Extremely Unconventional Applicant

Graduate School
1

<p>To start, I'm just going to put it on the table: I come from a severely disadvantaged background. Being African-American, gay, bipolar and from a dysfunctional family tends to contribute to a severely dissatisfying life.</p>

<p>Growing up, I was always presented with contradictions. My mother and father pushed education and good grades, yet throughout my childhood, even to this day, continue to present a picture of severe disorganization. I basically grew up in a dysfunctional household, divided by religion (my mother is Christian and my father is a fanatical Muslim).</p>

<p>Given, however, that they both have always wanted for me to succeed, I worked my hardest in school. Of course, around my teenage years and into my first year in college, my hard work became less and less productive, given my illness' onset. Dreaming of the Ivy League, I applied to all of them out of high school, and was rejected by every single one. My SAT scores were less than stellar (1700 was my best score out of 3 attempts), like my GPA (3.1).</p>

<p>1 semester into college (accepted to a regional Tier 1 out-of-state, glad to get away from home), I'm hospitalized, misdiagnosed, and sent home. I come back Spring semester determined to lift myself out of my sickness, and eventually I was able to transfer to a nationally ranked top 100 school in DC. 1 year later, I flunked out. Of course, 1 year after that (start of 2012), I'm given the correct diagnosis.</p>

<p>I now attend a state school in my hometown.</p>

<p>Needless to say, I've felt cheated for most of my life. I never learned how to plan and schedule my time in order to get top grades, so I've consistently been met with sub-par outcomes (e.g.my current college GPA is only 2 percentage points higher than my ending high school GPA—3.3—and I'm graduating in May of this year). Paradoxically, however, I've managed to do well professionally, having interned in Congress, being on the board of a seed-stage startup, written published work, etc.</p>

<p>I'm going to put another big one on the table: I want to enroll in Yale's MPP program and go into either management consulting or work at the State Department. But, of course, I have a terrible college record. I hate to be negative, but I'm beginning to feel as though I'll never achieve my dreams, given the significant obstacles I face. And I don't know what to do. I don't know if it's worth asking how to plan to get stellar grades, because my undergraduate career is basically over now. </p>

<p>One silver lining: I've been given a chance recently—I was recently accepted to a 1-month Ivy League immersive career program. It's for 1 month, sure, but maybe it'll help me get the kind of job I'm looking for in the short-term.</p>

<p>However, in the long term, I'm not sure how to proceed. Is my dream of an Ivy League public policy program just that—a dream? Or have I missed something? I'd very much value the advice of people with constructive feedback, and especially those who have been in my situation (if any, or only partially). Please let me know your thoughts.</p>

2

<p>Firstly sorry for your problems, I do sympathise. As I read your prose, I hear clearly the disadvantages but what is not so clear is how you over came them. Maybe a better question is Have you overcame them? Admissions want people who can overcome harships. Anyway hope for the holistic thing and GL.</p>

3

<p>Definitely what sosomenza said. I certainly haven’t had as many challenges as you have to overcome, but as a person who flunked out of college at one point myself (and who has at least one offer to grad school), sub-par grades can often be made up for by other aspects of your application. When writing your statement of purpose you can bring up these issues and point out how you overcame them and became a better person for it. Get solid letters of recommendation from faculty who know what you’ve overcome.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>3.3 is not a “terrible college record.” Your professional experience - particularly interning with Congress - will certainly be viewed favorably. Nobody can give you “chances” and Yale is a very competitive school, but it’s certainly worth applying.</p>

<p>If you get turned down, I would suggest looking for more professional experience.</p>

5

<p>I highly sympathize with bipolar disorder, but don’t use being black and gay as a crutch, how does that make it any worse than straight white kids with mental illness? I don’t see how being black and gay changes anything from what you’ve told us so far.</p>

6

<p>Because we still live in an era where being black and/or gay does, in fact, disadvantage you in numerous ways.</p>

7

<p>@Sosomenza: I’ve overcome bipolar by accepting treatment and medication, sticking to a tight regimen of therapy and pills.</p>

<p>I’ve overcome black/gay stigma by being excellent professionally. Plus, I’m masculine so that helps too.</p>

<p>@Structuralbio: Your designation of blackness and gayness as “crutches” could not have been made without the knowledge of the underlying negative historical experiences underpinning the basis of both demographics’ “disadvantage.” Nevertheless, your designation thus is tantamount to discrediting the negative experiences that have led colleges and universities to adopt affirmative action policies. I suggest you do more reading on the subject.</p>

8

<p>If you wanted a Dell, you could get the computer right now. I could get it with my Dell credit and you could pay $30-50/month</p>

<p>I’m African American and bisexual, and a grad student at an Ivy League university. My second stigma is concealable, but being African American is not. I’ve also battled with depression and anxiety, so trust me, I know the ways in which being black and a sexual minority can be qualitatively different from being a straight white kid with a mental illness. Stigma and prejudice are intersectional. I get the OP’s concerns. There’s something about being the only brown face in the room that is threatening; there’s also a threat about what will happen if I come out to people and reveal my sexual identity, which is a big part of myself? They’re not “crutches.”</p>

<p>In any case, OP, I agree with a lot of the former people’s comments. As I’ve stated, I know where you’re coming from - I’m first-generation and my parents didn’t even want me to go to college. Still, most graduate schools aren’t interested in a laundry list of our obstacles in life. Everyone has them, regardless of their race, sexual identity, and disability status (although certainly some are more severe than others). What’s more important is what you have accomplished and how you have overcome those.</p>

<p>Here’s a tip: When I wrote my personal statement to get fellowships, I didn’t just write about how I was African American, but specifically how that impacted my experiences of college and graduate school. I’m in public health. I talked about how being working-class made me realize the perils of our current health care system, how witnessing injustice made me want to study health disparities; I talked about how being a first-generation college student made me realize how much mentorship aspiring scientists with that background need and how I wanted to provide that. But I also talked about things NOT related to my race and background at all, like my passion for science, my desire to teach difficult to understand parts of my field (like statistics), and demonstrated merit through my grades and research proposal.</p>

<p>You have to present a combination of both, and don’t spend too much time on your marginalized status. Just enough to highlight how you have overcome those obstacles and used them as a catalyst in your life to do better. A 3.3 is not a terrible record - I had a 3.4 when I applied to my Ivy League PhD program and a bunch of top-10 programs in my field, and I got in everywhere I applied. Particularly for professional degrees, your experiences are more important than having straight-As. If you’ve interned in Congress, published, and been on the board of a startup, that is all excellent experience that demonstrates that you’ve overcome significant obstacles in your life and are a great candidate for an MPP program.</p>

<p>I agree with polarscribe. Apply, and see what happens. But note that most MPP programs value experience more than anything else, so if you don’t get admitted it is more likely due to a lack of full-time work experience. Focus your attentions on trying to get a full-time position in government or policy, and spend 3-5 years working in the field. For example, Princeton’s MPP is for mid-career professionals and requires 7 years of work experience.</p>

<p>Edit: Hey OP, I just checked it out and it doesn’t appear that Yale actually has an MPP program. Yale has an MA program in international and development economics. The top 10 schools in public policy are Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, UChicago, Princeton, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse, Indiana University and Wisconsin-Madison. After that there’s also Texas-Austin, USC, NYU-Wagner, UWashington, Georgetown, UMaryland, UCLA, UMinn, GWU, Ohio State, UGA, Kentucky, UNC-CH, Cornell, and George Mason.</p>

<p>There are other good schools that offer a master’s in public affairs, which is similar. It’s mostly the same schools on the above list, just in a different order (for example, UGA’s program is 4th., and Syracuse’s program is 1st.) Other schools not on that above list are UKansas, American, Arizona State, Florida State, SUNY-Albany, Georgia State, and Rutgers.</p>

9

<p>well, if you do play the race / sexuality card, then you can have significantly lower GPA and be considered a strong candidate, so a 3.3 would still put you in a decent position as an applicant. A 3.3 is a fairly strong GPA by anyone’s measure.</p>

10

<p>“I’ve overcome black/gay stigma by being excellent professionally. Plus, I’m masculine so that helps too.” </p>

<p>Please never say that in an application, interview, etc… If a feminist reads your application or hears something like that they will cringe. As they would say, you haven’t actually overcome that issue, you’ve merely played yourself into the patriarchy by accepting the gender dichotomy and playing into the gender stereotypes assigned by the patriarchy. Needless to say, they won’t like it. </p>

<p>I take it that’s not how you meant for that to come off; I assume you meant something more along the lines of… ‘My gender resembles masculinity and thereby I am not as readily labeled by others.’ </p>

<p>In regards to your application though, a 3.3 isn’t that bad and given all the other factors, you certainly do have a chance. Graduate admissions will look at your letters and writing sample as a very important part of your application.</p>

11

<p>NYU2013: I burst out laughing when I read your post—but, yes, you’re absolutely right. I tend to be pretty chill about things like that when on the Internet, but, no, of course I’d never say that in an interview! You certainly represent your school well. :)</p>

<p>I’m going to take you guys’ advice and apply. You’re all so great! :)</p>

12

<p>@ structuralbio: You seem to be under the assumption that graduate school admissions is anything like undergraduate admissions. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not that, “OP is black and gay, therefore we should accept him because, yay, diversity!” but that, “OP has been disadvantaged in the past but has shown enough tenacity to overcome those obstacles, therefore we know he has enough perseverance to power his way through a program and not drop out.”</p>

<p>Regarding diversity, they won’t lower their standards (as you imply) just because of OP’s race and sexuality. What will happen is they will evaluate him against everyone else, and if he just so happens to make the cut to the final two, then his diversity and demonstrated success in the face of hardships may help him get the spot.</p>