Itsalongshot

I think it depends on the professor as far as how soon they want you to contact them. And of course, since you don't know them, it's hard to know when they want you to contact them! I applied at Wheaton this past year (for admission fall 2013) and I actually emailed and met with my prospective mentor there a year and half before the application was due. And I was not the first person to do that, and the prof said he loves when students reach out early on like that. It lets him know that they actually want to study with him and aren't just trying to go anywhere. (In the end I made it to the interview round but wasn't admitted.) But then I also applied at Princeton and their website said that they like students to visit in Sept-Nov of their application year, so that's what I did. (Not admitted there either). I think if you're ready to email a prof, it doesn't hurt to go ahead and do it. Waiting too late might hurt you, but I doubt emailing too early would!

I applied to the NELC dept at Ohio State and on Thursday the decision of my application appeared. But I have yet to receive an email or letter from the University. So in this case, the website application center was the first, and only place so far, where I found out what was going on!

Do you have any idea when they will actually notify? The results from last year look like it won't be until mid March.

You could try doing a practice essay on ETS's "score it now" website. You pay $7 I think and write an essay, either timed or untimed and they give you a score, complete with feedback about why you received said score and then they give you an example of a perfect essay. I used this last year and found it helpful.

One thing you can do is just to ask. I met with professors at each of the schools I applied to and asked them what were the most important things in the application for them. One said the writing sample was crucial and indicated that she'd read the whole thing. Another said other items were more important and said as far as the writing sample went, he'd just look at the first couple pages and then glance at the footnotes and bibliography.

I think Manhattan's GRE books are the best by far. More expensive, but they come with online practice tests that show you where you're weak. They were definitely worth it for me!

Has anyone heard from Ohio State or know when they will notify?