Hi everyone,
So, I’m applying to MA programs in a humanities discipline at Columbia, Harvard, NYU, UChicago and SOAS London. The reason I’m going for a terminal MA at the moment is due to the fact that my cumulative GPA from undergrad isn’t competitive enough to get me into a PhD program (which is the ultimate goal). Everything else is great. I was the president of several student groups in college, was a writer in my college newspaper, and organized a major academic conference during my junior year (we are currently editing the book that came out of it). Since then, I have been living abroad and have been doing things pertinent to my future academic interests, mainly in the realm of research. I have recently presented a paper at an academic conference in the UK, alongside established academics. The paper will be published in an academic journal. And I speak four languages.
I also have a great statement of purpose with a well-developed, sophisticated and under-studied topic. I’ve been working on it with the help of friends who are currently in top PhD programs in my field and they’re all very interested in it.
The only issue, I think, with my grad school application is my grades from undergrad. I went to an urban school that is known for grade deflation and had particularly bad grades during the second semester of my sophomore year. I had a few bad grades before then as well. They were mainly in math and science classes that were general requirements and due to personal circumstances, I simply screwed up those courses. I’ve learned to forgive myself since then as I was only 19. And I made up for it with the fact that I had a stellar academic record during my last two years, obtaining mostly A’s and getting on the Dean’s List several times (I had 4.0s for a couple of those semesters). However, given that I hadn’t done all that well earlier on, my cumulative GPA is 3.35.
I am not too nervous about admission into the MA programs I’m going for as I understand them to be ‘cash cow’ programs. What I am nervous about is the fact that the professors who have agreed to write me letters of recommendation have requested to see my transcripts, alongside other material that will help them write these letters. Do I send them the transcripts and explain why my grades dropped so low during the first half of my time in undergrad? Or what else do I do? I am just slightly embarrassed because, to these professors, I was an excellent student who did very well in their classes and who has great academic prospects.
Your advice is appreciated.