<p>Hey everyone! I'm sure people post their stats so others can review their chances of getting into schools, and as annoying as it may be sometimes its REALLY helpful in my opinion.</p>
<p>Anyways, I wanted to know, is a flat 3.0 good enough for ANY decent grad school? I know its very competitive out there but sometimes it seems as if there is NO chance to go to a decent school without a 3.7 or higher. It seems like getting into both undergrad and grad has gotten MUCH harder than before. </p>
<p>I am truly in crisis about where to apply to and more importantly, where I QUALIFY. I REALLY want to go to Cali but all the UC's deadlines have passed or don't have my program. Here are my stats if anyone could maybe help me, it would be EXTREMELY appreciated!!</p>
<p>I graduated from Stony Brook University (SUNY) a year early with a double major in Sociology and Religious Studies (weird, I know). I was editor of my HS newspaper but did not write in college due to my heavy course load. I have studied abroad, made Dean's List for many semesters and have several extracurricular activities from my undegrad years (I was an RA, won campus awards, and served on eboard for my sorority).
I realized my passion is with journalism but I am scared my stats are not good enough.</p>
<p>Age: 21 (graduated 1 year early)
GPA: 3.02 ( I was a science major my first year..bad move).
GRE: still haven't taken it but my base score with no studying for verbal was around 550.
Experience: Internship for Vogue Magazine for about a month for fashion week (Editorial department)</p>
<p>I have no guidance on where to apply or anything. I would want to get my MA in English and/or Journalism. MY dream school is USC. How is SFSU as well? Also, I'm from NY so would I have an advantage being out of state? Thanks again!</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, a 3.0 is rather low, at least for upper tier graduate programs. However, if your junior and senior years were strong(er), or if you have good major GPA(s), I suppose you might still have a shot. Especially if all the other parts of your application–GRE, letters of recommendation, writing sample–are excellent. But again, your chances at getting in to your dream school are not the best with that GPA. A place like SFSU–maybe? I don’t really know much about SFSU or it’s grad programs.</p>
<p>Your GPA is not terrible, however you do not have much work experience and nothing else really stands out about your application from what you have stated: Your scores (GRE) are average, your GPA is below, your work experience is below (possibly). Your awards are a plus point, but it depends on what the awards are in for it to be a deciding factor for the schools. I am guessing you had a massive upswing in GPA for you to be on a deans list, so that is definitely a positive </p>
<p>Your HS stuff doesn’t really count so it doesn’t seem like you have had any journalism/english experience in college outside of that internship (which is still a positive).</p>
<p>Plenty of people get into grad schools with middling GPAs, particularly if they have improvement trends.</p>
<p>But if you’re looking to go for a MA in journalism, you’re not going to find a funded one unless you already have an academic background in the field. You’d likely be paying for it, straight-up. San Francisco State has a solid journalism program. But given that it’s a state school, you’re not going to have any advantage being from out-of-state - if anything, it’ll be the opposite.</p>
<p>What I’d be most concerned about is your lack of recent experience in the field - most applicants are going to have a lot more than a month-long internship under their belt.</p>
<p>Also, speaking as a recent journalism graduate, the job market is absolutely terrible right now. Honestly, investing $30k+ into a masters’ program in the field probably isn’t the best idea at this point.</p>
<p>If you’re dead-set on it, make sure you find a program that is heavily into new and social media. That’s the direction journalism is going.</p>
<p>Also, along with what Polarscribe stated, I am not sure how you know journalism/english is your passion if you have yet to do anything in it. Are you sure this isn’t a “Oh crap I just graduated and need something to do” phase? It happens to everyone when they graduate without a clear idea of where they want to be, so every idea ends up sounding fantastic. I was there at one point and so are many of my friends currently. </p>
<p>Even though I am not in your field, I agree with Polarscribe in recommending you figure out what you really want (internships and work experience) before paying a lot of money for something that you are not 100% about.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for replying! to clear some things up: I always wanted to do journalism, but when i graduated HS I felt that it wasn’t secure so I went in another direction. I love journalism, and do hope to get my masters in it, at some point. But Polarscribe you are absolutley right, the job scope is very shaky right now.</p>
<p>My game plan is to get my MA in English and be a HS English teacher, and eventually get my PhD. (if anyone knows some good programs in English please let me know. Of course I am aware top tiers like Berkeley and UCLA are out of my reach ) </p>
<p>Also, my GPA in my majors was a 3.7 and 3.5, and I have made Dean’s list continuously for my last 3 semesters. It is clear to see the difference between my 2 semesters of science and bad grades to my major’s and straight A’s. I graduated a year early, studied abroad, and was an RA. I have strong recommendations and hope to raise my GRE score.</p>
<p>Anyways, its really great getting all this feedback. A lot of my friends aren’t going to grad school, so I’m completely on my own with this stuff unfortunately. So once again, Thanks!!</p>
<p>I feel you on the GPA thing. 3.08 here, because I spent way too much time paying attention to the college paper/sports blog I was running, as opposed to my academics.</p>
<p>Best thing, I think, is to apply to a wide range of programs and accept the possibility that the second choice might be the only option.</p>
<p>if you don’t mind me asking, (just out of curiosity since you were in the same boat as me)…where did you end up going to grad school and/or what program/field are you in now?</p>
<p>I’m applying for fall 2011 admission to natural resources/parks interpretation masters’ programs. (Basically, what park rangers do.) Lucked into a paid internship with the USDA Forest Service, and through that, found a research interest that leverages my new media experience. Won’t hear back on any of my apps until January, but I have had several very favorable discussions with professors. Fingers way crossed.</p>
<p>Make sure that an MA in English will qualify you to teach in your state’s public school system. Some (most?) states require an undergraduate degree in education, whether you are teaching first grade or twelfth. You have to study educational methods, do student teaching, and take stuff like child development. Unless you live in a state that allows alternate routes to teaching, you’ll probably have to have at least one degree that qualifies you specifically for education. (Caveat: I’m not in public school education, but I have several friends who are and who have talked about the requirements.)</p>
<p>Actually in most states you don’t need an undergraduate degree, a Masters with teaching certification is just as valid. The catch is, for most of those programs you need to have completed the required coursework for the major teaching subject (in this case English) and a minor in another teaching subject while you were working on your BA, which would mean spending more time in undergraduate courses if you haven’t already taken enough English.</p>
<p>The only reason I mention this route, is because it might be a cheaper option to stay at your current school to complete those courses, then switch to a MAC with funding once you have the required English courses under your belt.</p>
<p>as i’m doing my research into this: there are several ways to become a certified teacher (depending by state). One can have a BA in Soc, become Certified, and teach English…given that they met the unit requirement in Undergrad. Another option is to get a MA in English…and then an MA in Education. Basically, there are several options. I have taken English classes in undergrad and really enjoyed them, but due to time I didn’t go further. But how would an MA in English NOT qualify someone to teach it in HS, maybe I am unsure of your question (no disrespect at all!)?
Also, does anyone know if you can go back to a local college to complete the English units required, since I am a Post Grad?
Thanks, sorry for all this confusion!</p>
<p>I wanted to know if a BA in sociology and an MA in English would qualify you to teach without other credentials, such as the MA in Education that you list above. You can teach at the community college level with an MA, of course, but public school systems have a different set of requirements. Again, I don’t know since that’s not my field. I just know that my friends had to have education majors and had to complete their student teaching assignments before they could be hired as new teachers. Maybe things have changed.</p>
<p>State laws vary, but mastery of a subject is not the same as mastery of teaching children, even at the HS level. Look at the “curriculum and instruction” courses required to get a BA/BS in education. These are in addition to any subject courses for middle/high school teaching. College level teaching involves (hopefully) effectively presenting material to students. That is different than the emphasis on getting the students to learn basic material. The “language arts”/English teacher in HS is responsible for far more skills than the college lecturer. The skill sets are supposed to be acquired before college, they are part of the through HS level education.</p>
<p>Sometimes we have all wished a particular college professor had been required to take some education courses instead of just being an expert in the field.</p>
<p>Addenda- btw, different majors have different levels of competition- math is brutal.</p>
<p>I was a high school teacher, so I feel I should weigh in. Note though that laws differ by state, so YMMV, and all that.</p>
<p>In my state, you need 30 undergrad or grad credits in a subject area to get certified. I had over 30 in both bio and chem. You also have to take both the PRAXIS I & PRAXIS II. (I is a general test with reading comp and simple math–you should be able to pass it cold. II is subject specific, offered in many areas. I took both bio and chem.)</p>
<p>You also need certain education courses in education. These can be done with an undergrad major in education, or taking the courses post-bac, or by going through a masters program. These masters (usually MEd or MAT) are designed for people with no education background. </p>
<p>Note that sometimes, you can skip the education courses entirely and do a sort of apprenticeship program; some state will also allow provisional cert. so you can teach while you get your masters. However, these exceptions usually only apply to subjects that there’s a shortage of (like chemistry), and particularly in underserved areas (mostly urban, some rural). </p>
<p>My advice would be to get a masters. Why? Undergrad, you’re on your own dime. In masters programs you can often get funding. Where I did my undergrad, the education department had money for grad assistantships, but actually had <em>trouble</em> finding GAs because most MEd students were part time, and GAs have to be full time. Also note that once you’re in the public school system, if you have a masters you get paid more.</p>
<p>OP said she was in NY–she should also look into special programs at Bard College and Montclair State (NJ), which fund masters (but again, it may be limited to certain subject areas).</p>
<p>OP–If you want to become a HS English teacher, you don’t go to grad school for your MA in English. You go to grad school to earn your MST in Adolescence Education. You will also have to complete a set of courses in your field of concentration (English).</p>
<p>I think I am going to have to get my Master’s in English because it was not my undergrad major. I need a couple more units to fulfill the requirements to be certified in the subject area. Its a plus that I have the time, money, and passion to really learn more about English before I teach it. I was thinking about doing a one year MA in English and then do my MA in Education (preferably while I teach if its funded)?</p>
<p>If I understand your question right, the answer is no. If you enter an assistantship-funded masters’ program, you’re generally prohibited from having any other jobs during that time. The assistantship will have you working 20 hours a week, and the rest of your time will be spent studying.</p>
<p>So you can’t get a funded MA while you’re teaching in a school.</p>
) </p>