<p>or am I just completely screwed? I recently graduated from a good public university roughly 5 months ago and decided to take time off and work to see what I wanted to do with my life and also save money. I have now decided that I would like to get into a graduate program for philosophy and end up teaching at a CC level. I am completely fine with studying only philosophy for years, my undergraduate philosophy grades are pretty much excellent, and I still read my books from my undergrad days just for fun. I'm also always thinking of philosophy. It is on my mind almost every hour of the day in some way. So the passion is there.</p>
<p>Here's the catch. During my undergraduate I was not completely sure I was going to go to grad school for philosophy, even despite loving the subject so much. So I basically didn't get to know any of my professors on a personal level (meaning I have ZERO letters of recommendation and meaning I don't even have anyone to go back to in order to ask for one). Basically I was just your typical undergrad who loved a subject and did very well in it, and mediocre in other non-related subjects, got his degree and took off. </p>
<p>Now here I am finally decided that grad school is for me, and I feel absolutely hopeless. Is there any way at all I could get into a graduate program at this point? If not, what steps should I take from this moment on in order to do fix my past mistakes? Is there even any way to fix them at all?</p>
<p>Any and all helpful advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>One, I really wouldn’t base a career plan around teaching philosophy at a community college. There just aren’t many faculty in that discipline at that level.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you’re entirely screwed, but you need to re-establish connections with your former professors and get them to write letters. Honestly, even above GPA and GRE scores, LoRs make or break an application, in my opinion. Without any relevant LoRs, you will have a very tough time getting accepted. If you loved the subject and got standout grades, your professor should at least be able to vouch for your intellectual ability within the discipline.</p>
<p>I understand. Thanks for the comment. I forgot to mention I did save almost all of my philosophy papers, including the ones I did excellent on which have all the professor’s remarks on them, the grade, and what not.</p>
<p>So do you think it’s okay to choose two or three philosophy professors that were my favorite, or the ones that I wrote excellent papers for, and explain my entire situation to them through email and give them the opportunity to write a letter of recommendation for me? I now live about 1000 miles away from the university I attended so meeting them in person is not an option. </p>
<p>Also, there are many graduate students who are in their 30s or decided to go to grad school long after they got their undergraduate degrees. How do THEY do it?</p>
<p>Many people ask professors to write LoRs in advance and bank them. The hard work for the prof is in writing it once - after that, it’s just a matter of printing it whatever number of times.</p>
<p>It’s definitely OK to ask for letters of recommendation via e-mail or phone. Include the specific classes you took with them, to help jog their memory.</p>