My GPA is 2.0. Yeah, I barely graduated undergrad from UCSD in Biology. The grades of the last few quarters were definitely higher but no one is going to care. Long story short, I had severe untreated depression for over half of my undergrad due to family issues and social anxiety. Came pretty close to offing myself; of course, parents didn’t understand or care because “You’re just lazy/stupid/dull-witted/etc.” Gotta love Asian mentalities…mental illnesses are just a Western construct right? No way your kid could be depressed because they have a loving family and they’re in a great college! It’s all the kid’s fault.
PLEASE SKIP THIS NEXT BIT IF YOU DON’T WANT DETAILS:
I crawled out of it because an academic counselor realized something was off with me during a meeting to discuss my failing grades. I told her I would study all day, don’t bother with eating (I felt no hunger during the depths of depression), and slept erratically. I just figured it was a good thing I didn’t need to eat or sleep much because it freed up time for studying. But no matter how much I studied, nothing ever seem to stick or come through. Testing and classes made me feel horrible because I hated the feelings of judgement I felt (anxiety) whenever people spoke to me. I figured everyone disliked me right off the bat because I didn’t know how to talk to people (spent HS and pre-HS just studying and alone). I was lonely but I figured people weren’t needed.
The academic counselor convinced me to go to the mental health counseling and walked me to their emergency services on the spot; if I hadn’t walked with her, she was about to call 911 for suicide potential. I’m pretty glad she saw what was wrong when I didn’t because I am certain I would have jumped off those lovely cliffs near UCSD if I’d carried on the way I did.
Getting proper treatment and all, I dragged my GPA from 1.something to a 2.0 and managed to graduate. I was hoping to find work and try to save up money for grad school but I ended up struggling to find work. Even menial stuff demands experience nowadays. I lucked out with help here and there for service jobs and supported myself with commission work.
THE RELEVANT STUFF I’M CURRENTLY WORRIED ABOUT:
This past fall, I applied to various CSU grad programs in various biology-related fields along with Chapman Uni’s Food Science program. Got rejected from all.
I’m approaching 2 years out of undergrad and getting desperate. I read around that recommendations can really help for graduate school. I have absolutely ZERO recommendations. Remember the aforementioned anxiety? The feelings that people would hate me immediately as soon as they met me? That applied to everyone, including my professors. I had purposefully tried to make myself unnoticeable in class. Now I’m paying the price for not seeing a professional about my mental illnesses earlier.
So the whole point of this rambling story: How do I get into a graduate program with a 2.0 GPA, no recs, and not a ton of experience in anything relevant? What do I have to do to make myself eligible? (THOUGH, getting a second Bachelors and not messing that one up is the ultimate final plan if everything else fails.) I am open to nearly any discipline that will take me since I don’t have the luxury of choosing anymore. I do prefer to stay in California though because I don’t think I can afford a move out of state AND tuition.
I do know some things: try to get work in relevant fields, get recs through there, don’t write silly sob story personal essays. While I wish there was a way for me to convey how dark some of my undergrad days were, I know no admission committee is going to give a crap. They probably get drivel like that all the time. My bad GPA is still my fault even if it wasn’t from academic laziness; I should have gotten treatment earlier.
EDITED TO ADD: My GRE score was actually pretty good. I just don’t qualify in other arenas, sadly.