<p>I've been out of undergrad for awhile and recently decided that I want to attend graduate school in Archaeology. I won't bore you with the hows and whys of my decision, but suffice to say that I have no illusions about what I need to do to become a competitive applicant at the top programs. My most immediate concern is this: my undergrad degree is not only in a completely different subject, but my grades are less than stellar. Furthermore, since I graduated awhile ago, I have NO hope of academic recs and therefore no hope of admission at even the weakest terminal masters programs. From this I've concluded that I have two options, (1) to return to college as an undergraduate and complete a separate degree or degrees (anthropology/classics), or, (2) enroll in a non-traditional graduate program like Harvard Extension or Brown's MALS or something along those lines which will allow me to specialize in Anthropology/Archaeology.</p>
<p>On the one hand, I don't really feel like going back to being an undergrad but I'm not sure if a graduate program will have the flexibility or breadth to meet my needs (language classes, course offerings, opportunity for summer field schools, etc). So my question is, what type of program do you think will offer me the best chance of reaching my goal? Your responses are appreciated.</p>
<p>Back in the last century, I spent a year and a half at my home-state public U doing undergrad (classified as a “Senior Transfer”) and then grad (classified as “non-degree”) before applying to grad school in a new field. While studying there, I knew several students who opted to pursue a full second bachelor’s degree before going to grad school either at that U or elsewhere, and others who opted for a semester or so as non-degree grad students to beef up their transcripts before applying elsewhere.</p>
<p>When I planned my own program, I looked at the pre-reqs. for the graduate courses I wanted to take, and worked my way backwards to the undergrad courses I needed to start with. Since I was at a public U, there were plenty of non-traditional age students around, and I wasn’t always the oldest person in my classes. I’m inclined to agree, that an MA won’t give you enough flexibility to get all of the courses you might need. If you are dedicated and focused this time around, it won’t be hard at all to get the letters of recommendation from your professors when you are ready to apply to grad school, and if your experience is like mine, you may not have to complete a full second BA.</p>