socialcomm

Some of this will depend on one of my recommendation writers...

I did something fairly similar to Swis -- I emailed them a general overview of my background which contained information they wouldn't have known otherwise. I didn't suggest what to include or not to include -- although perhaps I should have!

Do you know what areas you're weakest in? Do you have the time/motivation to study and take it again? If you're going to take it again, I'd concentrate on areas you know you're having trouble in. Whether it's with a class, a tutor, anything that will help you. I retook, albeit a year later, and raised my score 130 points, so it is doable.

I've heard this too. I'm in a similar situation, but it turned out that at the school I took the single class at they don't charge for transcripts. I really lucked out!

You're lucky you got to take the hard copy version! For me, it was so hard to tell how I was doing. I ended up doing better at quant than I thought, but not as well as I thought I was going to do with verbal. But it's done -- good luck with the rest of your application process!

I'll take a look at it if you'd like.

Personally I think it sounds like you've handled it well in your SOP -- like you said, a good balance. But I have no experience in this area at all!

Thank goodness!! Great quote.

How were your practice test scores in relation to your actual scores? You said you won't be able to retake... but I think it would help you out a lot to retake it if you're able to study over the next few weeks and still take it in time to meet deadlines.

I agree with the previous posters. It's important to read the schools' guidelines for how they'd prefer letters be submitted.

What are your career goals? Teach? Research? You could research as a practitioner. If you have a masters, you might be able to teach at the community college level (although this puts you in competition with people with PhDs). Is there a career services organization you could check in with to see what you might want to do and how to get there?

Do they give any detail as to what they're looking for in a writing sample? I've seen a couple that say the sample should be on the topic you'd like to study in grad school (which would support sending in your undergrad sample) and others that recommend something from a masters program if you have a masters. Of course that's just recommended so it's not like in your case you'd have to draw from your masters work. If you use your undergrad sample, they'll still see your transcript from grad school, right, so they'll see that you thrived!

I'd put whatever is on your transcripts. But yes, I do understand where you're coming from.

I really like your philosophy on this.

I'd love the answer to this question to be no, but in reality I'd bet that's not entirely the case. There are probably things people can do while in school though, like publishing as much as they can, being very active in the field, and networking, networking, networking, that could help them once they're on the market. We can't control our age, so try to do the best you can in other areas to make yourself a stronger candidate in the job market.

As I said yesterday (that was yesterday, right?), communications is a broad field. What aspect of communications are you interested in? That'll in part help answer your questions. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the short end of the stick?

Yeah, I'd assume that the April 1 applicants might not be considered for funding.

Anyone attending the USC graduate open house in November?

I agree with Fuzzy -- but you might want to clarify with your LOR writer. It really depends on what field you're going into and the particular program -- in some cases you know exactly who you'll be working with going in. On the other hand, there's one program I'm applying to where you get matched up with an advisor until the second year so you don't really come in working with someone (but you should have people in mind you'd like to work with in the future).

I'm sorry you had such a trying time with the exam -- it certainly is a nerve-racking experience. However, with a 380, I really think you should try to retake it. PP gave good ideas about studying -- courses/books/practice problems. It also might be a good exercise to figure out WHY it's causing you such distress that you think you'll get ill. Learning to control stress/anxiety will be good for graduate school!

Did the Film/Media studies get moved somewhere? For some reason I thought they had their own section.

Communications is a huge field. What in particular are you interested in?

Yay, congrats!

Also, just practice as many as you can before test day.