ghosts of grad school past

[lollygag]

To make a long story short: I was in a PhD program (in philosophy) for about 4 years and dropped out for a variety of reasons (lack of financial, family, and academic support; the abysmal job prospects of almost everyone graduating from the program, in spite of its decent rank; sudden writer's block and loss of focus caused by what was later diagnosed as depression; a desire to be more involved in finding answers to social ills rather than metaphysical paradoxes, etc.). I racked up several incompletes, but got an A- or A in every other class. That was almost 5 years ago. I've since been working in the nonprofit sector as a grant writer and have become interested in applying for an MPA/MPP. I was told by an admissions counselor at one program that dropping out of a prior grad program isn't necessarily a dealbreaker as long as i can show that i can actually perform well at the graduate level. I think I can make a reasonably good case for that, though of course i'm a little worried.

Anyone else out there been through this and care to share their experience? Any advice, of course, would also be appreciated!

[stilesg57]

We have two former PhD seekers in my MPP class at Duke, plus a good friend of mine from undergrad dropped out of a PhD program at UC-Irvine and is now in the science/tech policy master program at CMU Heinz. Based on what I've seen, I'd say it may not be common but certainly isn't unheard of. I'd emphasize how well you did in the parts of your program that apply to a professional program's curriculum (non-research, which is where some other people mentioned above weren't successful).

[pea-jay]

I dropped out of a Masters program in Urban Planning over 10 years ago, also due family and funding issues after completing 1/3 of the program. I'm actually hoping that the graduate work (3.7GPA overall GPA with A's in the math component) outweigh my lower UG GPA and abysmal math GRE score. But I also addressed this in my SOP so hopefully that will be sufficient. We'll see in one month

[ipsqq]

You have a good track record despite your history. I don't think any admissions committee would be shocked that you dropped out of a philosophy program, given the job market. Address it, but put a positive spin on it, it was an opportunity for you to realize that your primary interests were in the public sector.