I want to get an MS in Sport Management or Administration after graduating from Florida State this summer, but it’s very difficult for me to tell which kinds of schools are within reach for me, or which ones I should be realistically looking at. I just don’t know what they do or don’t accept.
My GPA is on the low side, but it comes with a VERY positive grade trend. It should finish at around 3.15 or 3.2. I would say that it has been over 3.5 every semester since the start of Junior year, and maybe 3.8 senior year. I’ve yet to take the GRE, but I’m a good test taker. (SAT was 2000).
I’ll have an International Affairs degree with a minor in Psychology. I’ll also have good job experience and will be spending the summer in London with FSU’s “Global Sport Management” international program. I’ll be taking at least one graduate course there. I think that shows good interest and commitment to grad programs.
So guys, what do you think my grad school prospects are? Can I overcome that GPA with grade trends and relevant/interesting experience? Thanks.
Do you have anyone in your field who is a professor, preferably one who participates in a graduate program, that you could ask? These tend to be very field-specific questions, and the best people to advise you are people within your field who know what the competitive candidates look like. An important question in a field like sports management is whether students are expected to have post-college work experience. (I browsed a couple of pages and none of them seemed to require it, including Georgetown, NYU, and Columbia. But it’s worth asking about.)
Sometimes an upward grade trend can compensate for low cumulative GPA, especially if your major GPA is high. Often really interesting experience can balance out a mediocre GPA. Your GPA is not bad - not excellent, but not bad. Most master’s programs have a threshold around 3.0, so honestly I think you’re absolutely fine, especially if your last 60 credits are 3.5+ and your major GPA is 3.5+ (although in this case IA isn’t really related to sports management, but…still).
Your list should also be partially guided by your desired career/career goals and how prestige-focused your field was. For example, if you were applying for - say - MBA or JD programs, even with low stats I would say have a top-heavy list because those are careers in which it is difficult to get a job that can repay those loans without a top school degree. It may not even be worth it to attend an MBA or JD program that’s less well-reputed because of the inability to secure the kinds of jobs people who get those degrees want, so I would say top-heavy list and otherwise don’t bother - might be better to just skip the degree altogether and choose another career if you can’t get into a top program.
In other fields - like social work - where you get the degree from doesn’t really matter, and minimizing your costs is arguably more important than going to the best department. Not knowing your field, I can’t comment on that, but if you can lurk through something like LinkedIn to see sports managers - where did they get their degrees from? Do certain schools come up over and over and over again?