I am at my wit's end in regards to getting into graduate school, and I hope that someone might be able to give me positive advice.
Without making this too long: Four years ago, I accepted a position as herpetologist in Puerto Rico. I love it here, but the position basically covered room and board, I don't make a salary. It was perfect for me at the time, as it was a way for me to make a career change- I had always wanted to study herpetology professionally, and this gave me an "in". The downside- It has been a "learn as I go" process. I made mistakes in my earlier research, corrected said mistakes, and carried out better research. I'm currently trying to find the proper journals to publish with (one paper is a note on geographic range expansion of a frog, the other on the effects of introduced timber on anole seasonal abundance). Again, this is all a learning process. I want to go to grad school for a Masters; I doubt I want to go all the way to a PhD, and even if I do, the last four years have convinced me that there are probably a lot of unknown unknowns that I need to learn. I would prefer to go to school in the tropics, preferably Latin America, as I want to live where I plan to study. I guess you could say I'm something of an ex-pat, but I just love the tropics. I have hit a brick wall every time. I had my eye on Universidad de Puerto Rico, but they are not budging on a few strikes I have against me: 1. My GPA when I graduated in 2003 was a 2.75. 2. I was the first person in my family to ever go to college. As such, I confess I didn't pay much attention to the difference between a BA and a BS. I have a BA in Environmental Studies from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. This means I lack certain undergrad courses, such as statistics, calculus, etc. 3. I need to retake the GRE, which I will in December. Possible solutions you might be thinking of that don't work for me: 1. Taking the stats/calc courses online- our project is remote and relies on a phone modem for internet. We get 5gigs per month for the entire staff, and online classes would use that up in no time. Not to mention, thanks to storms, it is not uncommon for us to be without internet for 5-10 day stretches at a time. 2. Taking the classes at a local community college- we have no reliable transportation, a single project vehicle, and gas prices on the island are about $4.00 per gallon (and me with no salary). Basically, to go to take the classes, I need to get an apartment near the university, but I need an RA or TA grant to afford a place to live, I can't get an RA or TA until I take these classes, but I can't take the classes without moving to an apartment... round and round and round we go. I am willing and in fact eager to relocate. In addition to UPR, I've sent letters of inquiry to Universidad de Panama (Graduate program in Biology), Universidad de Costa Rica (Graduate program in Biology), and the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan (Graduate program in Tropical Natural Resources Management). I never receive a reply. So, I'm kind of at my wit's end. I don't want a hand out, but just any advice on getting out from in between a rock and a hard place. I've loved the last four years, but it is most assuredly time to move on. Any advice, professors/schools to contact, etc, would be great. I feel like I've thought outside the box (running off to the tropics for this opportunity), now I can't remember how to get back in. Thank in advance.
