curiousfriend

I'm a political science major, 3.0 GPA, going into my 5th year. I chose to stay an extra year because I had no direction and could not decide anything I wanted to do for most of my time in undergrad. After a visit to the career center halfway through Fall 2011, I found out that I wanted to pursue education for a career and continue onto grad school.

My problem is that since I didn't really know what I wanted to do, I don't have much relevant experience. I did an unpaid internship during the Spring semester and have a TA internship for the upcoming fall. I have minimal research experience in education that I did last spring as well (I analyzed a survey from the education dept and wrote a proposal based off that - but i did not conduct the research).

I haven't taken the GRE but plan to soon. I want to apply to places like NYU, Columbia, UCLA, Standford, etc. They're all out of state but I'm hoping to get funding or scholarships since I'm coming out of undergrad with a lot of debt. Will this lack of experience hurt me in anyway? Is my GPA high enough? Are there any places I could still get in?

polarscribe

If you want to work in education, why are you only interested in applying to expensive private or out-of-state universities? You're not going to get a higher salary as a teacher because your degree says NYU rather than Local In-State U. Doesn't work that way.

You should apply to your local university for a credentialing program in your field of interest. Political science could lead to a credential in social science/civics, depending on the state you're in. The cost would be within reason and there are loan cancellation/forgiveness programs for teachers who are willing to work in low-income or underserved areas.

If you're talking about wanting to go into education policy... you are not likely to be a competitive candidate for such programs without actual experience working in the field as a teacher, classified staff or administrator.

curiousfriend

I am thinking more of doing Education Administration and Counseling, particularly at the high school/college level. My internship and TA experience is with the career center at my school, so I hope that helps some? Do you have any insight on this field and if my experience is enough?

I don't plan on pursuing PSci in anyway and don't really have any relationships with my professors in the dept, so all my letters will be from people I work with (supervisors at career center and grad students I work with). Is this a bad thing?

The schools I looked at seem to have a variety of education programs and are well ranked. I will definitely consider in state schools, but I don't want to work in my home state and would like to move away from here and get a new start in general.

polarscribe

"Well-ranked" is irrelevant nonsense.

You need to consider that the field you're looking at is not one that you're going to get rich working in. How are you going to afford expensive private or OOS universities? M.Ed programs are almost never funded.

Moreover, you need to look at the admissions requirements for such programs. A quick look at Columbia's Web site shows a clear preference for applicants with a bachelor's degree in psychology or counseling, and they flatly won't admit any student without at least "some" psychology coursework. Do you have the undergraduate background to prepare you for this field?

You are in a situation where you really shouldn't be looking to jump into graduate school. Take some time to pursue entry-level jobs/internships in the field, then leverage that experience to build a stronger application package in the future.