BuddingScholar

Is that too much paranoia? Do you think ADComs are reading these posts here? I wonder if, even here, we ought to write beautifully. I know, I know, I am going insane.

I applied to 9 schools, but am pretty confident I will be rejected accross the board. So I am planning to study and increase (considerably) my GRE scores, learn a new language (German), be published at least a couple of times, and present more papers, volunteer at a museum, and move to NYC. Aahhhh... I will certainly be done with my application well before the deadlines also. Voila!

I am a foreigner, though I am graduating from an American university. I got 159V, 153Q and 2.5AW. I was very ill during my GRE test and decided to focus on the verbal only. I figured that since I would have to submit a writing sample, SoP, and so forth, they would get a real idea of what my writing is like through those, so I only wrote two short paragraphs for each writing section. I guess that "sort of" explains my very poor score, though not my bad decision. Obviously, I regret now! But it's too late to retake it. Everything else in my application [i think] is very strong: perfect GPA, honors, fellowships, research awards, several languages, etc. Should I count myself out of the competition? By the way, I am applying to the top 10 Ph.D. in art history programs in the country. thanks!

You are right! At first, I didn't think it would make a difference, besides I know I can get substantially higher scores under normal circumstances. I am already working on plan B and taking the TOEFL is certainly part of my to-do list now.

I am also a minority and never got anything from Harvard... I am sure it means something. It sounds promising! best of luck.

Meant "do not" need to take IELTS/TOEFL.

Unfortunately, because I am graduating from a US school I do need to take the IELTS/TOEFL. So I will not have that to offset my GRE scores. I guess I should start working on plan B and next year's applications. I plan on retaking the GRE this month. In case I do not get anywhere now, at least I will have gotten that one out of the way right away. Hopefully I will have a better chance of being accepted in any of these schools next year. Thank you so much everybody for your help!!!

I am applying to Art History Ph.D. programs in top tier schools (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU and UC Berkeley). I am a foreigner (Brazilian), though I must say that I don't like to use that as an excuse for my poor performance in the GRE. I got a 159 verbal, 153 quantitative, and 2.5 in the writing. Though I am confident these scores are not representative of my acumen, I could not retake the exam in time to meet application deadlines. Yes... I proscrastinated! I was very ill during the test, and chose to concentrate my efforts on the verbal section, since I thought it would be the most challenging and important one. In fact, I skipped most of the questions in the quantitave portion (especially the ones that required a little more thinking), and only wrote a couple of paragraphs for each writing section. I was done with the writing in less than 10 minutes. Anyway, excuses aside, I am well aware that I may have completely screwed up any chances of being accepted anywhere. I do, however, have a strong GPA (3.94 cumulative and 4.0 my major). I am part of my school honors program and will graduate summa cum laude this Spring. I have been the recipient of several grants, scholarships, and fellowships. I have won many research awards. My letters of recommendation are very strong, and I "think" my writing sample and SoP are also pretty good. I have won a few awards for the research paper I submitted as sample. In addition to that, I am a successfull photographer with work exhibited accross the globe and with photographs in major public and private collections in the US and Europe. I forgot to mention that my area of interest is history of photography and modern art, so I am hoping that my photographic career will count for something (maybe). I have also worked as the art director for the art and literary magazine in my school and curated an exhibition recently at a local museum. I can speak, read and write fluently in four languages: Portuguese (native language), English, French and Spanish, and have a basic knowledge of Latin and Italian. Please pardon what appears to be excessively "amour-propre." Honestly, I just wanted to give you a general idea about some of my more important accomplishments in order to get your opinion on whether I still stand any chance of being accepted anywhere. Please believe me, though I have applied to top tier schools, I am constantly doubting that I even stand any chance (regardless of GRE scores). In summary, my most prominent weaknesses: poor GRE performance and graduating from a non Ivy League school. I appreciate your honest feedback. thanks for your time! Alex Leme P.S.: Do you think age is a problem? I am 34 years old and only now I am receiving an undergrad degree. I am the first one in my family to achieve that though.