Johnable

Program Applied To: Science Writing/Journalism Schools Applied To: NYU, BU, MIT Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: All Undergraduate Institution: St. John's College, NM Undergraduate GPA: 3.2 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.3 Undergraduate Major: Philosophy GRE Quantitative Score (Percentile): 73rd (159) GRE Verbal Score (Percentile): 97th (166) GRE AW Score: 59th (4.0) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5 Years of Work Experience: 10ish, with about two being teaching/communication/language related Describe Relevant Work Experience: Volunteer positions with environmental education organizations (gathering data and giving presentations to the public), two years of teaching K-12 Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Each of these schools wanted different things for their essays and statements. My NYU application was mediocre, partly due to inexperience and partly due to feeling like I had to cram answers to all their questions into one essay. The MIT application was my strongest and included open-ended writing samples, and I felt my SOP was pretty decent here but not great. I ran an early draft of the SOP by a former professor and she told me it was okay but I needed to improve it. I ended up rewriting large parts of it, dramatically focusing it and focusing less on my experiences and more on my goals. The BU application got a dramatically chopped MIT SOP (the word limit was half), and I felt I didn't explain well enough why I wanted to go to BU specifically, nor what Strength of LORs (be honest, describe the process, etc): I didn't get to review them, so I have no idea. Three of my four have doctorates in science or philosophy, and the fourth was my professor for two classes and my advisor for a senior thesis project. Two professors said they thought I had made a good choice in career and schools, and the rest said they were happy to write the letters. Note that I did not send super-leading emails asking for good recommendations, which may have been a mistake. Other: All of these schools are reaches for me, and I don't expect to get into any of them. --

For the sake of being nosy, I was wondering if people would like to compare academic records and admissions statistics. I know it's a little early for results but I was hoping to see what the competition was like. Here's a form: Program Applied To: Schools Applied To: Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: Undergraduate Institution: Undergraduate GPA: Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): Undergraduate Major: GRE Quantitative Score (Percentile): GRE Verbal Score (Percentile): GRE AW Score: Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): Years of Work Experience: Describe Relevant Work Experience: Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Strength of LORs (be honest, describe the process, etc): Other: --