VioletAyame

I'm honestly perplexed by you Loric. I have not responded to you directly before but I feel I must express my confusion. You seem to be perfectly capable of giving honest, insightly and funny advice to a lot of people around here, and I think they do appreciate it. On the other hand, you're prone to personal attack and ad hominem too frequently to be a calm, reasonable person, and dare I say, intellectual. You respond vehemently and aggressively to everyone who disagrees with you and express contempt for them. Why? Simply because they disagree with you? Even if they're wrong (in some case they're not, in other cases it's a matter of opinions, and yet other cases who the hell really knows), that's no reason for you to find the person contemptible, only the idea (but then why would you reserve such strong emotion for an idea on the Internet?). Or because they are snide and snarky? Snide and snarkly alone do not deserve contempt, and furthermore you are snide and snarky. Sometimes it's funny; sometimes it's not; but being upset with another's attitude while displaying the same attitude is just childish. Perhaps I've just never encountered a poster like you before. People are either hostile and angry or calm and reasonable on the Internet in my experiece, but I guess it was a false dichotomy and you just opened my eyes. I'm gonna venture a call this "bipolar poster syndrome" and leave it at that. It's the way you are, and while I disagree with quite a few of your opinions, I don't find you contemptible. What I don't understand is you seem to be anti-academia (or whatever version of academia you have in mind, I'm not actually in that world yet and thus I don't know whether you or your opponents are correct) and have a lot of problems with a lot of people here, why are you hanging around? You've been helping a lot of people so I don't have a problem with that, but 2 things: first, you're applying just like the rest of us, and even a lot of admitted student said there are just too many variables in the process to be sure of anything, so I find it interesting that you are always absolutely sure of what you say. I think a lot of people have problem with this tone and attitude than just the content of your opinion. Second, since you're so sure of your opinions, you should be able to defend them without resorting to name calling. If you think you can't fairly defend them because people are picking on/bullying/persecuting you (which I don't think they are), simply stop coming here. Why give them your time of the day, especially for those for whom you have so much contempt?

Thanks trizzle! I do hope things will work out at the end, since nothing is official yet. Let me know if you have any news too!

When did you take the test? I think in most cases, your score will show on your GRE account only after the AWA score is in, so in the meantime, they show it as "absent or unavailable." If I remember correctly, right after the test you have the option of cancel or keep your score, i.e. it will show on your official record; then they show you your V & Q score, then let you pick institutions to send score reports to. So yes I think you will have the score on your record but no report will be sent. Ah I see that I'm a minute behind TakeruK. Oh well

4. I've seen the email from U Penn Annenberg. It does mention the dealine. In bold red letters.

Hi Yana, I'm also a non-native speaker, but I've been in the U.S for the past 5 years and got my B.A here. I think you might be in a same situation (getting your degree in an English-speaking country). I'm mentioning this because I think with constant exposure to English, especially reading textbooks and journal articles, the reading comprehension part of the GRE would come more naturally. I agree with pohks that learning vocab would be the fastest and most effective way to raise your verbal score since it affects both the sentence equivalence and the text completion parts. I made my own flashcards from free GRE vocab lists online (just Google it, there are tons of them) and then grouped words with similar meaning together. A lot of lists group them by prefixes & suffixes, but I found that it's easier to order them by meaning; I noticed that there is a disproportionate number of GRE words which mean criticize/verbal abuse/tirade. I studied all in all around 1000 words before I took the test. If you don't have time to make your own flashcards, Magoosh free GRE flashcards website & app are very effective and convenient too. I only found out about them at the end of my study so I didn't use them as much, but I really liked them. Also, take a lot of practice tests - as many as possible and save the 2 PowerPrep tests for the end so you can have a pretty clear idea of the achievable score range before the real test. Check out this pinned thread from the front page: There are several resources which you can try out to see which ones suit you the best.

Hi wombats, I really hope that line of thinking is correct. I got a phone call from my POI from one of the schools asking me if I'd be willing to switch my application to the Ph.D program (I applied to their M.A program since I thought I couldn't go straight to the doctorate w/o a master) since she wants to nominate me for the grad school fellowship. I'm crossing my fingers and also hope that with or without the fellowship (she did take time to explain that it's very competitive) I will at least get accepted.

I just got an email invitation to UCSB recruitment weekend, Jan 16-18. Is anyone else going? I would love to meet up!

I'm not in a Ph.D program yet, so I don't think I have a perpestive to give, but I do have some questions. Regarding Cons 5, is that particular for the STEM fields or for the social sciences as well? I always thought that the university pays your salary and grants are for particular research projects. I agree with suckiness of department politics and endless meetings, the lack of geographic/institutional mobility, but tenure does appeal to me. Ideally one can find a pleasant enough town and then learn to love it, but with the job competition right now, I don't think we have much of a choice. However, for Cons 7 & 9, I think that's only true as long as you haven't climbed the corporate ladder high enough and not yet become a high level excutive. At that point you do have to work extra long hours and handle managerial tasks. Regarding niche, I do believe that expertise can only come with specialization. And in my field at least, you're allowed to have several niches (I hope that's the correct plural), albeit they're usually closely related. One professor/researcher can specialize in political communication, civic engagement and media law; or media & technology, gaming and virtual identity, and violence in the media at once. I think that's quite enough to dedicate a research career to.

I don't know what Lucky Ducky is, but I immediately thought of Ducky Momo, Candace's favorite from Phineas and Ferb. Now I only hope there's someone here with young children who knows who Phineas and Ferb are.

My story is a bit long-winded. When I was in junior high, my friends nicknamed me "snaky", as in a little snake, and they said it was because I was skinny and wiggly (don't ask). I liked the idea of a mysterious creature that can be dormant most of the time but agressive when attacked, so I kept the nickname. Then we started reading a manga about a family suffering from a Chinese zodiac curse (it's real, it's called Fruit Basket, look it up) and the character whose zodiac sign was a snake was called Ayame. It's a he, mind you, but I liked the name so much I adopted it as my new nickname. Then even later, I found out Ayame can mean "iris" in Japanese, which made me like it even more. My favorite color was/is purple/violet, so Violet Ayame became my Internet name and thus a lovely iris as the avatar.

I might be wrong, but I think it is definitely a good sign. My reasoning is that a candidate can be accepted with or without a fellowship, so the number of acceptances will always be bigger than the number of fellowship recipients, and so being nominated for a fellowship is worth even more than being considered for acceptance. It doesn't guantee acceptance, but it does get you much closer to it, if that makes sense. The only thing I'm concerned is the letter came from the Graduate Office, not the department itself - my understanding is that usually the department nominates its candidates to the graduate school. That's my 2 cents, and I'll be waiting for your update with everyone else!

OMG I just heard back from Ohio State. The Director of Grad Studies emailed me (I talked to her before on the phone prior to application) and said my application is strong and she wanted to talk as soon as possible, before the comittee meets next week. I could't wait so I agreed to speak today. I just got off the phone with her and she wanted to ask if I want to switch my app from MA to PhD so I would be a better candidate for their fellowship nomination. Apparently you can apply to the doctorate program there without an MA and silly me thought I couldn't. So I guess it's not official yet but since she'll nominate me for the fellowship, acceptance is on the way! I'm just over the moon right now - best Christmas gift ever!

Haha I was tempted to go up here and post this too, but I was working that day and was too tired when I got home. Anyway good luck to everyone! I still have an MA app to finish (it's due in February) but I think I'm just gonna enjoy the holidays first. Yep, I already got a bit anxious whenever my cousin gives me the mail and I know most programs won't be reviewing apps until January! The process's screwing with my head too much.

I might be late to this thread, but I'm gonna weigh in anyway. I've been an international student in the U.S for several years now and I got my B.A degree here last year. Most schools I'm applying to waive the TOEFL requirement due to me receiving my B.A from a U.S institution. I saw that they would also do this as long as your main college's language of instruction is English and you got a degree/transcript to prove it. So check their website for admission requirements for international students - it varies from school to school and you'll never know. Also even if they say they require TOEFL on their website, you can still try emailing them explaining your situation and asking for exception. Both U Penn and U Michigan require TOEFL score even with my B.A, but when I emailed them, U Penn waived it for me but Michigan refused. Long story short, I'm not applying to Michigan anymore.

Nah I don't think it's negative per se. We just disagreed and went on our way debating civilly about it. Only Loric was kind of snarky - I was gonna reply to him/her, but then I checked out a few other threads and saw that he/she has a distinctive dramatic flair. So instead of replying, I just imagined him/her in a secret lair somewhere plotting to weed out the weakness in humanity Also Bullet Cat, I want to wish you good luck too, but from the other thread I take that you cancelled the test already?

Thank you so much for your advice. That was exactly what I was concerned about. I think I would get a present for one of my professor. She was my mentor and has helped me a lot during and after my project. When I couldn't afford to book a hotel room for a conference in DC, she told me to come and stay with her. I also gave her a Christmas gift last year, so I was gonna do it this year anyway. The other two I might just send them holiday cards, though one of them was just so helpful that I want to get him some hot coco!

My professors just finished uploading all those LORs for me and as the holiday season is coming up, I'm thinking of getting them little gifts before final, either something standard like a tide or a scarf or one of those cutesy "Best Professor" mugs online. Do you think it is appropriate to give present now or should I wait until I get the decision, then send them the gifts with thank you cards? The thing is, what if I don't get accepted anywhere? I'll still want to show my appreciation, but won't it be depressing then? Sorry if the question is silly

No, the idea that someone with a high GPA should get a high GRE score implies that they have the ability to study for the test and if they do so appropriately and diligently enough, they will do well. Of course everyone has to study for the test, but there's a difference between studying like crazy and studying like crazy, doing everything you can and still unable to pass it, which is what it sounds like a lot of time on the forum. I'm not defending the correlation between GPA and GRE, which is probably untrue, but it seems that the underlying assumption is that if you got a high GPA, you should know already how to study not only to ace what you're good at (writing paper, oral exam) but also to do well enough on what you're not so good at (taking test). If this was indeed the assumption, I would agree with it. For example, I absolutely hate group projects and teamwork, and thus have developed ways to cope with them, which brings me to my next point. In life, as in grad school application, we all have to do things we don't want to and/or think they're stupid to get to a goal. Of course the stress of taking the GRE is different than writing a paper or presenting a project. It's also different than dealing with teammates like in my example above, or for a more application-relevant example, than nagging professors and managing LOR deadlines. I happen to find it to be the most stressful part of the application, simply because I'm not very sociable to begin with, and I hate dealing with people. My point is, we all have our shortcomings and we all have to get over them to get things done at some point. At the end of the day, we may disagree about how useful the GRE is, but we all still have to take it, so isn't the better option is to buckle down and find a way to get it done than to complain? I think that's probably part of Loric's point, but he/she can certainly be much nicer about it.

I think it'll be easier to list my points, so here goes. -How do you suggest testing "research skill" or "research potential'? Can you propose some concrete mechanism that can be administered in a standardized test? And what do you mean by "innovative and critical thinking rather than the way they are designed now"? I feel that it's easy to say the GRE is insufficient, but it would be much harder to come up with a better alternative method. Like I said, the GRE tests critical thinking skill, basic writing, math and analytical skill, which I think is an appropriate foundation for most grad programs, and most of all, is "testable". Testing researching skill, while sounding much more appealing, is much less practical and almost impossible to do in a standardized test. So the GRE tests relevant skills in a manner that is more congruent with a 4-hour exam. I'm actually a bit confused about whether you think that any standardized test is bad or just that the current GRE is ineffective and thus can be improved. If it's the latter, I think it's doing a fairly decent job at what it sets out to do, and research skill can't really be measured this way. If it's the former, please read on. -So why then, you may ask, don't we do away with standardized test altogether? Writing sample is a much better indication of research potential. That might be true, but the thing is, there's no guarantee that the sample was written by the applicant. LOR would be a more valid indication, but again, the level of students between programs can vary widely. That's why a standardized test is still necessary: it standardizes the pool of applicants; it prevents fraud and plagiarism; and it provides a more even platform to measure people from different educational backgrounds. It should be considered together with the writing sample, SOP, LOR and GPA as part of a whole application, since each item/element would provide a different angle into the applicant's potential. If some programs use it alone as a filtering mechanism, they're misusing it and it's not the test's fault. -About separating test takers into different disciplines, they already have the subject test don't they? Schools who want that score can require it, otherwise why bother? Also most ad comms do attribute different weights to the V or Q or AWA score depending on their disciplines, so most humanities programs would not care much for the Q score and vice versa for STEM fields. It's not that I think having 3 separate tests is a bad idea; it just seems a tad unnecessary, and God forbids ETS has an excuse to increase the fee even more.

I agree that GRE is expensive and troublesome, and ETS is a terrible monopoly, but I don't think it's fair to say the test measures nothing. It's true that it's not really a test of research skills, but a lot of people applying for grad schools for the first time like myself would have little to none research skills to speak of. How can we be tested on something we haven't been taught? I take it as more of an aptitude test, as in how likely one is able to succeed in grad school. Now how accurate this measurement is is open to debate, but at least for me it did test critical thinking, reading apprehension, and basic analytical and math skills. The vocab list is a bit ridiculous, but other than that, I don't think there's anything outrageous about the test that makes it essentially useless. Any test is of course flawed in some ways, and there's always a bit of "testing the ability of taking the test" instead of whatever the aim of the test is, but being flawed is different than being completely invalid. And due to test anxiety, it won't be fair for everyone, but nothing in life or in the application is. Also, I think Loric was referring to the test taking skill in general, not the specific GRE-taking skill. And even though it's not necessarily any school's failing to prepare you to take test well, test taking is still a useful skill to have, just like doing presentation or debate skill. Is it a failure of the school if they didn't prepare you for that? Not necessarily. Would it be better if they did? Absolutely.

Hi theoreo, I'm applying to USC and UCSB too and I know that both have Dec 1st deadline for their online applications. USC allows supporting material (transcript & GRE) to be sent in until Dec 15th. I'm not sure about UCSB since they don't require official transcript until they make their decision, and I already sent in my score a while ago. But I do know they require a separate personal statement beside the SOP called the Personal Contribution/Achievement statement. So you still have quite a lot to prepare in not a lot of time. If you're taking the GRE next week, I don't think it will make the Dec 1st deadline (at least for UCSB, USC might be tight), so maybe you should email them to ask about sending the score in late.

I read from another thread that ETS wouldn't allow you to mix and match your scores (V from one test day and Q from another), so logically if your schools require both scores, I don't think it would look good sending in 2 sets of score, one with a NS, since it would kind of be the same of mix and match. I guess NS would work best for people whose programs only want V or Q score.

That is wise and funny and awesome at the same time. From now on I'm just gonna think of failing something as getting a head start on my grad school career!

Wow I haven't checked back to this thread in a while and was so pleasantly surprised by all the replies! You guys made me feel so much better about my chances, thank you. I just took my GRE last Friday and got 170V & 164Q, which I'm still giddy about. Hopefully my GPA and GRE score can compensate somewhat for my lack of experiences and publications. rhetormethis, USC is my top choice. I will definitely PM you and ask for advice. commcrazy, that is super impressive! Thanks for all the pros and cons - I guess there would be a list like that for any decision I make. Do you have any recommendation for some good and funded MA programs out there? Like Ly Đinh, I'm trying to diversify my options and I'm having a little trouble finding those. Duna, thanks for replying to my other thread about programs as well. I didn't know that you're at USC! I'm coming to the Prospective Graduate Student Visit Day on Nov 8, will you be there by any chance? Same question for rhetormethis - it would be great to have a chance to meet and talk to you.

Practice tests in chronological order: Kaplan: 149V, 155Q (before I started studying) Princeton: 159V, 163Q Manhattan Free Practice Test: 163V, 166Q Powerprep 1: 165V, 161Q Manhattan 6 practice tests package: average 164V, 166Q Powerprep 2: 166V, 162Q Actual test (unofficial score from 2 days ago): 170V, 164Q My study consisted of mainly doing practice tests over and over again while studying vocab. Manhattan seems to insist that my quant is better than verbal, while ETS disagrees. From what I see from other people's posts, the actual test score is also a bit higher than the practice score.