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It’s #gradschool recruitment season. A mini-thread because my dog woke me up!
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ASKINGAPPLICANTS TOEXPLAINTHEIRLOWUNDERGRAD GPA. There’s no need for students to relive their bad/unfortunate/traumatic life experiences that impacted their academic performance. 1/
STOP
ASKINGAPPLICANTS TOEXPLAINTHEIRLOWUNDERGRAD GPA. There’s no need for students to relive their bad/unfortunate/traumatic life experiences that impacted their academic performance. 1/
Grad school process should begin as joyful journeys and not as #traumaporn for grad admissions committees to take pity on a student’s caliber for success. The mere fact that they applied is a good indicator for motivation to do the work that grad school calls for. 2/
And it goes without saying that requiring low GPA statements almost always exclusively impacts students with marginalized identities- #POC, #LGBTQ, #firstgen. It shouldn’t take a genius to read a transcript to decipher that a student had a bad semester or a year or two or four. 3/
Maybe a parent died, maybe the course was tough, maybe the student was depressed/experienced mental health issues or hell may be the student didn’t even study
There’s a whole lot of nothing (other than admitting or denying) we can do by learning the WHY? 4/
There’s a whole lot of nothing (other than admitting or denying) we can do by learning the WHY? 4/
Instead, grad school can be an opportunity to heal, esp. for the helping skills professions that #HESA programs are part of/align with. Graduate applications don’t have to have requirements that evoke anxiety; the process in and of itself is anxiety inducing. 5/
And, while we are on the topic of admissions. LET’S NOTDENYADMISSIONS TO ASTUDENTBASED ONRECOMMENDATION LETTERS. Not all students have access to mentors or recommenders who can write stellar letters of recommendation. 6/
NOTDENYADMISSIONS TO ASTUDENTBASED ONRECOMMENDATION LETTERS. Not all students have access to mentors or recommenders who can write stellar letters of recommendation. 6/
IMHO, it’s a reflection of the person’s ethics who agreed to write a recommendation, which by definition is to praise, and submitted a letter that encourages not admitting the student. The honest thing to do is to let the student know their inability to write one. 7/
This is not to say that recommendation letters can’t be opportunities to offer insights and constructive criticism about an applicant’s potential in grad school.
Here’s to another season of interactions with a new cohort of #FutureSAPros seeking graduate opportunities! 8/
Here’s to another season of interactions with a new cohort of #FutureSAPros seeking graduate opportunities! 8/
