I'm thinking about going back to school. I graduated with a BA in English Lit in 2001, but I had a rather poor GPA (2.4).
I'm considering a complete career change, for instance into something more math and science oriented, like engineering or medicine. I'm not really looking to pursue a graduate degree in literature at all.
The problem I'm having is that I have about 120 credits of low GPA preventing me from getting into any programs. Most of the ones I've looked at have requirements of 3.0 or higher.
Is there any way to overcome my previous poor performance? Any sort of conditional acceptance offered by schools? Any way I can make a deal with a department head to get in? For argument's sake, let's assume I'm fully capable of doing the coursework in a math or science oriented discipline, and just need a chance to prove it.
Should I just give up these crazy ideas and go work in a sweatshop factory for the rest of my days?
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As far as erasing grades, I'm not sure how one goes about doing that. I thought my transcript was basically set in stone.
1. If the accepting school uses a cumulative GPA. When you have 120 credits with a GPA of 2.4, one year's worth of classes isn't going to make much impact, even if the average from that year was 4.0.
2. A lot of schools have limits on the amount of credits you can transfer in. Already having my BA, I don't really want to take general education classes that don't pertain to my major a second time.
A forgiveness program would be nice, sort of like a statute of limitations on my GPA. I'm just not sure what criteria they would use to accept me to their school other than my records.
I'm considering attempting to contact a department head and discussing the possibility of attending the school as a Post-bacc student, taking the prerequisite courses for the program, and using that as the basis for acceptance as a degree seeking student. I just don't know if it will work. As a graduate of an English program, if I was to pursue a degree in engineering, for instance, I would have to take a lot of math and science classes, and I'm hoping that would establish a baseline for them to accept me into a program.