<p>I had a very unsatisfactory undergraduate career performance. I struggled with substance abuse and pretty severe depression through and ended up with a 2.2. I worked my tail off to get it to that from a 1.3. That final year of school I got a job working as a student for the school help desk. That was for a solid year until graduation the next May. Ended up with a BA English, thinking that I might be able to get a desk job. After graduation with that degree, I was unable to find any sort of work except for slinging pizzas at Papa Johns, so I returned to school. I started out at a local private school with a special discount for adult students, but didn't do so awesome there. I had an experience outside my control happen that year and the PTSD from that (as well as substance abuse) led to me "checking out," so to speak. I left that school, moved home to my parents', and I transferred to a local community college and earned a degree in Web Technologies, earning Honor/Dean/President lists almost every semester I was there. Mostly 3.5-4.0 semesters. I took full-loads (20+ hours), too, focusing in the programming aspect of web design. This was where I got my first taste of information security (required class).</p>
<p>After that degree, I tried to take some classes at my original school, thinking that I would get my GPA up some.
The primary reason for returning to this university was to take a full-time student job with the IT department at my university. Getting past the tuition, I was still getting more pay, hours and experience there than I was at my job at Papa Johns. I also gained some pretty awesome experience helping with campus computer migrations working for the department overseeing that process. Consider that job Project Management 101.</p>
<p>First semester back, I bit off more than I could chew, taking calculus during a 5-week summer session. While I was earning a steady B average all semester in homework, I completely failed the final (I choked. Test anxiety, mind completely empty), so I turned in a very empty test and dropped that class immediately after that, getting a WF. This was very depressing for me, but I reasoned that WF would look less horrible than an F. The next year and a half I took an assortment of classes, including the first course in computer science (Java), and Information Systems classes (including information security). Any ISOM class I've taken I've earned an A. There are a couple of accounting and economics classes in there with C/B averages. The last semester there I earned a B in my international business class.
Also during this time, I was working full-time for both the Command Center. Eventually, I transferred to the help desk after the project ended, eventually taking on a 2nd student gig at the university the final semester. That job involved helping the web design group with migrating departmental websites to the new look and feel, while maintaining the integrity of their original designs. </p>
<p>Left school/student jobs, took a jr. developer job that turned out to be a sham (he stopped paying his employees, other shady things). Unemployed for 2 months. Job at a famous cable company doing tech support, until finally offered a full-time position with the help desk I'd worked at as a student. Been there ever since. </p>
<p>Through my job, I get some free classes. Last summer, I made another attempt to take calculus, online through a harder engineering school in state, while sitting tests with a proctor at my school. That class ended in failure, too. Did fine on homework, studied my butt off, but couldn't get past my test anxiety on tests. I'm really disappointed about that and unsure if I should try to take one last time, through there or through my local university, but something needs to change with my test anxiety before even considering that waste of time/money again.</p>
<p>Last semester, I took two graduate level courses at my local university in information technology. I currently have a graduate GPA of a 4.0. </p>
<hr>
<p>So for the TL;DR crowd, I have a decent amount of work experience in IT, including experience in support, web applications, and migrations. For the most part, my undergraduate experience was somehow achieved, but barely. I was extremely immature to go to school when I did, all emotionally, psychologically. I drowned and didn't ask for help. It shows.</p>
<p>Community college degree with 3.3 overall, 3.8 in major. I had gone to that CC before transferring to university 1 long ago, naturally not doing great as a kid. The last 2 years there were pretty solid though, including B's in math and programming courses. </p>
<p>While my school experience hasn't been perfect since that degree, I feel that I've done pretty well maintaining some level of achievement despite working full-time as well. In the last 3-4 years, I've done a LOT of growing up and really just want to make things better enough to maybe stand a chance of pursuing information security as a career. I'm a teetotaler now and have a strong track-record in my workplace. I've expressed interest (several times over the last 4 years) in this field to a peer in the security group at my university, but I feel that I need some sort of formal education. My head is in a much better place. I figure a higher education experience might provide more delights than simply getting certifications, as college provides the opportunities for research and maybe even internships, to translate into the much coveted experience needed to get security jobs these days. I have shown a strong track-record that I can succeed in Information Systems, as well as at the graduate level. </p>
<p>Assuming I can get a slam-dunk on the GRE, do you all think I stand a chance at getting into a reputable program anywhere, or is this just a pipe dream at this point? Any pointers, tips, things I should try to make myself look more pleasing on paper? I consider myself very intelligent, I've just kind of failed at life for a while, which unfortunately affected my academic career, too. </p>