I'm hoping for some advice on how to finesse a potential resume gap.
(btw, thanks in advance for reading this...)
First off, I'd be categorized as a career-changing non-traditional student. I'll be in my mid 30s by the time I start a PhD program. The career I'm moving from is in writing.
I graduated w/ a BA and 3.53 GPA from a world-famous top-25 university. I had a few psych classes.
After college I attended a top MFA writing program. Although I found it lacking, its name is elite and never fails to impress.
I did not finish that masters, however, and chose to get to work to make the money I lacked to pay the university's super-high-priced tuition. For nearly a decade I worked a series of jobs in various industries with no career advancement. The jobs were intended to simply pay bills while I focused on writing.
I'll be applying to start in fall 2011. I prefer a psychoanalytic milieu, so my program options are fairly limited.
GRE: 700Q, 650V; 6.0 analytic.
Taking the subject in Oct. I'm good at standardized testing so I expect to do as well or better score-wise as I did on the GRE.
Since I was out of school a while, without a psych BA, and to demonstrate my commitment and stability (see below), I'm now in general psych masters program req empirical thesis. Expecting to finish w/ a GPA between 3.5 - 3.8.
Lucky to have an RA internship on fMRI study within a respected hospital research program. Will have research and clinical experience from this, including weekly opportunities to clinically interact with inpatients on rounds with dept MDs.
Expect strong LORs from study PI, profs, and psych-related p/t jobs (doing SPSS quan analysis at one and assorted duties working for a well-known analyst at the other).
Unfortunately, and the reason for my posting, is I developed serious problems for 3 years w/ bipolar depression and mania that was compounded by trauma A consequence is there are some gaps in my resume, and what could be perceived as a lack of previous career accomplishment.
Does anyone have thoughts on whether to offensively address this on my app or interviews, and if so how to finesse it? I feel as though I have past demonstrated stability, and more importantly recent demonstrated stability, some of which will look rather decent in the bigger picture, enough so to make that historical period of my life moot. Still, the process is nerve-wracking and important as it is for all of us on this site, so I'm sure you'll understand the concern...
(btw, thanks in advance for reading this...)
First off, I'd be categorized as a career-changing non-traditional student. I'll be in my mid 30s by the time I start a PhD program. The career I'm moving from is in writing.
I graduated w/ a BA and 3.53 GPA from a world-famous top-25 university. I had a few psych classes.
After college I attended a top MFA writing program. Although I found it lacking, its name is elite and never fails to impress.
I did not finish that masters, however, and chose to get to work to make the money I lacked to pay the university's super-high-priced tuition. For nearly a decade I worked a series of jobs in various industries with no career advancement. The jobs were intended to simply pay bills while I focused on writing.
I'll be applying to start in fall 2011. I prefer a psychoanalytic milieu, so my program options are fairly limited.
GRE: 700Q, 650V; 6.0 analytic.
Taking the subject in Oct. I'm good at standardized testing so I expect to do as well or better score-wise as I did on the GRE.
Since I was out of school a while, without a psych BA, and to demonstrate my commitment and stability (see below), I'm now in general psych masters program req empirical thesis. Expecting to finish w/ a GPA between 3.5 - 3.8.
Lucky to have an RA internship on fMRI study within a respected hospital research program. Will have research and clinical experience from this, including weekly opportunities to clinically interact with inpatients on rounds with dept MDs.
Expect strong LORs from study PI, profs, and psych-related p/t jobs (doing SPSS quan analysis at one and assorted duties working for a well-known analyst at the other).
Unfortunately, and the reason for my posting, is I developed serious problems for 3 years w/ bipolar depression and mania that was compounded by trauma A consequence is there are some gaps in my resume, and what could be perceived as a lack of previous career accomplishment.
Does anyone have thoughts on whether to offensively address this on my app or interviews, and if so how to finesse it? I feel as though I have past demonstrated stability, and more importantly recent demonstrated stability, some of which will look rather decent in the bigger picture, enough so to make that historical period of my life moot. Still, the process is nerve-wracking and important as it is for all of us on this site, so I'm sure you'll understand the concern...
