Thinking About Graduate School - University of Michigan

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi everyone,
Let me give you a little background information before I begin with the questions I have about graduate school:
Prior to this semester, I was focused on fine arts. I went to Oakland University (a regional school in Oakland County, MI) out of high school for two semesters before transferring to Parsons The New School for Design in NYC. I attended for two semesters, before, for mostly philosophical reasons, deciding I needed to do something "real" with my abilities rather than make precious objects. Not that I don't love art and the creative process - but I want to go into Linguistics.</p>

<p>After taking the Fall 08' semester off of school, I returned to Michigan and began again for the Winter 09' at Oakland University. I took two Linguistics classes, and have securely decided that this is what I want to do. </p>

<p>During this semester, I had met regularly with an academic advisor in the school of LS&A at the University of Michigan who really seemed to think I stood a good chance of getting in. Taking this semester into account, from OU I believe my GPA is around a 3.8, and my GPA from the two semesters at Parsons was a 3.0. My ACT score was 27, my high school grades were terrible (2.9) - although I was told those wouldn't be much of an issue. Well, long story short, I was rejected, and I was crushed. They told me not to bother applying again, basically, as my credits would not have been very transferrable to the school of LS&A (all those art school credits, I assume), and that my grades had been a sticking point. On the rejection letter though, it said to look there for graduate school - which I intend to do.</p>

<p>I am transferring to Eastern Michigan University, beginning in the spring next semester. Several members of the faculty told me that EMU's linguistics program, for it's being at a low-level university, is quite strong and cohesive. Further, I figure that if I want to make graduate school at U-M a goal, I should use the campus' close proximities to my advantage, by building relationships with faculty members at U-M. When it comes time to begin Undergraduate research/internships, I'll be able to work with professors at both campuses - although I'm not really sure how much cross-pollination goes on between the two. </p>

<p>More and more, I'm being drawn to Computational Linguistics, although I've yet to take any classes in it. I suppose that's up to debate, but I'd rather pursue a more technical area of Linguistics than a social or neurological one.</p>

<p>I know I will wind up majoring in Linguistics, with a for-sure minor in art (as I've fulfilled so much coursework already). The Computer Science aspect is something I need to begin coursework in, but I'm basically starting over in my academic path, and I'm not concerned about having to be in school for a long while. I'm not jumping into the CS blind, I do have some level of knowledge in it - although it's only ever been a casual hobby over the past several years. I'm not sure if I'm going to try and do a double major, or just minor with the CS - I'd go over that with an academic advisor. Also, potentially going to do a Chinese minor - if not done in school, I can continue work in it independantly with a tutor, I have two semesters of it thus far and would like to continue.</p>

<p>Sorry, I said I'd provide a "little" background information! =p</p>

<p>But my questions are these:
-As I will have switched schools three times during my undergraduate years, is this going to be a significant liability? How about the fact that I've basically done a 180 in terms of changing my academic path?
-Presuming I maintain a high GPA (3.5+) within the field I go to grad school for (and in general, too of course), I don't imagine my art school 3.0 will hurt me too much?<br>
-Eastern Michigan University is not a high-level university by any stretch of the imagination, but if I work exceptionally hard and really make my name known as best I can, will this be a significant liability?
-I'm interested in doing the Peace Corps in China after graduation. Good idea or not?</p>

<p>Please give me any comments and suggestions you see fit. If I can't get into U-M (or any other top University) for graduate school, I'd almost rather not go at all. What can I do, at this point and in the future, to maximise my chances?</p>

<p>Also, if you have any specific grad school recommendations for me, let me know!</p>

2

<p>No offense, but this post is all over the place. We didn’t need to hear your whole bio. I’m still confused as to what is your ultimate goal.</p>

<p>What is it that you want to study at the Master’s level at Univ of Michigan?</p>

3

<p>Oh, sorry, I thought I made it clear I wanted to go into Linguistics - that being what I would study at Masters level at U-M.</p>

<p>I’ll clean up the original post a bit.</p>

4

<p>Still too much info… </p>

<p>Bottom line: You switched a few schools for reasons. You were recommended to look at Michigan and applied there for transfer but got rejected. Of course, any school with graduate programs will tell you to look again for graduate school. That’s what we tell all the Ivy rejects- they can always go to Ivy for MBA/MD/Law. They’re not going to follow up on whether you actually did or not- I know that Stanford won’t if I apply there for PhD even though I was rejected for undergrad admissions.</p>

<p>Grad schools will figure it out from evaluating your transcripts where you actually stand. You just need to make a strong case in your statement why you want to do this field, why Michigan, and what are your goals in the program and thereafter.</p>

<p>Connections do matter but I personally still take it with a grain of salt because admissions are so competitive and subjective. So I don’t know how badly you want to go to EMU just for its proximity to the UM faculty…</p>

5

<p>Well you know, I really don’t know very much about how graduate admissions work. I thought building relations there would be a good way to get in.</p>

<p>I didn’t think that they would “follow up” with me on whether I went there for grad school, I didn’t know they said that on all rejection letters. </p>

<p>So in order to get into a decent university for grad school, which I’d like to be U-M, are you saying it might not be beneficial for me to go to EMU? I don’t want to finish at OU. Are people even commonly admitted to the Ling. Grad program out of those kinds of schools? </p>

<p>And sorry, I wasn’t able to delete the original post - I edited it once before anyone replied. I thought talking about my interests would help people make recommendations for what I should look into. Grad school is a long way off for me, I just wanted some ideas.</p>

6

<p>You don’t need to go enter EMU to get into U-M. Boost your grades/test scores, gain relevant work experience, and talk to current U-M graduate students in your field about what you need to do.</p>

7

<p>There are more things attracting me to EMU than its proximity to Ann Arbor, too. Their Linguistics program is supposedly stronger (I’m going on what faculty members at OU told me), and more diverse. At OU, the professors work in theoretical linguistics and not much outside of that. There isn’t much variety in subfields, where at EMU, I’m told, there’s a lot of different things going on.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if that’s true or not?</p>

<p>I’ve already made the arrangements to go to EMU. I was just concerned that 1. All this switching would look bad on grad school applications and 2. Coming from a kinda lower level school would hurt me. </p>

<p>Looked into MSU too, who told me I’d be fine to get in. But if I can enter from EMU, of course I wouldn’t bother with that. I’ve done enough switching for one undergrad eduacation.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Switching schools is not necessarily a problem, but graduate admissions will need great proof from your accomplishments that you really made the right decision in the end. Your linguistics coursework needs to reflect that. Your linguistics professors need to be wholehearted in recommending you to do graduate work. Your computational background should be at least existent, if not solid-- one does not go into graduate school having never programmed anything and declare that one wants to do computational (insert field). </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>A 3.0 is not a dealbreaker for grad schools as long as you are strong in other areas: research, research, GRE, and recommendations. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It doesn’t matter even if you go to Podunk University- if you really work exceptionally hard (that is, exceptional in the eyes of the faculty and your mentors), then you have a shot at a good graduate school. “Making your name known” is not that important- graduate schools admit dedicated students who show interest and potential in developing more specifically in their field. Besides, rockstardom is usually only truly prevalent at the faculty level -it’s a bit presumptuous to have a goal of becoming a “famous student” across campuses. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Aside from the general “hero” stereotype and that they do a lot of amazing work, I don’t know anything about the Peace Corps, honestly speaking. My take is that if you’re gonna do it, wait until you actually get admitted to a graduate school. Then defer your admission 1 year if possible. If you’re serious about getting your academic show on the road instead of making your resume even more colorful (which could be good or bad), then I say go to your Master’s program and think about Peace Corps later if you’re serious about grad school.</p>

9

<p>Thank you for all this advice!!</p>

10

<p>“Making your name known” is not that important- graduate schools admit dedicated students who show interest and potential in developing more specifically in their field. Besides, rockstardom is usually only truly prevalent at the faculty level -it’s a bit presumptuous to have a goal of becoming a “famous student” across campuses."</p>

<p>Just want to throw in, too, that I didn’t mean I wanted to be some ‘rock star’ like you’re implying. I meant I wanted make the connections at the campus that would make it kind of a “no brainer” to admit me, get stellar recommendations, etc.
Hopefully wanting to be a respected scholar isn’t considered too presumptuous.</p>

11

<p>you could have lunch with a UM prof on a weekly basis and that wouldn’t make you a “no brainer” for getting into their grad program.</p>

<p>you just need the grades, the letters of recommendation, the research, the GRE scores, and the personal statement that they’re looking for.</p>

12

<p>

With all due respect, that does sound presumptuous. My professors don’t even refer to themselves as scholars-- they only say the word “scholar” when they are referring to a giant or pioneer in their field. Used in a sentence: “He really is quite an amazing scientist, a true scholar!”</p>

13

<p>Hmm…well I guess I’m going to have to agree to disagree with people on that one. I don’t see how it’s presumptuous for me to do the very best I can and hope that I can one day do something really interesting and cool in my field, whatever that winds up being. Should I instead say “well, I hope to one day be working in a cubicle farm, slaving away at something that’s unremarkable and not really of any direct interest to me?”</p>

<p>Why shouldn’t I aim to be involved with pioneering work? Is there something wrong with having high ambitions? Not that I think I’m in any way garuanteed to have those ambitions realized, but it never hurts to work toward them.</p>

<p>And if I shouldn’t refer to myself as a “scholar”, then which word should I use? I also don’t think there is anything inherently pretentious in the word “scholar” - I think of it as someone who’s involved in academia, and nothing more. Maybe others have a different association with the word than I do, I’ve never heard it being only reserved for the ‘celebrity scientists’.</p>