I will try to be as brief with this as possible, but it’s a complex situation. My apologies and gratitude in advance:
Without disclosing too much identifying information, I earned an undergraduate degree in a humanities field, chose a different program entirely for my first foray into graduate school, changed my mind and decided to go for a second bachelor’s degree in another completely unrelated field, and am now in the midst of being considered for another graduate program that is, once again, unrelated. For the sake of simplicity, let’s pretend I have an Honors BA in History, started (and flaked out on) an MBA program, went for a second undergrad stint in Computer Science, and have now applied to a graduate program in Communications, all at the same school (and that last part is important for context). It looks sloppy and directionless; I get it. In my own defense, this is what I wanted to do from the beginning, but my parents talked me out of it. I’m now 40 and regretting that decision every day, to the extent that I actually lose sleep over it at night.
Here’s my issue: I received an email yesterday informing me that the graduate school only forwarded my application to the Communications folks; they did not send my transcripts (I’ve already had to manually resubmit my GRE scores through ETS, as the graduate school neglected to send those, as well). She was unable to access my transcripts through the university herself, though, which she found odd; I have only attended one school: hers. She asked if I had any documentation on hand reflecting my UNDERGRADUATE work – she stressed that – that also listed my degree and major. I have a copy of my official undergraduate transcript here, so I sent her that. The moment I hit ‘send’ on the email, it occurred to me that if she was unable to see my transcript through the university, she cannot see that I essentially flaked out on an MBA program. I also began wondering if this was all a ruse to see if I would address my errant start as an MBA student, and neglecting to do so means I’m dead in the water.
LET ME STRESS that I have not omitted anything from my application. When I applied, I applied with the assumption that since all of my work has been done at this very university, she would see EVERYTHING – the good, the bad, and the ugly. My goal statement was written to focus on my accomplishments in my undergraduate career and in the workplace. I gave up on the MBA program because it wasn’t what I wanted to begin with, and because formally withdrawing would have made my loans immediately due; I attended half the semester before withdrawing from one course, and withdrawing from the other two would have put me in default. I now have a W and two Fs in a completely unrelated program, but once again, I assumed she would see this.
Perhaps too late for it to make a difference, I have written a letter addressing this semester in the MBA program. Unfortunately, the committee has already met to vote on admissions. Should I let sleeping dogs lie and wait for her to ask me about this to address it? Should I assume that she’s already seen it and just wants to pretend it isn’t there (hence her stress on me sending my UNDERGRADUATE transcript)? I’m really confused about what to do at this point. If I don’t get in, I won’t be any worse off than I am now, but it will definitely suck.
Any advice you have to give will be greatly appreciated.