<p>Academic background: 2.7 in political economy with a focus on IR from a top 50 USNWR university. I have not taken the GRE but previous standardized test scores have been very high (2150 SAT, 32 ACT, multiple 5s on APs including BC Calc, 99th percentile ASVAB).</p>
<p>Professional background: Military officer in aviation about a year and a half in. w/ Stationed in NE Florida.</p>
<p>Career goal: Looking to get into foreign affairs in my branch, or separate and pursue something State Dept. related.</p>
<p>Given this, and quite a bit of free time between now and May, I'm hoping to make some progress in ameliorating my (horrifying) undergrad record. From what I can tell, I have 3 categories of options:</p>
<p>1) Distance grad/post-bac certificate like GIS or Geospatial Intel from Penn State online Penn</a> State | Online Degrees, Online Courses, and Online Certificates offered by Penn State
2) Non-degree grad-level coursework from a local university (U FL, UNF) or via distance-learning (Penn State or somewhere else somewhat reputable)
3) Auditing undergrad classes locally or online</p>
<p>What I'm crossing my fingers for is that remediating my undergrad record and what will hopefully be a history of sustained superior performance in my job will let me aim high(er) for an MPA or masters in something poli sci/econ/IR related later in my career.</p>
<p>Any and all suggestions for what I can be doing with this free time (about 5 months worth) are welcome. Be honest/blunt, I can take it.</p>
<p>The utility of any of these options depends largely on how much longer your commitment is to the military. Here’s what I would think about the options you presented:</p>
<p>1 - These might be interesting certificates, and might help you leverage yourself into a career as an analyst later on in life, but probably will not be that useful for getting into graduate school.</p>
<p>2 - Graduate level courses will be a good indication of how you have matured, and would be nice to see on your application, but if you are many years away from applying, they might not count as much, and you really need 1 or 2 semesters of a full load to demonstrate your capability. Furthermore, I suspect that scheduling is going to be a big issue. There’s no point in going down this road unless you are sure that you can finish the courses, and finish them with high grades. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of money. Also, you are probably too late to sign up for graduate courses this semester. If you are serious about this option, then get down to the university ASAP. Lastly, you should check and see if you can transfer any courses you take to the degree granting institution you want to attend, AND when your credits will start to expire. Take classes so that you can transfer the credits if at all possible.</p>
<p>3 - Not likely to be useful at all for applications. Audited courses are generally not counted for (or against) applicants.</p>
<p>EDIT: As for online courses, the general consensus is that they are better than nothing, but not as good as traditional courses. </p>
<p>If you can get into graduate level courses, then that’s the best bet for now… But you might have more time when you are further along in your military career to take classes. My advice would be to just relax right now, read about subjects that you are interested in, and start worrying about it as you get closer to your discharge date.</p>
<p>How about taking an online class for a grade in mathematical statistics (C in undergrad), multivariable calc (C in undergrad) or linear algebra? I’ve heard that NPS, at least, gives points for admission based entirely on grades, regardless of their source.</p>
<p>Don’t really think it’ll make a difference. That Naval Postgraduate School policy is definitely an outlier - graduate schools in general don’t admit based on “points” systems at all, but holistically.</p>