Graduate School?
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Meanwhile, apply to at least 3 other schools. Visit the campus or talk to students and try to figure out if the school is the kind that will work with applicants. Try smaller schools because at a large university, you will be just one of many, and the admissions committee can easily turn you down. In your application, try to highlight extracurricular or professional experiences where you succeeded. Good reccomendation letters from your undergrad institution will also help. If you get to work now, you could get into a new program by this coming spring.
You may want to consider explaining the reason for your poor academic performance in your personal statement. Don’t directly say, “I made bad grades because of job X.” Instead, talk about the unique challenges at work and what you learned from it. If learning how to focus more on your academic coursework was a part of it, say so. Do what you can to show that even though you may not have been a high-performing student in the past, you will be now. Include what you told us about your desire to ensure that you’ll find a better career. Ambition is always a plus.
If you still get rejected, do not hesitate to call someone from the admissions office and ask to speak about why you got rejected. Say, “I’d like to know what I could do to become a better candidate.” Some schools allow you to appeal an admission decision, so if this becomes necessary, write a letter explaining how your job affected your grad studies, but emphasize that this won’t happen in the future.
As for financial aid, submit a FAFSA and see what you can get. Some aid is need based as well as merit based, so you have a chance.
If you have any questions or want to talk to someone about the grad admissions process, do not hesitate to e-mail me (it’s my username @yahoo.com). I am trying to transfer grad schools right now, so I can relate to your struggles in some capacity.
Make sure that they are appropriately accredited, including professional accreditation if you’re doing a degree in business, engineering or the like.
