Advice on grad school admissions.

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey everyone, </p>

<p>I am a senior at University of South Carolina majoring in philosophy with a minor in religious studies. I was at a school (Columbia International University) for two years before transferring to USC. Here is my situation: I want to do graduate work in Hebrew Bible/Religious Studies (University of Wisconsin, Claremont, NYU...etc.) However, for two out of four years (lost a full year of credits during the transfer) I have had to take interferon treatments which made me extremely ill and therefore diminished my academic record. My current USC gpa is 3.4 (will go up following this next year) I made the dean's list every semester I was not undergoing treatment (last year was a 3.85). There are a few F's on my transcripts from when I was sick that admissions will see (two of which are replaced with A's). In my course work for my major I have received 5 A's and one B. In my minor I have A's. I have taken a year of biblical Hebrew and a course in Biblical Aramaic, which were all A's. I will also have a year of ancient Greek by the time I finish my undergraduate degree. I have not taken the GRE yet, but my first practice test scores were 630 on the verbal and a 680 on the quantitative, which I hope to bring up once I study. (princeton review CAT test) I should have good recommendations as well. </p>

<p>My three questions are:
1. Should I explain my health conditions (of which there is a 99% chance I will never have to deal with again) in my statement? Do you think most admissions would be able to overlook some bad grades if I provide this information, given my other grades?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do you think I should apply for a MA first, given that my undergraduate degree is in another field? </p></li>
<li><p>Any other advice about admissions? Should I be freaking out? haha</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>I can’t help you with #2, but on #1 I’d say that yes, you can attach a supplement with an explanation, though it would probably be best if a LOR writer covered this (“Josh was a great student despite having had to undergo treatment for a serious medical condition, etc”). If you feel comfortable sharing the details of this with a trusted LOR writer, ask them if they’d be willing to mention it - that would be a good way for adcoms to understand where the bad grades came from, but most importantly, it would emphasize how your grades have improved.</p>