<p>I recently graduated from a Cal State university. I need some advice. Please do not judge me as what I am about to say. In the first two years of college, life was alright. I had a part time job and was going to school full time. I made the dean's list twice. Starting the third year in college was where things went down hill. I come from a single low income family. My mom helped me out as best as she could but it wasn't cutting it. Financial aid and some loans helped finance me through college. However, due to the economy going down, my mom had to take lesser hours at her job. So, not thinking about studying time and how it will affect my grades, I took a second job and had to get my own place because my mom had to move to a single bedroom apt. While working two jobs and taking a full schedule, my grades dropped. I managed to get A's and B's in my major classes, which was economics, but my other grades dropped. I was a double major in econ and math, but all my upper division grades went to C's and D's, so I dropped my math major and changed it to a minor. Now that I graduated, barely, my grades went from a 3.7 the first two years to about a 2.2 the last three years. I graduated with a 2.4 overall and a 3.0 in my major. I quit one of my jobs and got more hours at the other job, even though it's minimum wage and I am considered part time. Now I am one hell of a ****ty situation. I know there are many sad sob stories, and some that are worse than mine. I am just looking for some advice. I would like to go to grad school in economics. It is not like I didn't learn anything. I am not dumb, or at least I don't think I am. I recently moved back and now sleeping on a couch, which is probably way better than some people who do not have a place to sleep. Please do say "well you fail, don't even think about grad school" or something in that nature. But what I would like to know is do any one of you, just one, think I have chance in getting to a graduate economics program? Sorry for the long thread. I never been on a website like this or asked anybody. I always been a loner so to speak. Thanks.</p>
<p>If you want to go to graduate school, the best advice I can think of is for you to begin working in an economics related job/company and build yourself and recommendations well from there. You can’t erase the past, but you can spend the next few years proving that your past is not indicative of you, but, rather, a situation.</p>
<p>Sephiroth offers some good advice. A 3.0 in economics is better than a lot of people who show up on CC and ask for advice on how to overcome their undergraduate record.</p>
<p>I suggest two steps: 1. Find a job or internship in a economics-related field OR do research with a professor. 2. Take a courses or two in upper level economics to show that you’ve gotten serious about the field. If you are working, don’t overdo the courses – take only one at a time. If you can do one or both of these over the summer (especially the research part), then your application will be stronger in the fall. If you do apply in the fall, brace yourself for disappointment. If you get in, great, but know that your academic past may take a couple of years to overcome.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to get into a top economics program, of course. I’m most worried about your LORs, since you probably didn’t forge any bonds with professors given your work schedule. We have had several CCers here who had similar struggles during undergraduate and who are now in top programs because they made up for their shaky grades by researching in their field for a couple of years after graduation. In economics, you’d likely have to do it for free, especially at first, but proving yourself as a diligent researcher can outweigh grades.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>