---- Sean <[email protected]> wrote: > Having graduated with an abysmal GPA from Colorado State University back in > 2000 ( wildlife > biology 2.7), I have found it very difficult getting into graduate school. > Two winters ago I > completed two graduate level classes at Oregon State: Forest Wildlife > Management and a > graduate Statistics course. Unfortunately just a B+ on the statistics but A > on the wildlife. Of > course I have a ton of field experience going back 14 years in lots of > different taxonomic > groups. Having just turned 36 I'm at my wits end trying to move forward. > So I am soliciting > advice. Would a non-thesis program like the field naturalist program at U. > of Vermont be > worthwhile? Frankly at this point I want to get into something permanent. > I'll always engage > my naturalists interest regardless of the employment I have. If I do > something unfunded (such > as non-thesis) I would really need to have good employment prospects coming > out of it. > Sage words of wisdom are welcome! I'm completely open to any and all > advice. My ideal > situation would be a thesis based M.S. on any of the many taxa I have > experience with (birds, > butterflies, amphibians, bats, plants etc).
Sean, is your interest in continuing graduate school for a Ph.D., or is the M.S. intended to be a terminal degree for you? That can make a difference in where you go, and what degree you seek at the master's level. There are lots of regional state schools that admit students like yourself, and some of them are well connected for state and other employment opportunities. Perhaps you are trying for schools that may be a bit of a competitive reach. Your work experience should speak well for you in state regional institutions. Some of them consider only the terminal two years of undergraduate work, rather than the entire undergraduate record. Find a professor with whom you'd like to work, send him or her you background information, and make an appointment. See what you get from that, and apply if encouraged. David McNeely > > -Sean -- David McNeely
