Hi, I am aspiring towards grad school and encountering some unexpected challenges with pre-reqs and cognitive quirks. Any advice would be much appreciated. I am striving to be a part of a grad program that emphasizes systems, complex modeling, making sense of patterns between species and the landscape, and generally has an interdisciplinary style of looking at the world. Finding this ideal program/person has been a sizable task, however I recently realized that have additional odds against me.
Long story short I have unusual medical history. My senior year in high school I had a brain tumor that left me with somewhat impaired short term memory and a dash of aphasia. More recently I was also diagnosed as having Aspergers syndrome (a form of high functioning Autism) that explains some of the other characteristics of the mind not related to the tumor. Despite my odd cognitive quirks, I graduated with honors, and with research experience all over the world. My undergraduate experience was wonderful mainly because it was so non-traditional with an interdisciplinary emphasis. I was given the freedom to study anything I wanted, from multiple different departments and universities, and the ability to navigate around virtually all pre-reqs that I encountered. The majority of my classes where taken at the upper level. Understanding the subjects took twice as long as most students, but once the subject clicked and was stored in long term memory, then I was able to explore the intricacies and application of concepts much more deeply than my peers. If you were to graph it (based on comprehension to time) most folks would probably have a fairly linear relationship, whereas I would have an exponential curve of nothing for a long time followed by intense clarity. Despite doing well as an undergrad, I am encountering difficulty transitioning to grad school. I have talked with many potential schools and PhD advisers and the reaction is usually along the lines of you are a great applicant, but the department would never allow it My problem? Well I never took any of the regular pre-req classes that are standard for a B.S. No general biology, chemistry, math, physics, etc Just the upper level classes that required in-depth analysis or writing related to a single highly specific topic. Frankly the lower undergrad classes terrified me because of the emphasis on short-term memorization, across so many different topics, with standardized testing, generally based on hours of verbal lecture in a room with so many people. During these interviews with potential grad schools I have never disclosed how I think differently or use that as an excuse, if they dont want me as a student based on what I have achieved then I generally thank them and move on. However I am left wondering if I should tell them why I never took these classes, or if I should just bite the bullet and spend the next two years going back to community college and taking all the pre-reqs required. I also worry that even if I do take the pre-req classes, I will judged harshly for doing everything in reverse. Any advice? Thanks for your thoughts.
