midnight

If it's any consolation, humanities and social science majors tend to be heavily judged on their writing samples while STEM types tend to be judged on whether or not they've performed meaningful research, so rejection often feels personal and like a kick in the gut no matter who you are!

Further, no one here knows what Keely's application looked like versus other applicants'. It's entirely possible that she was the strongest of the batch *and* happened to qualify for a diversity fellowship--it seems more likely than not given her acceptance into four competitive programs!--though I suppose DontHate might be saying the same thing, but it's not entirely coming across that way for some reason?

I keep wandering into admissions threads for other fields (I like reading about acceptances!), and I feel exactly the same now, merrysoprano. Does my SOP make me seem like a strong, interesting candidate or like someone who isn't a good fit? Should I have found ways to pump up my CV more, and did I forget to mention any of my relevant experience? What if they don't like me due to some little thing I included, omitted, or, worse, something completely out of my control like a comment in an LOR? Argh! I'm an atheist, but I think I'm going to tell myself to let go and let God for the rest of this process.

Didn't you just reply to a thread that discussed this topic, and you suggested Magoosh?

While a 3.5 AW is low, I don't think it's in red flag territory (2.5 is another story). If the rest of your app is strong, I doubt your AW score will hold you back, especially considering that you have an SOP and solid TOEFL score to confirm your language abilities. Delaware's site doesn't even mention AW, just that PhD applicants should aim for a combined GRE of 1150 or above with a preferred verbal score of 500 or above (your score of 152 corresponds with 490 on the old test).

Maybe someone else can weigh in, but I feel like a Skype interview is fine, especially since you've already visited the campus in person and talked with a point of contact. Your stats are really impressive, and you're definitely interested in the program. I think they'll understand if you can't fly in from AZ on short notice. Good luck to all the BU interviewees!

I don't think that this will be an issue in your particular field. And if you don't get in for whatever reason, yes, definitely apply to a few more programs next time. I don't know if you need/want to stay where you are, but there are good natural resources programs around the country. Good luck!

The New York Times is a good resource, too--at least two of my vocab questions were taken directly from NYT book reviews, and the GRE may source them for reading passages as well.

That would be me! I only missed one highest-difficulty vocab-related question; everything else I missed was RC. Unfortunately I didn't really find any of the prep books to be very helpful for RC strategy-wise, so I just practiced a lot (Barron's Six Practice Tests has RC passages and questions that are comparable to the actual GRE). A few tips I've seen again and again for the RC: -Don't skim. -Avoid extreme or disputable answers. -Don't make assumptions. -Be wary of answers that use exactly the same wording as the passage. Also be sure to check this out to see what types of questions you missed; it should be available once you receive your AW score-- https://grediagnostic.ets.org/GREDWeb/gred/signIn.jsp

If you feel you can do significantly better, it doesn't hurt to retake the test. Perhaps you'll be less tense the second time around. However, I don't think your scores are all that low, and your AW is great. Check out the programs' guidelines if available.

You need arithmetic, algebra/algebra II (e.g., functions), geometry (no proofs), data analysis, and stats/probability for GRE math. You don't need trig, calculus, or beyond. Check here for more info: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/quantitative_reasoning Oh, and there seems to be a recent increase in stats and probability questions on the GRE, so they're definitely worth reviewing in earnest. Once you've completed Khan Academy, I highly recommend taking full practice tests from Barron's Six Practice Tests--they were all very similar to what I faced on test day in terms of content and difficulty.

Good to know! ASHA updated the EdFind information a few months ago, so I (wrongly) assumed that the data was based on the incoming 2012 class.

I don't know much about it aside from what I read on their site. I like that there seems to be a focus on autism since that's one of my main interests, and I like that UVA is a school with a large alumni network and name recognition if I decide to move out of the state (though I know that's not too important in this field). It helps that the campus and the surrounding Charlottesville/Albemarle area are beautiful, too!

jmarti, we won't hear anything back from UVA until the first week of March at the earliest if the Grad Cafe results page holds true, which is very fast considering that their deadline was February 1!

Yeah, Chapel Hill accepted 44 out of 341 applicants last year, and their site clearly states that desired applicants have a 3.6+ GPA, a solid GRE score, etc. (For some perspective, Greensboro accepted 68 out of 322--still quite competitive, though not as bad; however, ECU accepted 80 out of 302, and App State accepted 134 out of 339.) As we know all too well, most schools are extremely competitive these days. BU received an astounding 578 applications last year and accepted 125 people while Vandy received 307 and accepted 38. UW, widely considered one of the most competitive SLP programs due to location and offerings, accepted 42 people out of 395 applicants. It's tough out there, but as someone else mentioned in another thread, it's important to remember that there's likely a lot of applicant overlap for certain programs, i.e., a very strong applicant may be accepted to BU, Vandy, and UW, but s/he can only attend one, freeing up space for someone else. ETA: What I said above may not really play out that way since I forgot that schools accept more people than they have slots since they know not every acceptee will matriculate. Whoops.

jmarti, your experience and goals are awesome! I hope you get into your top choice. I watched a fantastic documentary called Hear and Now where the filmmaker's parents both received cochlear implants, and it was excellent and heartbreaking. It made me consider the psychological and emotional impact of the surgery as well as the complex identity issues that arise by making such a decision.

I decided to start a new thread since the other one is so very long (possibly the longest on this site?), and it might be clunky for some people to load it. And I think we deserve our own thread. So where are you applying? Have you heard from anyone yet? I'm an out-of-field UVA and Boulder applicant. I probably won't hear anything until early March at the earliest.

Wow, emg28, congrats on all your acceptances--and possibly more to come!

Yeah, I'd say that's a fair enough breakdown if we're forced to label scores that way (though I might expand the "poor" category to include all of the 140s, and I can say that as someone who scored in the 140s on quant my first try!), but it ultimately depends on the program and the field. For some schools, the GRE is merely a formality. Other schools use it as a gatekeeper. Still others expect (tacitly or otherwise) perfect or near-perfect scores. But everyone needs to remember that plenty of people get into grad school with subpar GRE scores while plenty of people with stellar scores are rejected. Your entire application is important, and the GRE alone will not get you into a school.

I'm taking an Italian class at UofR for fun right now, and the campus is nice. I like the lake and how the school has seamlessly integrated some of the newer architecture. The campus apartments aren't so pretty, but at least they're off in their own little area.

For my desired field there aren't really any safety schools aside from a few programs in parts of the country that aren't practical for me (e.g., North Dakota, Alabama). I considered applying to a few more schools, but I decided to go for the two that worked best for me location-wise that are willing to take out-of-field applicants.

My pick is rather moot since the school doesn't have a grad program, but my sister-in-law attended Connecticut College as an undergrad, and I thought the campus was lovely. The view of the Long Island Sound alone made me jealous, especially considering that my alma mater's campus was boring and suburban. And Middlebury, of course. Simply beautiful. I think the schools I've applied to (UVA and Boulder) have attractive campuses, even if they couldn't be more different.

chellinchen, if you have to go through the application process again (hopefully not!), I think you should look at schools like UW, Northwestern, and MGH--they're in cities with diverse populations and seem to offer great research opportunities and chances to work in clinical settings. Of course I'm not entirely sure what prereqs you've taken or precisely what the schools require for admissions, but I think you'd be a good fit at many schools that don't seem to have an issue with a focused student.

I think it's really cool and impressive that you took initiative to begin learning another language. I didn't know that MN had such a sizeable Somali population (I just googled it). It's worth a brief mention in a thank you email!

If a school accepts either the GRE or the MAT, I don't see any reason why they would hold it against you for choosing the MAT. I can't imagine how taking the MAT over the GRE would potentially affect you in any way, but you can contact the program to see if the GRE is preferred or required for anything important like funding opportunities. I took the MAT a few years ago (unfortunately for a program that I ultimately didn't apply to) and scored in the 95th percentile. The MAT is a strange test--impossible to prepare for in any significant way IMO as it felt like I was being tested on everything I had ever learned in history, language arts, biology, and math but in analogy form--and I remember feeling like I'd bombed it. I was shocked when I got my results in the mail.