BrandNewName

The method of asking your adviser and reading papers on the subject, I would assume.

Thanks. I'm a bit of a superstitious person and I was worried that leaving it open (as if to imply that it will be filled with the name of some school in the near future) would only serve to jinx me in the long run.

I'm so superstitious, in fact, that I'm nervous to even acknowledge my anti-jinxing signature activities in this post for fear that that too will jinx me in some way.

I think I need help. I've also taken to seeing how many steps I can make it down before the hallway door in my apartment building closes, that number being equal to the number of schools that will accept me naturally. If you care, it's normally seven. Ha. I wish.

Yeah...results need to happen soon.

i know some people currently doing PhDs in Comp Lit at Berkeley. they're pretty cool, but you seem just as cool, if not cooler, AND more directed. unless you come off as a dick or something in your written material, i'd say you have a great chance.

best of luck

hello folks,

i am doing an important reasearch in my class , and i would like your help on some of the question:

1- compare and contrast realism with liberalism

2- accordin canada and art

3- does hegemony , proponderence or balance of power creates better peace .

4- the biggest international coaportaion problem

5-according to the alliance theory , what are possible problems witha possible military alliance between russia and canada today

6-which level of analyis and theory describes the best explanation for the causes of the first world war .

thanks

Frankly I'd cut this whole paragraph out. If the purpose of the SOP is to teach the adcom who you are as a researcher and who you would like to become, this paragraph does not advance that goal one bit. I'd bet most media students spent a lot of time watching TV and surfing the internet when they were growing up, it's like the cliche about English majors loving to read books. Everyone has some exposure to the media, yet not everyone wants to go to graduate school to study the media. Why are you fascinated with this field? what kinds of questions interest you most, and why? -- In my opinion, those would be much better "hooks", if you think you need one. Personally I'm in favor of the "no fluff, no hooks" approach. I started my SOP with several research questions I thought I'd like to explore in grad school. But in any event, I support the advice you've been given here that you should work out the rest of your essay first and write the intro and conclusion only after the body of the essay has been written and polished. Those are the hardest parts so you shouldn't get stuck on them.

barren wasteland

There is, of course, the argument to be made that not everyone is you nor does everyone possess your skill set. Leaving that to the side...

Most of the anxiety is not inordinate. While I agree that adcoms aren't likely composed of monsters, you're missing the reality of application levels in the past few years. As much as every person on an adcom might know that not everyone tests well, when there is a stack of 600 applications and you need to get it down to a reasonable number without reading every page in front of you, GRE scores offer an objective marker from which to begin eliminating candidates.

Fair or not, it's not unreasonable to think that certain programs, whether they have a cut-off point or not, will turn to these scores to at least weed out some part of the applicant pool. With applications running at around $100 a piece, it's worrisome to think that your writing sample and SoP may not be seen at all because of a standardized test score. For this reason alone, I think it might be worth working onesself into a tizzy over the exam, especially if that pressure pushes you to get a higher score and (hopefully) make it to a round of application review where your true skills can be evaluated.

A little bit of thread necromancy there, dude.

The GRE. Seriously. For one thing, it's not exactly a brilliant tool to use to assess someone's potential and admissions teams know this. It's nothing like the be-all and end-all of your applications that so many believe it to be; i'd personally be more concerned with getting my writing sample, recommendations and SOP perfect before i gave even one second's thought to the GRE. For a second thing, it's not even that difficult.

I'm coming from the UK educational system and i've never taken a standardised test in my life. I've never done an analogies or antonyms test, for example (whereas i believe they're common practice in the US from about middle school, no?) Moreover, the UK system forces students to begin specialising their education from the age of 15/16 and, to that end, i haven't had a maths lesson or taken an exam in maths (or physics, or anything involving maths) since i was 15. I didn't do any revision for the test and showed up yesterday to take it not even having used the PowerPrep CD that ETS sent me (it cracked in half in the post). I don't think i did too badly:
670 verbal (95%ile), 720 quantitative (75%ile). The Q score, especially, is not too shabby for someone who hasn't seen an exponent or a root sign or, indeed, anything remotely mathsy, since their early teens.

This surely goes to show that it's not difficult... no? Truly, it's really *not* a taxing test. Granted, i would have liked a better verbal score, and had i put a bit of effort into brushing up on my obscure vocab then i'm sure i could have... but it's so, so not something to sweat over. It's not a massive ordeal and it simply doesn't take months of swotting to get a decent score. Living proof, right here.

Chill, breathe, it's not that bad!

Congratulations harpyemma on your good GRE scores and best of luck in the application process.

That said, I don't think your post is very helpful to the community of gradcafe users. The test certainly is not easy for everyone and for some people it is a major obstacle to continuing their education. Based on your numbers, 95% of people have a harder time on the verbal section than you, so I am betting those 95% do not appreciate having you tell them not to worry. Furthermore, coming to a specific forum dedicated to discussing the GRE and how to do better, and then being suprised that people in the forum are dedicating themeselves to the GRE is just unnecessary. That is a bit like going to an AA meeting and telling people to just relax, have a beer, and everything will be fine.

I trust that you didn't intend for your comments to belittle anyone, but please be sensitive to the numerous people who use this forum as a resource to improve their GRE scores, advance their chance of graduate admissions and may not be having as easy a time as you.

There is, of course, the argument to be made that not everyone is you nor does everyone possess your skill set. Leaving that to the side...

Most of the anxiety is not inordinate. While I agree that adcoms aren't likely composed of monsters, you're missing the reality of application levels in the past few years. As much as every person on an adcom might know that not everyone tests well, when there is a stack of 600 applications and you need to get it down to a reasonable number without reading every page in front of you, GRE scores offer an objective marker from which to begin eliminating candidates.

Fair or not, it's not unreasonable to think that certain programs, whether they have a cut-off point or not, will turn to these scores to at least weed out some part of the applicant pool. With applications running at around $100 a piece, it's worrisome to think that your writing sample and SoP may not be seen at all because of a standardized test score. For this reason alone, I think it might be worth working onesself into a tizzy over the exam, especially if that pressure pushes you to get a higher score and (hopefully) make it to a round of application review where your true skills can be evaluated.

I am not sure if my experience is an exception, but perhaps I might be of some service. I will briefly discuss my long trip below.

At 18: had one good semester of college at a very good (top of the second tier) public university, then got all Fs the second semester (except for jazz band of course). GPA there: 1.8

At 19: didn't tell the parents about the Fs; faked going to college for a year with forged transcripts and whatnot. GPA: Still 1.8.

From 20-22: worked as an ice cream scooper for a summer and a semester; confessed to flunking out; transferred to a tier 3 midwestern Catholic university. One good semester; one semester with all Fs that were converted to Ws by a very kind dean; one other semester of all Fs converted to Ws due to the really kind dean. GPA: now somewhere in the 2.1 range.

From 22-25: move to the south; after being rejected from the military, I enroll at a directional state university that only recently went to competitive admissions. Try to flunk out again; given reprieve. Finally get my act together and don't get a B after that. Final GPA: 3.3, but from the really bad school.

So, I had no econ background; no math background save for the semester at Georgia Tech; no rigorous poli sci background (hadn't heard of regression or the APSR, AJPS, or JoP until grad school).

GRE: 700 verbal, 800 math. Apply to 10 schools throughout the midwest ranking from as high as 3 to as low as 40 or so. Get into a master's program (unfunded) and a top 25 Big Ten school (though one that was moving down in the rankings).

At 25: start the PhD program at said Big Ten school. Learn only possible advisor is taking an offer at another university. Spend two years preparing to transfer.

At 27: Apply to 14 more places with more geographic mixing but much more targeted to what I want to study. Do OK -- get into about half maybe. Eventually transfer to my current home, Rochester. Very happy here.

The point of the story is: the probabalistic nature of the admissions process can be to your advantage. A well-written SoP can be a saving grace, as can a good quantitative score on the GRE. If you have the option of getting letters from known people, that always helps. Top 10 or even Top 25 might not be probable. I am not talented, nor do I have any pedigree to help me, nor do I have any special skills. I am very, very lucky: somebody on the adcom at the place I got in the first time found something they liked amid all the stuff not to like (and there was plenty of it!). The posters before have every reason to voice cynicism, because the process is probabilistic even for the best applicants. But maybe you'll be lucky too. So apply broadly if you can; something good can come of it.

I know that anecdotal/subjective experience is usually what I base all of my conclusions on.

After taking the October test I felt the same way that many of you are describing and I was pleasantly suprised by my score. Honest to God, I was thinking that I might not even break 500 I felt so defeated after that exam, but it is true what they say, you remember the things that were difficult and then they come to dominate your mind. Don't fret everyone! And, at the very least, it's over! Congrats!

I know that anecdotal/subjective experience is usually what I base all of my conclusions on.

There is, of course, the argument to be made that not everyone is you nor does everyone possess your skill set. Leaving that to the side...

Most of the anxiety is not inordinate. While I agree that adcoms aren't likely composed of monsters, you're missing the reality of application levels in the past few years. As much as every person on an adcom might know that not everyone tests well, when there is a stack of 600 applications and you need to get it down to a reasonable number without reading every page in front of you, GRE scores offer an objective marker from which to begin eliminating candidates.

Fair or not, it's not unreasonable to think that certain programs, whether they have a cut-off point or not, will turn to these scores to at least weed out some part of the applicant pool. With applications running at around $100 a piece, it's worrisome to think that your writing sample and SoP may not be seen at all because of a standardized test score. For this reason alone, I think it might be worth working onesself into a tizzy over the exam, especially if that pressure pushes you to get a higher score and (hopefully) make it to a round of application review where your true skills can be evaluated.

Quite honestly, I don't know much about the Irish Studies program at BC. I took one course with James Smith during my time at BC and found him to be a pretty average professor. He also served as my academic advisor for three years and he was nice enough. I'm glad to hear that you weren't just basing your opinion on what one professor said. I gues my response was elicited because I was taken by what teachers and family members had said to me about BC and, as such, pretty much convinced myself that it was where I belonged for my undergraduate years before ever having visited. Then, only too late, I discovered how wrong I was. I thought that information regarding your field was probably spotty and I just wanted to play devil's advocate in case you were someone who hadn't really done their homework on the school. From what you say though, you have and the program seems to be strong; it makes sense because of the heavy Irish Catholic influence at BC. So, my rant wasn't so much meant to belittle the Irish Studies program at BC as it was to highlight the overall feel of BC's campus and, because of its isolation, the inability I felt as a student there to get away from it. I assumed going in that I was so close to Boston that I would always be in the city and campus would just be where I went to class and slept, unfortunately, the city feels really far away and I ended up spending almost all of my time on campus in the BC bubble. In short, I guess what I could have said much more precisely, is that you should really visit the campus, spend a night if you can even, and get a sense of what it feels like to be there everyday.

Quite honestly, I don't know much about the Irish Studies program at BC. I took one course with James Smith during my time at BC and found him to be a pretty average professor. He also served as my academic advisor for three years and he was nice enough. I'm glad to hear that you weren't just basing your opinion on what one professor said. I gues my response was elicited because I was taken by what teachers and family members had said to me about BC and, as such, pretty much convinced myself that it was where I belonged for my undergraduate years before ever having visited. Then, only too late, I discovered how wrong I was. I thought that information regarding your field was probably spotty and I just wanted to play devil's advocate in case you were someone who hadn't really done their homework on the school. From what you say though, you have and the program seems to be strong; it makes sense because of the heavy Irish Catholic influence at BC. So, my rant wasn't so much meant to belittle the Irish Studies program at BC as it was to highlight the overall feel of BC's campus and, because of its isolation, the inability I felt as a student there to get away from it. I assumed going in that I was so close to Boston that I would always be in the city and campus would just be where I went to class and slept, unfortunately, the city feels really far away and I ended up spending almost all of my time on campus in the BC bubble. In short, I guess what I could have said much more precisely, is that you should really visit the campus, spend a night if you can even, and get a sense of what it feels like to be there everyday.

Isn't there any other program that's also well-ranked that you could see yourself at?

I guess I just want to encourage you to not base your decision on an undergraduate professor telling you that it's the best program. Is there such a ranking of Irish Studies programs out there? Have you checked with other people in the field to verify that? And is that as essential as you think? I mean, I know fit isn't as important when doing an MA (vs. a PhD), but what is the difference between #1 and #5? And what's happening with your application in Ireland? Graduate level experience in a foreign environment, especially if that environment is your actual field of study, would be seen as a positive expansion of your worldview and insight into the field by any PhD adcom, IMO.

I know I don't know you, so this is completely unsolicited advice, take it for what you will, but you couldn't pay me enough to ever agree to be a student at Boston College again. A doctoral candidate, maybe, because you are there in a different capacity (luckily my aversion to academic incest negates such a possibility even being brought under consideration). But, as an MA student, I can't imagine there will be much separation between you and the undergraduate population. Possibly in coursework, but BC is a bubble that is hard to escape. And as someone who just finished their MA, I found location and overall feel of my university quite important. I spent four years at BC, had some really great professors and some really terrible ones. I also made some great friends who I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. But aside from about a dozen people who make that place redeemable in my eyes, I found it to be filled primarily with vapid, trust fund babies--they call it J Crew U for a reason--and governed by an absent and anti-intellectual administration. Fun fact: BC has the highest percentage of students in the US who pay full tuition, up front, without requiring any financial aid or loans...I can't find the exact statistic right now, but it's some where in the 60 to 70 percent range, I will keep looking. The point being, I think that that sort of wealth and entitlement among the undergraduate community, not to mention the sway it holds over the administration, make BC a place where I would not want to do graduate level work, regardless of how well it's ranked.

Stepping of my soapbox, handing you a grain of salt.

Hm. I only use Western Digital externals and I think they are absolutely the best (I just bought myself a new one for Christmas, but my last one suffered a great deal of abuse--including a dismantlement at one point in time--for over four years and never gave me a problem). They have dropped drastically in price over the past few years as well. Here's a 1 TB WD HD for $150 Amazon - Western Digital 1 TB External Hard Drive.

I personally wouldn't get the Time Capsule, I don't think it's as affordable or easily transportable (though I'm honestly not familiar with the exact size). Plus, from what I've heard, a lot of them die within two years.

You can set up any external HD with Time Machine (I use about 300 GB of 500 GB WD External for my Time Machine and I've partitioned off the rest storing films and other files I don't access that often). That being said, my hard drive is now configured for use with a Mac and if I plug it in to my PC at work it doesn't show up...maybe it's a problem with my own settings, but my partner had the same issue. The reverse order seems to work though, externals used with PCs are able to be recognized on Macs.

So, IMO, get a large capacity WD external hard drive to use with your Time Machine for backups and extra storage space. And, since I'm assuming your prime computer is a Mac, just have a 2GB Thumb Drive that you use on your PC and synch up with your Mac once your home. Another option would be Dropbox to synch up your files on both computers and offer the extra security of having them backed up on a server somewhere.

I think you should ask the professor if you can call her sometime this week when it's mutually convenient. Tell her you're in the process of deciding on your offers and you'd like to discuss the programme and her short term/long term plans for the lab in some more detail.

Then, talk to her for a half hour. Now that it's not an interview, there should hopefully be less awkwardness and if she really wants you in the programme, she'll definitely make indications during that time that she's trying to persuade you to come and sell you on its being the right fit for you.

If after that conversation, you still have misgivings about her than I think you should go elsewhere. While it might not be a reflection on you (some academics just lack certain social graces - myself included!), you don't want to ALREADY have an advisor/student relationship where you're constantly second-guessing.

hi guys, sorry to throw myself into this conversation, but i too am interested in digital studies/technology and literature, etc. enough so that i am considering making it the main focus of my proposals/applications.

i've done a bit of digging, unfortunately most of the time it seems like programs in media and culture might be a better fit for me, but i think i'm a stronger applicant to english/american studies programs.

can either of you suggest some other english or american studies programs that you've come across with a strong emphasis in digital studies or at least one or two quality professors working in the area?

hi guys, sorry to throw myself into this conversation, but i too am interested in digital studies/technology and literature, etc. enough so that i am considering making it the main focus of my proposals/applications.

i've done a bit of digging, unfortunately most of the time it seems like programs in media and culture might be a better fit for me, but i think i'm a stronger applicant to english/american studies programs.

can either of you suggest some other english or american studies programs that you've come across with a strong emphasis in digital studies or at least one or two quality professors working in the area?