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I'm taking my GRE tomorrow, crossing my fingers my studying has paid off and I get a very good score. I'm trying to get into a Geography Master's program for this upcoming spring semester. I basically slacked off through college, just majored in something I thought was easy but isn't very marketable, finally decided I wanted to do Geography at the end but it was too late to transfer. So I got a GIS certificate and an internship, and got a somewhat geography related job after I graduated.
I ended up really hating the job as it wasn't very GIS related and eventually got laid off, and tried unsuccessfully to get a real GIS job but haven't been able to due to my lack of experience. Fast forward to now and I am really wanting to pursue my passion in geography and gain some more credentials. I'm just worried obviously because my GPA was somewhat less than 3.0. I was thinking of just applying to a couple of schools that are in-state, but now that I have a list of all the Geography Master's programs I'm thinking I would rather go out of state.
Anyway I guess my main question is should I apply to as many programs as possible? I know it'd be a pain but I want to have the best chance of being able to get in somewhere. Also, does distance make a difference at all? I'm wondering if me applying to a school out of state would reduce my chances. There are so many programs that it is kind of mind-boggling, I just want to give myself the best chance. Thanks for any suggestions.
I'm taking my GRE tomorrow, crossing my fingers my studying has paid off and I get a very good score. I'm trying to get into a Geography Master's program for this upcoming spring semester. I basically slacked off through college, just majored in something I thought was easy but isn't very marketable, finally decided I wanted to do Geography at the end but it was too late to transfer. So I got a GIS certificate and an internship, and got a somewhat geography related job after I graduated.
I ended up really hating the job as it wasn't very GIS related and eventually got laid off, and tried unsuccessfully to get a real GIS job but haven't been able to due to my lack of experience. Fast forward to now and I am really wanting to pursue my passion in geography and gain some more credentials. I'm just worried obviously because my GPA was somewhat less than 3.0. I was thinking of just applying to a couple of schools that are in-state, but now that I have a list of all the Geography Master's programs I'm thinking I would rather go out of state.
Anyway I guess my main question is should I apply to as many programs as possible? I know it'd be a pain but I want to have the best chance of being able to get in somewhere. Also, does distance make a difference at all? I'm wondering if me applying to a school out of state would reduce my chances. There are so many programs that it is kind of mind-boggling, I just want to give myself the best chance. Thanks for any suggestions.
What is your GPA? Barely under 3?
I would stretch your range yes, but definitely apply to every program that you want to go to, regardless of reputation or ranking (if such a thing even exists for Geography programs).
Honestly, Masters programs are cash cows for the Department and they will accept mostly any student who shows they are serious about wanting to complete the program. I would not be surprised if you got accepted to every program you applied to.
If the program requires a 3.0 and you are close to a 3.0, they will probably accept you on a provisional basis if nothing else. Assuming all programs require a 3.0, how far away from that are you?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's been a while but when I went to graduate school they used a combination of GRE and GPA, so with a lower GPA you could still qualify if you aced the GRE. Some schools will have stiffer requirements than others, a state school with many others in the state would most likely have the lowest requirements.
GPA was like 2.7ish. Took the GRE today and got 152 on the Quantitative and 162 on Verbal. Think I did pretty good on the writing. Hoping that my verbal score would be enough to offset my GPA.
My undergraduate degree is in Computer Science, but also got a Geography minor at the same time. After working for a few years, I went back to get a masters in Geography, (while continuing to work). The school I went to was the most convenient, geographically, (pun intended), to both work and home. It is a good program and for a long time, was the largest undergraduate Geography program in the country.
Not sure what my undergraduate GPA was, but pretty sure it was under 3.0, (like you, I didn't take my studies seriously). Before the university would allow me to become an official Geography masters student, I had to take all the "missing" classes I would need to obtain a bachelors degree in Geography. (I should have asked for that geography bachelor degree.) After I finished those classes, I was in. This was the only school to which I applied.
(Once you are in a masters program, you have to maintain a 3.0 or higher. At least at my school and not really all that hard at the masters level.)
To be honest, geography departments are getting short on professors and heavy on applicants. It is going to be extremely tough to get funding with a sub-3.0 GPA, even though funding is normally pretty easy to come by in geography.
GPA is normally last 90 hours rather than total undergrad GPA, if that helps you.
I went to a top 20 program, and most of my fellow grad students were 700-800 quant and 600-750 verbal with 3.5-4.0 GPAs. (I guess that would be 155-166 quant and 160-169 verbal now?) I've found that verbal scores in general are pretty high among geography majors (even though it is a computer science heavy discipline). Unfortunately, ETS does not publish average scores for those intending to major in geography.
A lot of the best geography programs are state school programs (e.g. UCSB and Penn State), partly due to their sheer size. So, I would not count on easier admissions at a state school. Could be the exact opposite (especially if you are seeking funding).
I would go back and talk to your undergrad professors. Geography is actually a pretty tight knit discipline thanks to AAG. They can probably help a great deal in identifying good fits for you. A solid recommendation can easily offset your GPA issues (assuming that the university as a whole does not have a strict GPA cutoff for the graduate college - no way around there).
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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If 150-160 is good, they must have changed the scoring. I remember being in the 600-700 area on my scores, and with a GPA of 3.64 was accepted at every place I applied.
If 150-160 is good, they must have changed the scoring. I remember being in the 600-700 area on my scores, and with a GPA of 3.64 was accepted at every place I applied.
Yes, they dramatically changed the scoring. Both test are now scored on a 170 scale, with the top end of the quant scale being higher than the top end of the old quant scale (perfect on old test = 166 on new test).
150-160 Verbal would be 450-600 old scale and 150-160 Quant would be 630-760 old scale.
It is actually a serious problem for people who took the old test, because if they go back to grad school now their converted quant score is not so great even if they had a perfect or near perfect before.
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