact, that sounds distinctly unreasonable. It depends what your undergraduate institution was as well, GRE scores are often used by adcomm members to compare across schools if they are not familiar with your undergrad (or so I heard from a professor). I have never seen a graduate program with an AVERAGE GPA as high as 3.8. Whoever told you that is pulling your chain, I'd imagine. BU, as of the last NRC, is ranked 51 in anthropology. I think if you should strong interest in a field they're specifically interested, and have a good writing sample/SoP, you'll have a shot, but, as always, its a crap shoot, and people who apply to fewer schools generally get in to fewer schools. You can look at the admit rates for Minnesota, ranked exactly one higher on the NRC rankings (circa ten years ago now), http://www.grad.umn.edu/data/stats/1008000.html If you notice, they don't give GPA's because GPA's are quite hard to compare. Especially for a masters program, I don't think you scores will rule you out, but I wouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. Emphasize that they're perfect for you without sounding creepy, mention the specifics. Make your statement of purpose quite strong and purposeful. Say it's the forensic part you're interested, BU is great for that, blah blah blah. That will help your application surely. It's not a waste of time to apply but neither is it a sure thing, so you shouldn't slack off on your other applications.

[sunnyfeathers]

I like this kind of question. Just tell me right now, am I in?

But you're asking a pool of other applicants, all who want to know the same damn thing.

You will never know until you try.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again?

I figured that some one here has had more experience in this stuff then me. I'm not asking if I will get in for sure, not really but I am trying to calm down my fears and seek advice from people that have been here where I am. Does that make sense? But you're right I have to try in order to know. I guess I'm not a big risk taker. I only applied to my undergrad because I knew I would get in. I guess it is time for me to stop taking just the safe route. This is something I want and I'm going have to take a risk. Thank you.

[sunnyfeathers]

i don't know why, but i feel like sharing this thing i wrote (many years ago) with you:

2004.01.16 17.17

what am i learning?

Thank you for sharing that. In fact I think I'm going to print it out and look at it when I start to freak out.

[sunnyfeathers]

I don't think its reasonable to assume you need a 3.8 GPA. In fact, that sounds distinctly unreasonable. It depends what your undergraduate institution was as well, GRE scores are often used by adcomm members to compare across schools if they are not familiar with your undergrad (or so I heard from a professor). I have never seen a graduate program with an AVERAGE GPA as high as 3.8. Whoever told you that is pulling your chain, I'd imagine. BU, as of the last NRC, is ranked 51 in anthropology. I think if you should strong interest in a field they're specifically interested, and have a good writing sample/SoP, you'll have a shot, but, as always, its a crap shoot, and people who apply to fewer schools generally get in to fewer schools. You can look at the admit rates for Minnesota, ranked exactly one higher on the NRC rankings (circa ten years ago now), http://www.grad.umn....ts/1008000.html If you notice, they don't give GPA's because GPA's are quite hard to compare. Especially for a masters program, I don't think you scores will rule you out, but I wouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. Emphasize that they're perfect for you without sounding creepy, mention the specifics. Make your statement of purpose quite strong and purposeful. Say it's the forensic part you're interested, BU is great for that, blah blah blah. That will help your application surely. It's not a waste of time to apply but neither is it a sure thing, so you shouldn't slack off on your other applications.

My problem is that there are only a handful of schools that have a Masters in Forensic Anthropology. Funny you should mention Minnesota, but they are on my list. I think five schools is a good amount. I will be posting my SOP to make sure I don't sound like, "I want to do this because I want to help people, or because I love Bones." (Which I don't. I can't stand that show.) I don't want to sound creepy either. Thanks for your advice.

[sunnyfeathers]

Aw. :-)

p.s. we are all freaking out. myself included. breathe...slowly...and deeply.

I forgot about breathing. I'm surprised I haven't turned blue yet.

[purplepepper]

I think you should go for it, GPA and GRE are not everything. (i got into an ivy league for my PhD with a 3.2 undergrad GPA...but loads of experience that I was able to concretely show) Experience and maturity of ideas count for a lot more than people think. Keep working on that SOP until it makes you want to vomit. Then work on it some more.

[sunnyfeathers]

I think you should go for it, GPA and GRE are not everything. (i got into an ivy league for my PhD with a 3.2 undergrad GPA...but loads of experience that I was able to concretely show) Experience and maturity of ideas count for a lot more than people think. Keep working on that SOP until it makes you want to vomit. Then work on it some more.

Thanks. Congrats for getting into the school you wanted. I have a few months to work on my SOP. I will be posting it here for advice when I have a working draft. I already want to vomit. I just want to snap my fingers and just be in the grad school I want. Too bad that only happens in fairy tales.

[piccgeek]

I just want to snap my fingers and just be in the grad school I want. Too bad that only happens in fairy tales.

There should totally be a fairy tale that ends "And she went to Dream University, got her PhD, and lived happily ever after."

(p.s. grad school is to happily ever after as marriage is to happily ever after.)

[mudlark]

There should totally be a fairy tale that ends "And she went to Dream University, got her PhD, and lived happily ever after."

(p.s. grad school is to happily ever after as marriage is to happily ever after.)

What, even in a fairy tale the dream doesn't extend to a tenure track job?

[kismetcapitan]

I like those words, because when I applied ED to my undergrad school (highly competitive Tier One school) my high school counselor looked me dead in the eye and said (and I'll never forget) "well, I'll do this, but you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into this school." First thing I did when I got accepted (and my classmate who had a far better GPA got rejected) was march into his office, acceptance letter in hand. He was nonplussed to be certain, and managed to mumble out a "well, congratulations!"

There's a bigger picture to a candidate than just numbers. It was a good way to compare metrics as my classmate applied ED - she had a perfect GPA but my SAT was higher. She was active in more extracurriculars but the ones I were in tended to be more involved and I held leadership positions. And our essays would have been obviously different. LORs? My high school teachers liked her a whole lot more than they liked me, that's for certain.

And graduate school applications are obviously even more subjective, looking more for "fit" than plain numbers. Numbers are crap anyways - Korean high schools and universities basically use only two metrics - GPA and entrance exam score. Which is why the system is so screwed up.

My sister is an adcomm at U Mich (grad school) and her best advice is to just "write the best application YOU can", and if it's meant to be, you'll get in.

[APHI224]

What, even in a fairy tale the dream doesn't extend to a tenure track job?

Not even a fairy tale can get you one of those these days! That's why I'm staying out of academia, I don't need to ruin my life as an adjunct for 10 years while searching for a job in my mid 30s