hopeful80

I am kind of in a similar situation to you. Many of my recommenders weren't coming through (being incredibly flaky, not responding to emails, etc.) so I had to look elsewhere desperately, as deadlines are coming up. I ended up contacting an old professor whose class I got in A in - unfortunately she did not know me very well (I was shy too!) She told me, flat out, that she would do all she could, but it would help to find someone who knows me better. It's kind of tricky, but here's what I would do: take the professor's recommendation over the grad student's, but another supervisor/professor's over the professor's. I was told it reflects poorly if you get a graduate student to speak on your behalf - in a way, they don't necessarily have the qualifications (yet) to praise yours. It's almost the equivalent of asking a peer, which is a major no-no. If there's any possible way, find someone who knows you better who is still qualified - even if they don't necessarily have as much "prestige" as you desire. Although this was a last resort, I ended up going with a former director/mentor of a leadership camp I attended. He knows me well and I know he will write a very strong recommendation. A glowing rec from someone who may not be as "high up" trumps above a flat, neutral, lackluster rec from someone more influential, IMO. Just my two cents though! Good luck.

Thanks for your response! I actually bought the Princeton Review GRE book and took all the tests. I am going to go over through strategy tomorrow once again. I never knew about that diagnostic test though! Good stuff, I'll check it out. I did decide to apply to some "average" schools just to be safe ... two of my professional writing programs have about an 80% acceptance rate (I have to be realistic ) I suppose I'll just lay it out there - my transcript is really wobbly, but only due to math-based classes. I do have one F and 3 D's. However, the only classes I excelled in with no exceptions were writing-based (never dipped below an A-), and even on the GRE the essay was my only hope. Would it be worthwhile to put that kind of spin on my application?

I decided to be *extra* sweet and send chocolate covered strawberries (Edible Arrangements), but I know for some people it's over the top. These guys were so good to me though, and have both become mentors. I think a simple thank you card will suffice if you aren't very close with your recommenders though

Hey guys, I'm going to lump a few questions into one post to save space. The sitch: I am applying to a few Masters in professional writing and communications programs. I am not a standardized test person but have been studying for about 1 month since my last GRE. Sadly, I have barely improved past the low to mid 150s. The deadlines for two of my schools is Feb. 1 and I retake it this Friday, so I may be able to squeeze one more in on time. My questions are: 1) Do you think the following scores will be OK to apply to top-tier professional writing/communications programs? Sigh ... I guess I'll just say it. My initial GRE scores were not pretty. For the most part. V - 153 / Q - 147 (OUCH) / AWA 5.5 (only silver lining ...) I have decent LORs and very good writing samples and a SOP which I am VERY confident about. My GPA is teetering on the edge though - a 3.0 (3.62 for my major). I don't know how competitive these programs are but I don't think they get as many applicants as say, English or Literature programs. Any estimates ... ? The admissions people said the generic "we consider all elements of your application, etc" ... of course. 2) Someone in an old thread recommended cramming for 3 days and plumping up his verbal score over 10 points. As impressive as that is, it's probably not going to happen for me ... BUT if you only had a few days left to study, how would you recommend I allot my time? In particular, I am mostly worried about improving my verbal score to at least a 155+ (the higher, the better) so if you had to give some last minute tips (vocab? strategy?), what would you say? There is a little bit of good news! One of the communications schools (an Ivy League, surprisingly) says they throw out the Q score entirely (hurrah!) and look at only verbal and essay, in particular. That gives me hope that the rest of the schools may follow suit? Thanks for your advice

I can only speak for my own programs, but I'm applying to Communications/Writing ones so I would say yes, someone definitely reads them lol (multiple people, I'm sure.) I also agree with what someone said in this thread earlier - they wouldn't ask for one if they didn't plan on reading it ... even if it's just quickly glancing through. Programs that don't include English/Writing, however, will probably also be more lenient (given you don't butcher the thing entirely.) This really gives me a lot of hope I had lower GRE scores (in those percentiles ) but a high AWAg (5.5), strong samples, and what I believe to be also a strong personal statement. A girl can dream!

Thanks for the good luck guys! I'm gonna need it. One of my recommenders is still not coming through. Deadline is in 2 weeks. If he's pushing this down to the final wire, the week before I think I'm going to need to be a little more persistent than I am now (right now i'm trying not to be that annoying pain in his side, even though every F-ing day I want to pin him down and scream at him. He's had 2.5 MONTHS.) I am SO SORRY that you had to deal with this. I understand exactly how you feel and you have every right to be upset. Have you considered emailing the school and explaining your situation, then asking if you can submit a back up one? I might do that with mine. I would hope schools are somewhat sympathetic to these types of situations. It's extremely unfair for us as applications to have our entire chances ruined because other people do not follow through with their commitments. I said this before before, but this is the one aspect of the application that is entirely out of our control, which is why I think it tends to drive some people (self included) particularly bonkers.

Phew! Thanks for the feedback guys. I know I can't be so sure, but I hoped that it might be the case, since it is a "writing" program after all. Will keep my fingers crossed

I am applying to about 4 Masters in Professional Writing programs (and 6 communications ones, but that's for another thread!) One of my dream schools is Carnegie Mellon - I just sent in my application for them yesterday (waiting on 2 recommendations, but that's it!) Here's the thing .. I have a low GPA (3.0, but from a top 10 undergraduate business school), higher Major GPA (about a 3.6) and not very good GRE scores (let's just say, around 50% for V and worse for Q :/) However, I scored a 5.5 on my AWA, submitted some high quality writing samples (published news articles and academic papers which earned a 100% in class), and poured my everything into my personal statement (which garnered very positive feedback from some unbiased parties.) With that said ... of course admissions said everything was weighted equally, but I just want to know if for a professional writing program, if you think the ability to write is most important. Everywhere else in my application is quite weak except for my writing. I hope that counts for something ...

Hello! I am by no means an expert but I edited it a little bit .. hope this helps! In October 2003, I was diagnosed with a (illness) which later was discovered to be (illness). Treatment for this My treatment required me to be hospitalized for a surgery during finals week of (when??) where they doctors placed a (xxx) in me. Before I was diagnosed, I was often in the emergency room or at a doctor’s office for approximately X% of the semester/s (being more specific would probably help ...how long? 50% of the semester? 75%? ) due to the discomfort from my illness. Because of this my circumstances, I was unable to attend the majority of two classes, (class 1 & class 2), both of which placed heavy weight on attendance and a final project (I would try to avoid a "making excuses" tone like "I feel like it contributed", etc ... just state the facts)I feel like it contributed to my low GPA due to the fact two of my classes, (class) and (class) were classes where attendance and my final project weighed heavily on my final grade. As a result, I received a 1.6 GPA in the [semester] of [year]. In the following semester, however, I was able to raise my GPA to a 2.2. (maybe list more positive merits if you have any) Medical documentation of this illness and treatment can be provided upon request.

Thanks headcold. I feel the same way. Today 2 of my recommenders miraculously came through (bless their souls), but the third one is still driving me absolutely insane with his disappearing act. I have a more casual relationship with him so I can text and call and skype him, but I'm backing off lately to give him some space ... but if it's late January and he still doesn't come around, I'll have to drum up the pressing one more time ... I just hate having to beg, practically.

Also - it looks like this guy may not be able to be depended on - find a back up pronto! Even if it's not your top choice, you don't want to sink your shot at getting in because of one recommender's flakiness.

I have a recommender like this and it is one of my greatest fears, because this person has been back and forth for 2 months and is almost impossible to pin down. It looks like your professer has the exact same track record as my guy. You don't want to become a pain in their rear but at the same time they're NOT DOING WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO. It's a serious lack of professionalism so I 1000% understand your frustration. I'm sorry you have to go through with this .. and I'd say in this case it won't hurt to try one last time. To add a spice of urgency, ,maybe add this - Dear XXX, Thank you for agreeing to write a letter of recommendation for me. I am emailing to send you a friendly reminder that the deadline of XXX is quickly approaching, and if all of my materials are not submitted by such date then my application will be dropped and I will be automatically rejected from my program. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you with this process, and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely, XXX To me, it's polite, not too pushy but still urgent. I underlined, bolded, etc too. Seriously. If someone who gave you their WORD they would write a recommendation for you doesn't come through with absolutely no excuses, that's a lack of integrity and you have every right to be upset. Good luck!

Also just in case - if worse comes to worse and people really aren't submitting their recommendations in time and they really DO end up screwing me over ... Will the University be completely unsympathetic and reject you automatically? Because I feel like that's really not fair.

Thanks for your responses everyone! One of my recommenders got back to me and was pretty amazing, he sent them all in very quickly so I'm thankful for him. Usmivka - I'm surprised at this! I thought contacting them every two weeks is a little much, especially since they're doing you a favor, you know? And if they hear from you every 2 weeks they'll get pissed off/annoyed and not want to write it for you at all. I don't know, is it reasonable, though? At this point I am kind of desperate ... Otherwise ... yep, nothing's changed. And admittedly I wasn't the best student in school and was closer to my work supervisors I was about to get a recommendation from one of my professors who knew me the most (she agreed immediately), but she was the one who had to cancel suddenly last minute for personal reasons. Otherwise, many of my professors barely knew me. I know it may look kind of bad that I don't have many professors to ask, but I'm not sure what else to do... I guess at this point i just have to wait. Yesterday I sent "friendly" email reminders, and if it comes down to the final thread I'll have to send them a more urgent email reminder a week before Feb 1.

TakeruK - My situation is unique because I have a business undergraduate degree and wish to go a completely different route with my career now (Writing). I worked for a few publications and a few companies where I worte and rewrote copy so I thought they might be better suited to comment on my writing skills. Of the people I asked, about 5 were employers and 2 were professors. One professor initially said yes, then emailed me earlier this month all of a sudden saying she could no longer write me a recommendation because of personal reasons, which made my heart sink because I excelled in her classes, as they were more writing-heavy. The other just flat out didn't respond. Also another reason why I asked for December (around Dec 15, not the 1st) was because some of the early decision deadlines were in January. But I have already missed those now. Honestly I don't think it's too unreasonable to give people a month to write recommendations ... that's plenty of time, especially since I provide them templates. I like to stay ahead of everything and I especially don't want to get to a point where I continue to let it slide and then nobody has submitted a week before it's due! But that's just me ...

Thank you love! I had a minor freak out moment but someone finally got back to me - it wasn't my top choice for a rec but it's something ~phew. The thing is a lot of these people aren't even my professors! They're previous employers. I suppose I'll have to just keep my fingers crossed though. Do you think if professors don't want to write me a letter (all of my employers agreed) they would at least tell me or just ignore me

I've been wanting to tear my hair out lately. That, or punch a hole in the wall. I have asked for letters of recommendation from about 7 different people (for 3 letters) and all of them - every last one of them - has been a disappointment. Initially they agreed with enthusiasm but have been absolutely terrible at following through. One cancelled on me last minute, another continually lags and keeps telling me he'll have it in by "the end of the week" (and guess what? it never is. This has been going on for 2 months) and others have pulled complete Houdinis and just vanished. I'm beginning to feel like I'm becoming a pain in these people's asses because I keep sending friendly reminders (only 2 actually, one a month), to no avail. I've even written extensive templates for them to follow to make it literally as easy as possible, but even that won't do. For some reason people keep dropping off or not returning emails. I understand that they're busy, but I am actually shocked at how 7 different people can be so unprofessional. Keep in mind, I asked for recommendations back in the beginning of November and gave them a month. After 2, many of them are still unresponsive. Which leads me to my question - my first round of deadlines is on Feburary 1st and I have practically exhausted all of my resources (I mean I only worked for so many people - I only recently graduated college back in May.) I have a handful of professors where I made an As in their classes ... however, their classes have absolutely nothing to do with the programs I am applying to. I am desperate at this point and want to at least ask, but I don't know if the irrelevency will be off-putting to some schools. Should I go ahead and do it anyway? Do you guys have any advice on what to do about the other recommenders? Unfortunately I can't just "give up" on them - I'm in too deep already and time is running out. If they all screw me over, however (and I wouldn't be surprised with their track record), I am going to be extremely upset.

Ack, getting a D just cause your prof didn't respect your views? That's harsh, man! Thanks for the encouragement, take the GRE on Sat so I'm hoping I'll kick butt I'm applying to USC too btw! Best of luck with your app process!

Oooh lord haha, my bad. Writing's nice, spelling not so much... Excuse me. CALIBER I mean, what would you consider a "stellar GRE?" Like a 330 or above?

Yay I'm so glad I came across this thread! So inspiring I'm applying to 6 top and middle-tier schools with a 3.04 GPA, but am hoping to do well on the GRE Saturday and really hope to blow them away with my SOP. Does anyone know anything about Corporate Communications or PR programs? I've heard a few mixed thigns about acceptance, but I don't want to let my guard down too much ... Good luck to everyone, I'll be checking back in!

Taking my GRE Saturday ... eep. Then after that, buckling down big time with essays and everything should be in by January! If I really bomb the GRE though, I might retake it again in Jan and hold off on submitting to some schools in Feb.

Hey guys, I touched on this before, but I have a 3.04 (to be specific) from a Top 10 Undergrad BBA program, and I'm applying to a few high calibur Corporate Communication/PR programs. OK to be specific - Columbia, Northwestern IMC, Georgetown, USC, NYU, and BU. No, it ain't science or law, but I was just wondering if any of you had insight/feedback on likelihood of being accepted. I do have some experience with Comm/PR related stuff in my undergrad and post grad, so I hope that will help, though it's all less than a year. For example, Columbia requires a 3.0 minimum GPA, but err ... I barely meet the cut off. I take the GRE this Saturday and am aiming for at least a 160 in each section. I know, it's not spectacular, but most likely it's what I'm going to make (maybe verbal will be a little higher, if I can push it up to a 165 by then I'd be ecstatic.) The other thing is ... I'm ashamed to admit ... I did get an F in one class. I won't go into the dirty details but some issues occured during college, and of course at the time I wasn't even considering grad school. Some of you have advised me to wait a year before applying again, which I appreciate, but I still think I'm going to try this time around for kicks. I'm a pretty good writer, so hopefully I can impress with my essay. Any thoughts? What would I need on my GRE to make up for this? My letters of Rec are from old bosses, but they're at smaller, private companies. Thanks and good luck with your process!

Eep, I'm applying to 6 and I think that's already quite a bit. However, I'm pursuing a less "popular" degree (Communications) and program offerings are limited and not the same across the board. 4 of the schools I really want to get into have deadlines in January, so I'm putting all my energy into applying for those first. After those are out of the way, I'll send off the apps to the other schools (deadlines are in Feb/March). I hope that's enough for me, but if nothing works out I'll have to find a Plan B .... Overall, I think maybe 6-10 would be sufficient? Like others have been saying, however, it probably depends on your program and how competitive it is.

@Chai_Latte ... thanks for the input. I think at this time, I may leave out applying to Medill, or i'll just see where the chips fall with them. Not really have high hopes, that is, because they seem to be looking for people who are a little more established in their careers (or have a spectacular undergraduate track record.) Though I really did want to go to Chicago, *sigh* I think it's a little strange Columbia seems (operative word) to be accepting students with a lower GPA (although they're secretive on their GRE scores), but like you said, think I'm just going to go for it because well, why not?

@bearcat ... Yes, I completely understand. Especially since Medill "prefers" students to have 2 years of work-related experience, to show emotional maturity (though they've said they have accepted students.) Columbia, on the other hand, said they prefer students with no experience, and their cutoff is a 3.0 (literally squeezed by that one, yeah? Maybe there's a shot?) I managed to reach the admissions coordinator in Medill via email (I tried calling and left a message, but she never returned it) but she doesn't seem too open to giving advice. I guess it can't hurt to try again, however, and clearly articulate why I want to do this. All in all, I kind of feel iffy about the personal statement as well, especially since - if done wrong - it could look like "she hated working so decided to run away to grad school again." Which, honestly and truly, is not the case. But I'll probably have to rake my brain to portray what sets me apart as a special snowflake applicant. Thanks again for being lovely in your response!