<p>So I am in need of some honest advice. I graduated from my undergrad college back in December 2010 with a degree in psychology. Good grades, research experience, etc. My plans were to pursue a doctorate in social psychology until fairly recently. Since working as a manager in a retail store (I decided to take time off of school to pay down some bills) I have become more interested in a career in marketing research.</p>
<p>The problem is, I feel that I will need to go back to another college and take some classes, maybe even to the extent of graduating with a marketing degree. Here is why.</p>
<p>I was supposed to finish up an article with my psych prof this summer, and said prof was going to be my strongest recommendation. The problem is that I became very ill this summer. Had a viral infection which flared up some chronic disease symptoms that I have, and to make a long story short most of my days for the past few months were spent either very ill or at a doctor's office. I have not been able to finish the article, and recently explained this in an e-mail. My fear is that he will either not entirely believe me, or that it would affect the recommendation since I did not pull through for this last project. I'm not really sure what to expect.</p>
<p>Further, I really do not have any other good recommendations because I did all of my research with said prof, and only have 2 other profs that read my honors thesis but did not know me all that well. I think they would write letters, but they would not be strong.</p>
<p>So I am considering going to another school for marketing 1) to explore whether it is really what I want to do and 2) to build up stronger recommendations. Even if my psych prof is forgiving, I would prefer to have more than one solid recommendation. and perhaps some more research experience. I have some high expectations for what schools I would like to go to (though not Ivies). </p>
<p>Any honest advice would be greatly appreciated. At this point I do not feel that I could enter a good doctorate program without building up better recommendations or marketing-related experience. I know I could always get in contact with a marketing prof and offer some assistance perhaps without enrolling. But right now I am so disgusted with my job (I am an HR manager and forced - for the sake of keeping my desperately needed job - to do a lot of unethical things) that the prospect of being back in school is all that is keeping me going.</p>
Oh God. Please don’t tell us what that is. Because you kindly answered my other thread, I’ll gladly reply to yours. :)</p>
<p>Nova, what is your end goal? It’s hard to tell from your post. From what I gathered, you are dropping the idea of Psych, and you are planning to use your psych professor (and all other things psych) to apply to marketing school. Normally I would advise taking some marketing classes at a community college or even state school (you don’t always need letters of rec for those) to build up your CV in marketing, and then go for the big punch, i.e. advanced degree in Marketing. (If I have this all wrong and your going for Psych - read on)</p>
<p>However, because you dislike your job so much, I would just go for it with what you have now. That goes for Psych OR Marketing. As far a what your psych professor’s letter will look like, don’t worry about it. Just waive your rights to see the letter so you never have to see what they wrote, lol. That’s what I’m doing! Lol (Ignorance is bliss). Don’t drop the idea of psych just because you don’t think you have a good recommendation. Go for it.</p>
<p>Working in retail since graduating has shifted my interests from social psychology to marketing. From what I’ve heard, degrees in psychology are well-received in graduate admissions to marketing programs since a lot of marketing tactics rely on psychological principles. So my background will not hurt me, except perhaps that my research interests in undergrad (prejudice/stereotyping) are not similar to my interests in marketing research (consumer behavior). The similarity between the two is that I love statistics and research methods, it’s just that /what/ I want to research has shifted from social psychology to marketing psychology (not sure if that would be the technical term). </p>
<p>Ultimately I’d love to teach at a college/university, but I think I would enjoy marketing research in industry as well. </p>
<p>I do plan on going to a state school that is considerably less expensive to take some marketing and math courses and to get involved hopefully with some projects with marketing/business professors. I guess I was just looking for any other advice/options people may have. Even if my prof would still be willing to write me a letter, I don’t think I’d have the nerve to ask for one after not pulling through on that last project.</p>
<p>Also, would this look strange/bad to graduate admissions that I had a BA from a good private school, but then pursued another major at a cheap/easy state school? I may not follow through with actually fulfilling the major, just taking a year or so of courses to experiment with my interests further and get some more relevant recommendations.</p>
<p>A background researching prejudices and stereotypes seems perfect for marketing (seriously). Also, you should not need to complete an entire second undergrad degree to be competitive. Some classes at a local CC or uni should suffice and give you access to profs for LORs.Good Luck!</p>
<p>I am going to look into enrolling in a state school for this coming spring and taking some classes. I still need to take the GREs as well - money has been tight since my student loans came out of deferment (my parents are not paying for my education and my current job barely covers my bills). I have to make certain they will all defer again if I go back to school and also make sure I have a decent part-time job secured for my other bills. Would have been so much easier had I had the money to take the GREs and apply to grad programs last year before graduating from undergrad =(</p>
Because you kindly answered my other thread, I’ll gladly reply to yours. :)</p>