Jump to content

RoundandRoundAgain

Members
  • Posts

    47
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Not Telling
  • Location
    Boston
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    English

Recent Profile Visitors

1,651 profile views

RoundandRoundAgain's Achievements

Caffeinated

Caffeinated (3/10)

4

Reputation

  1. When I moved from California to Boston in 2013, I ditched all my furniture and most of my books so I had several boxes of clothes and my most valuable books plus a few electronics. We rented a 7 person passenger van and drove 3 of us plus all my stuff and 2 cats across country for under $1500. I bought a bed and other furniture when I arrived. Ultimately, it wasn't less expensive than PODs or a uHaul, but I was worried about transporting my cats since I didn't want to fly them out which meant we would be driving out either way. The passenger van also ensured that someone could sit next to the cats and play with them and keep an eye on them. For cat-friendly hotels, La Quintas are the best. We found that the cats lasted about 9 or 10 hours with frequent breaks and once they started whining, we looked for the closest La Quinta and stayed there for the night. It was delightful to be super flexible in terms of where we stayed and if you're traveling with pets, I think it's better to be not overly plan your trip. You may also want to look into vets at the other end of the trip just in case - one of my babies got sick from the trip so we had to take her to vet.
  2. Sure, I can try to answer questions for you. I live out in the suburbs of Boston (Medford area which doesn't mean much but it requires a bus to a train to a bus to get home at night). The best tip I can give you is to start really early in terms of looking for a place to live. Boston is generally really expensive and it can be hard to find a place to live. People in Boston start looking about now for housing in September. I would also be glad to answer any questions about Simmons - I'm graduating this year from the GCS program though I've taken mostly English classes.
  3. I wanted to weigh in on Simmons (Gender and Cultural Studies, right?) and say that you probably could ask for an extension to April 15. With the rolling deadline for admissions applications at Simmons, I think it would be okay especially if you point out that most other schools have a deadline of April 15 for decisions. Worst case scenario, they say no, but I think it's probably unlikely that they'll say no.
  4. I originally took the test back in 2011 and used flashcards (I did okay, not great). I took it again in April and mostly focused on flashcards, Norton introductions, practice tests, and the Princeton Review (I made flashcards for everything including all the poetry that PR referenced and read the poetry over and over again since I was okay with novels and theory but not poetry). Cram has a metric ton of already made GRE literature flashcards for studying on your smartphone or tablet if you don't want to haul around a thousand flashcards. I took a ton of practice tests, too, including the not great tests in this book and read these two really new texts: The Smart Student's Guide to Literature and GRE Literature Secrets Guide. All three were really only useful because I was desperate for test questions and more flashcards. Probably what was more helpful was the Norton site with its literature quizzes and introductions that reinforced my weaker periods. There aren't many practice tests out there, but in addition to the current ETS practice test, I dug around the internet and found three more (really old) practice tests so I think between the really terrible GRE Malek book, the Princeton Review, and the four ETS practice tests, there is actually quite a few test questions out there to gauge your knowledge. And it is possible to do well with focused study- I only studied this time for about six weeks and I raised my score 80 points.
  5. Speaking of the writing centers, a lot of schools offer free tutoring for graduate students. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT (whether it's another English or humanities or science PhD, find one or two people who you trust and listen to their critical take on your work). Alternately, you can arrange editing workshops with your cohort (I never found it particularly useful, but it was very popular in my program). My first semester I waited too long to properly utilize the writing center, but my second semester, I started meeting with one person to talk about all three papers in the pre-writing phase, then during the initial first couple of pages, and finally the close-to-finished draft). Make time for it, it will improve your writing. My papers were significantly better the second semester (and I'm a horrible procrastinator). Following on that, it can be really helpful to have a writing partner or two if you're somewhat social or want someone to hold you accountable. I have multiple people that I write with and while we take frequent breaks to chat, the moment that we sit down and promise to write for 20 minutes straight without looking at the Internet can be incredibly effective for commitment and accountability. It can be a little competitive, but generally speaking, it's far more about encouraging each other to do better the next time. Also, I really love Scrivener for academic paper writing (though it's a Mac program, the Windows beta is great and not terribly expensive).
  6. I emailed a couple of days ago and he replied that same day. It's probably good news for you.
  7. I've been looking at the pod moving where you rent a pod and fill it yourself with your stuff, they haul it across country on a commercial truck, and then you unload it when you get there. For me, I'm more concerned about how I can afford to get anything across country and still pay first, last, and a security deposit.
  8. I think it's 2. Virginia was spelled wrong for one of the acceptances.
  9. I would second UCR especially Dr. Jennifer Doyle who is extremely invested in art. When she teaches 20C to undergrads, it is primarily about art, gender, and text so it would be an excellent opportunity as a potential TA position for a quarter. As a sidenote, she is an amazing speaker in class - I've always told people that I just sit in her classes with hearts in my eyes and absorb every word. Dr. Tobias also works with the visual although it tends to be films. The philosophy in the department is invested in visual works as a form of literature. In addition to 20C which was alternative texts, my Critical Methods (102) class spent a great deal of time with Benjamin and had the opportunity to write a paper on The Matrix.
  10. I'm still waiting as well - 19th century Brit lit and queer theory.
  11. Are they maybe doing it by field now instead of alphabet?
  12. Getting into Rutgers would make me laugh as it was my disaster application. I had to write my fit paragraph in 8 minutes because the first draft didn't save and turned it in with 8 seconds to spare. I'm still surprised I haven't received a rejection for the fit paragraph alone.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use