<p>I graduated in 2004 with a cumulative GPA of 2.88 (Sociology major 3.57) due to illness. I recently lost my job, and have been planning on attending graduate school in American Studies or Sociology and am restricted to programs in the Baltimore-Washington area. To that end, I have registered for a non-credit graduate sociology course and non-credit undergrad American Studies courses at two different state universities for the Spring semester to get my feet back into academics. I have almost completed a paralegal certificate at the community college and my GPA is 4.0 - my professors are encouraging me to go to law school, but law firm life is not the life for me. </p>
<p>Am I a lost cause with the 2.68, even though that was almost ten years ago? Am I doing the right thing? I feel like my entire life is screwed up forever simply because I was ill for a year, and I have been working in the insurance industry, which may not make sense on an application. My former and only employer also does not write letters of reference or recommendation. </p>
<p>Any advice you have would be greatly welcome. It feels so hopeless sometimes. Thanks and happy holidays!</p>
<p>What type of a career will a graduate degree in American Studies or Sociology lead to? If you are in your early 30’s and unemployed, an MBA may be more rewarding.</p>
<p>Hi Tom, thanks for your response. I am 30, and from what I have been reading, those degrees can lead in different directions - Sociology would be more focused on social research (I am not a fan of numbers and prefer qualitative analysis). American Studies can lead to work with public policy, or museum scholarship. I’m also interested in the possibility of teaching at the community college level as an adjunct after the experiences I have had at the college. (The only thing that I really enjoy in my paralegal coursework is legal research, which in reality is delegated to first year attorneys). A Sociology or social science master’s would probably prove more applicable to the work environment, but I am still not sure what kinds of research careers exist that do not involve number crunching.</p>
<p>I would say that for a Masters degree, the programs that you listed are not in high demand.</p>
<p>Therefore, with some work experience, decent recommendations, and a decent GRE verbal score, I would not be surprised if you got into every school you applied to. You’d be surprised. It’s not that difficult to get into lower demand grad programs, even with GPAs MUCH lower than yours.</p>
<p>If you are still concerned, take classes non-matric at the school you want to go to, do well, and that will help your cause even more.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement, Jontae. The acceptance rate for the program I like the most at UMD is 10% (out of 100 applications). Hopefully taking undergrad courses there next semester will help.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in working in museums and heritage interpretation, you may want to look into public history programs rather than American studies.</p>
<p>To answer your question, with 10 years of work experience and good grades in a few graduate courses, your GPA from 10 years ago likely won’t matter - especially if you can explain that it was due to illness and given that you have a high major GPA.</p>
<p>But I agree with the others in that an MA in either sociology or American studies is not necessarily a lucrative path. I definitely wouldn’t advocate one in American studies. If you want to learn qualitative analysis, you can get a certificate or something in it. At minimum, I would aim at an inexpensive public university program in sociology that had some kind of internship program or connections with social research organizations. I would imagine that with an MA in sociology and strong research skills, as well as an assistantship or internship in research, you may be able to be a research assistant or associate at a think tank or do research analysis at a government agency (although I will say that most of those jobs desire quantitative analysis, not qual). Museum scholarship is very competitive and will likely require a PhD these days, since there are so many unemployed doctoral-level historians and Americanists.</p>
<p>As for what kind of research you can do without number crunching - there’s a goodly bit. Like I said, nowadays the emphasis is on quantitative analysis, but I still see a lot of MA-level job apps that want qual skills. You could work as a research coordinator for a professor doing qualitative research, or you could work as an interviewer for a government agency or think tank running a qual study.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response, Julliet. Everyone here has been so helpful. The grad course I will be taking next semester is at the closest state university, which offers a terminal M.S. in Social Science, and that degree would definitely be the most inexpensive option. American in D.C. offers a grad certificate in social research, but it seems like it would make more sense just to get a Master’s. UMD offers an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies, and I have observed a class and spoken with the department chair, and funding is only offered for Ph.D. students (same with GWU). Something to consider.</p>