<p>Hi everyone, I could really use your advice. I'm so overwhelmed. My undergrad is in sociology and politics (class of '04) at a small college in PA, and after college, I moved back to my hometown of Baltimore and took an administrative job in an unrelated industry to save money for grad school in London, however the program was discontinued! Sadly, my undergrad GPA fell below 3.0 due to illness in my last semester, and no one informed me that I could re-take the science couse I didn't pass! So I've been working a dead end job and saving for years. In the past year, I started taking evening post-BA paralegal courses at a community college and have over 100% in all my courses, and my professors have been encouraging me to go to law school. My heart's not in law practice (I prefer the legal research aspect), and I think I would be far happier pursuing an advanced degree and researching topics that I am more passionate about. </p>
<p>The other issue is that my interests have changed slightly over time, and I've become more interested in cultural studies and social issues than quantitative research (and I can't stand the thought of sitting through years of statistics), so my quantitative undergrad thesis may not be as relevant. How does one switch disciplines? I'm aware that I really need to do some soul-searching and narrow down what specific topics now interest me enough to spend years studying... and of course, find out what sociology/cultural studies graduate students do with their degrees if academia doesn't pan out. </p>
<p>I do have some geographical constraints - I need to stay in Baltimore/DC/Northern VA, but there do seem to be plenty of opportunities here. My grandparents and my rock band would kill me if I left! </p>
<p>It all seems like such an insurmountable obstacle. Is this all just a lost cause? Should I give up? </p>
<p>Thanks for making it through this post.</p>