When I was in high school, I was a great student. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA and an amazing ACT and SAT score. However, my family couldn’t afford to send me to highly ranked schools, so I was forced to attend Kent State University since it was close. I commute there to save my parents money on room and board. We have a scholarship that pays for 90+% of my tuition because my father was severely injured in the military.
I didn’t do well my freshman year and the first half of sophomore year due to the fact that I didn’t like the college I’m currently attending. Everyone in my area views Kent State as “mediocre state,” “construction state,” and “the college that people go to who can’t get into Ohio University or Ohio State.” Currently, I have a 2.5 GPA overall. I’ve switched my major roughly three times. I first went through premed and then to air traffic control because that’s what my parents wanted me to do. I wasn’t into that, though. I’ve finally convinced them to let me do what I want to do: TESL with a minor in Japanese. I’m actually doing very well in those classes, and my heart is finally into it now.
I eventually want to attend a graduate program (most likely in linguistics or translation) at an Ivy League school. However, I’m worried that my past grades will come back to haunt me. I got roughly four Ds throughout my three semesters that I’ve already completed. No Fs, though. But now that I’m taking classes that I like and have finally gotten the motivation to kick my ass into high gear and start performing at the level I used to, I feel like I can accomplish getting mostly As for the rest of my college career. I plan on retaking the classes that I got Ds in as well.
So, hypothetically speaking, if I got mostly As until I graduated, as well as retake the classes I got Ds in and get As in those, will I have a chance of getting accepted by the Ivy League, or has the damage that I’ve done to myself irreparable?
I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to edit. I just wanted to point out that the scholarship that pays for roughly 90+% of my tuition only does so for colleges within the state of Ohio. I forgot to clarify that in the original post.
Ivy league ≠ top schools in all graduate programs. Your citing them makes you look more prestige hungry than actually serious about a top Linguistics program. A quick google search generated some lists. Not a single Ivy was in any of the top ten or twenty.
You know that your current performance will be a serious hindrance to competitive grad programs. How much will it affect you? Speak to faculty in the linguistics dept. See how they would advise you to pursue the best possible program despite your earlier disappointments. They can give you better insight – remember, they work with and admit grad students in their program.
Upward trend plus strong GRE scores can help to offset poor performance early in college but will not erase it altogether. Taking a year to hit one’s stride in college is fairly common.
I think the problem is that a grad school would think “If you were awesome, you could shine in a place like Kent State.” …but you are only getting a 2.5 GPA? That doesn’t seem to show a strong academic. How would they know you would work hard in grad school?
At this point I would start talking to a professor in your major that you did well with. Ask them if
grad school necessary for Translation? if so, what would you need to do with your GPA to be competitive?
if you need to get a Masters in teaching, I would think that you could do that instate where you want to teach.
If you retake classes you got a D in…both grades are in your GPA…they don’t get replaced. Are those D’s in classes that were in former majors?
Reply #1: Well, among the Ivies Penn is easily top-tier for linguistics (especially sociolinguistics, but they’re more than solid in several other subfields), and Harvard is pretty well-respected for Indo-European linguistics. But yeah, your larger point that undergrad reputation doesn’t necessarily line up with grad-school reputation is correct. (Also, somewhat topically for this thread, Ohio State has one of the best linguistics programs around.)
To the OP, I’m curious why you think that poor performance at a school can be excused by claiming that the school is of poor quality. That seems utterly backward. Also, just disliking a college isn’t grounds for poor grades. And if the people around you don’t appreciate Kent State, so what? It’s the option you have, and so your job is to make it work. I know people who have gone there, and it’s a decent enough school, from what I understand.
That all said, yes, if you get As from this point, you should be fine. I’ve posted before that I flunked out of college after my freshman year and now hold a PhD from a top-tier program in my field. Of course, I also had a 4.0 in both my major courses and last 60 credits.
Also, as others have posted, you need to look into what’s expected for linguistics and translation (which are related, but quite different, fields). It looks to some extent like you’re just desperately casting about for something. What is it that draws you to those fields? TESL is decent preparation for both, but it isn’t the same thing.
I wasn’t trying to blame my poor performance on the school. I was trying to say that because I didn’t like the school that I was attending, I didn’t apply myself. Unfortunately, and I know this is a horrible way to look at it, I thought I was better than Kent State because I know I could have gotten into a better school. I actually got As on the main tests, but I didn’t attend class and missed many pop quizzes which caused me to get Ds in the classes. I know that if I applied myself that I would have been able to get As in the classes, but the past is the past.
I’ve finally come to realize that I need to get my ass in gear and stop moping around like a child. I just got to deal with the cards that I’ve been given, and play them the best that I can. I plan on trying to get As for the rest of my time in school and then retake the classes I got Ds in to show an upward trend.
My main goal was to go to Japan and teach English. I really like the language of Japanese, and I’ve gotten As in the first year of of studying it. Some people have said that Kent State’s graduate program in translation is excellent, so I was maybe looking at that. As I’ve been doing more research on graduate programs, I’ve started to notice that Ivy Leagues actually aren’t top of the pile in certain fields.
This all sounds well and good, except for one thing…
You said the same thing a year ago last winter.
Somehow that 4.0 start didn’t hold a year ago.
I don’t say this as “gotcha”. The start of a new year is notorious for people signing up at gyms and starting diets, yet a month or two later few of them are still following the program they started with complete sincerity and dedication. I want this time and this year to be different for you.
People are pretty rational about long-term goals. They know they should exercise, eat sensibly, study. As books such as “Predictably Irrational” point out we can be quite rational about goals in the futureand yet when making those decisions we ignore the distractions and pulls we will face when the time finally comes to act. You are still going to look down on the other kids at Kent & regret you were forced to attend this school. In fact musings of “Ivy” (usually posed as “if I do really well at my CC can I transfer to an IVY?”) are almost diagnostic of fantasy masking reality, if past experience on these forums is any guide.
I wish I could give a few pearls of advice and have it all be different for you, but I can’t. I’m no psychologist. However there are people at Kent that are qualified to give advice and help you make the changes you want. See http://chdc.educ.kent.edu/ The services are free and confidential. If you really want to make this year different, to reach your goals of a top grad school, then you ought to talk with them.
Students from third and fourth tier colleges get in to top ranked grad and professional schools. They take advantage of the limited opportunities the undergrad school provides and they excel. You have failed to do this and have wallowed in the “poor me, I am stuck at this mediocre school”. YOU need to shape up before it is too late.