waparys

Thank you!

All this talk scared me into taking an old ETS practice test (the second one I've taken). Now I don't know if my almost 30 percentile-point increase (from the Princeton Review test) in any way reflects what's going to happen on the actual test... I know the answer must be floating around on here somewhere, but what is considered a good score? I'm sort of blindly aiming for 650 as an awesome score...(typically around 85th percentile)...any thoughts?

Is this just for the Anthro dept or the University in general? What have you heard?

Arrrrghhhhhhhhhhh how can it be that bad?! ETS is crazy. We're all crazy for playing their game! Anyone else gearing up for Nov 10? I'm taking it here in Berlin...HELP.

I get the impression non-native English speakers are treated no differently from native speakers. You're meant to show that you are just as linguistically capable as your peers. Sorry if that's not the news you were looking for. Good luck, though! Keep working at it.

Big thanks to both of you, Phil Sparrow and Stately Plump. I guess I'll (reluctantly) look into UVa. But if I fall in love with it, I'm blaming you! Maybe I should "loosen the reigns" on my city requirement. An international airport is an important factor, too, though, which is why I'm looking at cities.

I love Northwestern because of their interdisciplinary approach and the location. The faculty looks great, too. The three you mentioned aren't really in places I'd like to live...I'm a city girl and would not really be okay spending 5-6 years in a smaller city/suburb. That's just a personal thing, obviously!

I still can't even figure out what they're LOOKING for. I mean, I'm thinking I'm going to submit the strongest paper from my MA (grade-wise). It's the most recent thing I've written aside from my dissertation (which really needs to be read as a whole and shouldn't be split into chapters). I'm just worried that it's not EXACTLY what I'm talking about in my SoP. I mean it's not like I'm submitting a Chaucer paper when I'm a modernist but I talk a lot about early modernism in my SoP and this is late...it should still be okay, right?

I'm sort of working on everything at once (which means I'm getting little-to-nothing really "done", y'know?). I also started out with a pretty sizeable school list (about 12) and it's somehow been way narrowed down. I'm looking for programs in select East-coast cities (Philly, Chicago, potentially Boston), but am having difficulty finding one I really love (except for Northwestern. Wow). Any tips? I'm a 19th/20th century, modernism, Brit lit kinda gal.

I'm not sure I agree that it's a "significant mistake." I'm now in the position of applying to US PhDs and realizing my MA won't mean much to them and wasn't entirely necessary. However, I do believe I'm in a great position to be SURE about graduate study. I did it for a short time and found it to be agreeable to my interests. I see the GBP 5k that I paid as an investment (it's significantly less than pouring 7 years of your life into something that turns out not to be right for you). Also, unfunded MAs are often the only programs people are admitted to. They end up taking on these roles (and the associated debts) to simply get their foot in the door of graduate academia. You can't begrudge them that.

It seems like you don't actually know that much about UK higher education costs...I'm not sure about marlowe, but a semester at my undergraduate university cost $20-$25k. A whole year of a master's in the UK costs about GBP 5k for EU students and about GBP12-15k for non-EU students. I'm guessing this is how she managed to "swing it."

I'm an EU citizen; I paid home fees. But thanks for your concern...

I'm not sure I entirely agree with the "you don't have to study sentiment." I've been looking through the Princeton Review book and past ETS exams and I think it wholly depends on your BA education. Mine focused on creative writing and twentieth century. Yeah, I had distribution requirements and I've read Spenser and Margery Kempe, but it doesn't mean I've retained much of it (from sophomore year, no less). The exam seems to focus on pre-19th century stuff and I would not consider that a personal strength. I think it's definitely "studiable" for. And if you've got the time/energy, you could easily get 20 extra points with just a week of cramming. Either way, good luck! I'm taking it in November (abroad, no less, so I won't even have the same test as most people!).

I posted this very sentiment on my Facebook yesterday (using this gif as a visual aid).

Thank you! Looks like you're in Edinburgh right now. Hope you're enjoying it! I certainly loved my short time there.

Hi! Hijacking yet another thread, but I'd rather do this than start a new one. So I'll be getting my MSc in Literature from Edinburgh in November. Yes, it's technically an MA, but the Scottish system refers to initial, four-year degrees as MAs. So my question is: should I be listing it as an MA or an MSc?

Most of those schools will consider it. So if you dedicate a lot of your time to it and think you'll do well, you might as well use up the leftover free score reports and possibly make an impression (yeah, not a big one, but it might get you noticed if a program gets 500 apps).

I think what you mean is "they'd be better off requiring NO tests..."

Thanks for clarifying! Can you say anything? Was the test full of non-canonical authors? Was it more modern than what you'd prepared for? Or were the types of questions just not at all what you expected? Did you take any of the ETS practice tests that were available? Did those help?

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but I had a quick language-related question. Should we mention language skills in our statement of purpose, or will it be apparent from other areas of the application like resume or transcript?

Right. No pressure then... Thanks, though! I'll use one that's been marked up and graded and, after I've made those changes, will pass it on to someone else. Thanks again!

I got somewhere in the 40s in terms of percentile. And I consider myself a writer! I was shocked! But I'm kinda over it. I figure if they take my AW score at face value rather than looking at my writing sample, resume, etc., then that's their loss. Speaking of which, I know the topic must be out there somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. How do you go about choosing a writing sample and do you make any changes? If anyone could link me to the relevant topic(s), I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thanks and DON'T LET THE ETS GET YOU DOWN!

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?! Help?

I'm in Germany so November 10th was my only fall option! I've gone through the whole Princeton Review book and now feel like my studying has lost all structure...urgh.

I just finished a UK master's and I can tell you, I felt the same. And I only had two courses a semester! You just have to be smart about the reading and prioritize. Realize that, at the end of the semester, you're not going to be asked to write a paper on everything you've read. And I know what you mean about the other students...we had a really mixed, international group so everyone came from a different background and expected something else from classroom discussions. There was definitely an adjustment period.