my applications went in at age 48 ... henareJanuary 11 2014, 09:07:10 UTC
i guarantee my undergraduate grades were more lackluster than yours. i was accepted to two of the three schools i applied to (illinois didn't have the sense to admit me :>), and i expect to graduate in the spring.
i am confident that, as an older student, the content of my resume mattered as much as my undergraduate performance.
i don't think auditing classes will do anything for you. there's no grade, no coursework to be evaluated ... unless you manage to build an outstanding relationship with the professor teaching the course you will have just wasted a lot of time and money. on the other hand, taking a graduate level class for credit and grade is a demonstration that you can do the work.
library schools want to admit students who can be successful in the work *and* who have what it takes to get a job at graduation. at the best of times this is difficult (library schools graduate many more students than there will ever be jobs for)), so if you have achievements outside the academic realm then you should work them into your application materials.
your school choices are good--if you haven't taken courses online before then you might want to try that out (although you don't really have a lot of time--applications will be due soon.)
if you're going to consider distance learning situations i do encourage you to consider the broader spectrum of online schools. UW is good (a longtime friend teaches there, and they were good enough to accept me), SJSU is good (but *big* ... they easily graduate the biggest classes, so you may have to work to get the attention of professors). i'm a distance student at syracuse, which is also good ...
Thanks for your response - your comment about auditing is pretty much exactly what I started thinking recently. I think I'm just so eager to get the application process started and so ready to move forward that I just wanted to do something - anything - to feel like I had some momentum. But I've already got so much going on right now that I think all it would do is stress me out without any eventual benefit in the long run.
Also, thanks for the feedback re: work experience as an asset on an application. My current job involves a lot of self-monitoring, organizing, and multitasking, and I've worked on a couple of projects myself that are more tech-based, so I'm hopeful that that will work in my favor.
Sorry, I wasn't clear before - I'm actually planning to apply next year, to matriculate in fall 2015. But I am definitely leaning more toward an online program since I can't really move anywhere for school.
i am confident that, as an older student, the content of my resume mattered as much as my undergraduate performance.
i don't think auditing classes will do anything for you. there's no grade, no coursework to be evaluated ... unless you manage to build an outstanding relationship with the professor teaching the course you will have just wasted a lot of time and money. on the other hand, taking a graduate level class for credit and grade is a demonstration that you can do the work.
library schools want to admit students who can be successful in the work *and* who have what it takes to get a job at graduation. at the best of times this is difficult (library schools graduate many more students than there will ever be jobs for)), so if you have achievements outside the academic realm then you should work them into your application materials.
your school choices are good--if you haven't taken courses online before then you might want to try that out (although you don't really have a lot of time--applications will be due soon.)
if you're going to consider distance learning situations i do encourage you to consider the broader spectrum of online schools. UW is good (a longtime friend teaches there, and they were good enough to accept me), SJSU is good (but *big* ... they easily graduate the biggest classes, so you may have to work to get the attention of professors). i'm a distance student at syracuse, which is also good ...
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Also, thanks for the feedback re: work experience as an asset on an application. My current job involves a lot of self-monitoring, organizing, and multitasking, and I've worked on a couple of projects myself that are more tech-based, so I'm hopeful that that will work in my favor.
Sorry, I wasn't clear before - I'm actually planning to apply next year, to matriculate in fall 2015. But I am definitely leaning more toward an online program since I can't really move anywhere for school.
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