I’ve been going to college for 10 years. Working, relationship difficulties and a learning disability has made it harder for me to graduate college. My major is economics and I have a 3.5 GPA and will likely have a 3.7 by the time I graduate. I’ve had to retake classes several times, especially math due to my learning disability and the fact I am a high school drop out.
I’ve discovered I’m a whiz at investments. I made a 300% total return earlier this year and I want to go into portfolio management or hedge fund management. I’ve decided on a Masters of Science in Finance. MsF for short.
My GPA is solid and I have no doubt I could rock the GRE or GMAT (depending which one the schools prefer), my recommendation letters will likely come up short in quality as I haven’t really been able to find an academic mentor in my professors since my freshman year in a different major. Most are fairly aloof and don’t really seem interested in bonding with me via a friendship.
So what I need to know is this. Will having 10-15 W’s over a 10 year college career negatively impact me in applying to grad school? If so, will it be a minor negative impact or significant? I’ve been going to college full time or 3/4 time for a decade after all. (I also had a previous major I almost graduated in, but changed at the last minute due to being misled about job prospects. That major is now a completed minor in sociology.)
I’ve got at least 10-20 W’s. But almost every important class I’ve withdrawn from I’ve repeated and gotten an A or B in.
I’m smart, just have had a rough life and not much guidance while in school. Product of a single parent home and all that.
What does everyone think?