Just uh...a little turbulence

[Fivecoat]

Greetings,

Having only recently come to this board, I apologize if this is misplaced, but I haven't found much on my particular situation.

Specifically, I am a History Major with a focus on East Asia and a minor in Classics. For the first half of my career here I was a B student.

My problem is this: I have one semester where I met up with mono toward the middle/end, and failed two classes. However, my grades after this have been almost perfect. My final GPA should be in the range of a 3.3 with my last 60 hours coming to a 3.9. With the exception of language courses, I took eighteen hours every one of these semesters - all upper division classes. Among the classes in my last semester here, I have 3 writing intensive seminars including an independent study I received in classics. Furthermore, I am working on the project I would like to continue with in grad school.

Though I am in the process of applying for a retroactive medical withdrawal, if I can't have these grades removed, will this one semester keep me from admission into a master's degree program and later a Ph.D program?

I intend to apply to:

Loyola Chicago - Political Science and History

U of C - MAPH

UIC - Political Science

Thank you for your time and input.

Best,

Fivecoat

[spozik]

There's story after story around here of someone screwing up an entire year or two of undergrad and still getting in good places. You may have better luck getting a more relevant opinion on the History-specific board, but my guess is that you definitely have a shot, especially at a terminal Master's.

The golden child who has had everything go right for him or her ends up being a pretty rare tale, so there are lots of people in the same boat as you are. Make the rest of your application outstanding and make brief mention somewhere on your app. that you got really sick that semester, and I imagine that the adcomm. will gladly look past it. Some programs even explicitly state that they really only care about the last 2 years of undergrad.

[LifeIsGood]

I wouldn't worry too much about it; just take action to compensate for it. I flunked out of school during UG. Twice. And didn't have any history experience; not a single history class since junior year of high school. I got into a history MA program, am doing well (GPA, LORs, research experience, and GRE are all competitive), and am being encouraged to apply to high-level PhD programs, so my profs must think my UG performance won't kill me.

[Encomendero]

I would not worry. I know from personal experience that a low GPA and average GRE scores are not as important as some on this site would have you believe. Go for professors who will write you fantastic letters and find someway to work in archives or some other place where PhDs in your field go to do research. Research experience beyond the local university special collections room is a rare thing for UG and MA students. Taking the time and effort to go to those kinds of places will put your application alongside or on top of people with better GREs and GPAs who may not have actual research experience.

[jacib]

Greetings,

Having only recently come to this board, I apologize if this is misplaced, but I haven't found much on my particular situation.

Specifically, I am a History Major at the University of Oklahoma with a focus on East Asia and a minor in Classics. For the first half of my career here I was a B student.

My problem is this: I have one semester where I met up with mono toward the middle/end, and failed two classes. However, my grades after this have been almost perfect. My final GPA should be in the range of a 3.3 with my last 60 hours coming to a 3.9. With the exception of language courses, I took eighteen hours every one of these semesters - all upper division classes. Among the classes in my last semester here, I have 3 writing intensive seminars including an independent study I received in classics. Furthermore, I am working on the project I would like to continue with in grad school.

Though I am in the process of applying for a retroactive medical withdrawal, if I can't have these grades removed, will this one semester keep me from admission into a master's degree program and later a Ph.D program?

I intend to apply to:

Loyola Chicago - Political Science and History

U of C - MAPH

UIC - Political Science

Thank you for your time and input.

Best,

Fivecoat

Check out Northwestern, too. Even Northwestern Sociology (they have a very strong faculty in political sociology). It's just up the Purple line (easier to get to than U of C, during the day at least). I just got into an excellent program and my GPA was 3.26, and my last two years the GPA average was only 3.55ish. For a place like U of C or Northwestern, you might want some specific things to counteract the GPA, like high GRE scores or specific awards or something. Other places will be less troubled by it. I think if you mention in your statement, "Though I struggled to find my place at first, since I found my calling, I have had a near perfect GPA" just as one line, you should be fine. Focus on the positive, barely mention the negative, if you do at all. It's hard to argue with an excellent set of grades in the last few years. I would especially try to use the GRE to put their minds further to rest.