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Sorry so late to this. May no longer be relevant, but I do know something about the program at UVA. It's a good program. I've met a few students, some staff and professors from the program at conferences. Everyone was very nice. In particular Mable Kinzie is pretty interesting, she's one of the professors there and is very nice. Also Glenn Bull, another professor, is pretty prominent in the arena. If you haven't already checked it out, I'd recommend you do.

Congratulations on your acceptance. I think ASU's program is better known within the edtec community -- lots of professors come from there, but NYU's program looks very impressive from what I've read of it. One odd thing I noticed was ASU's edtec website has been completely redone, the edtec page looks like it's been stripped to a bare minimum, not a factor per se, but is a bit off-putting. Did you choose ASU? If so was the funding sufficient? I'm very curious as I'm considering applying to both programs this fall. Would love to hear what you chose to do. thanks!

I can't speak to the Social Studies programs, but I'll tell you this -- I went to Syracuse undergrad, and I lived in NYC for 12 years after that. I don't know if the $20,000 is in tuition alone, but if you live up there already know you're gonna save a ton of money on cost of living too. A lot of people pass through the TC Masters programs, so I'd really weigh whether that degree is really worth the extra $20,000 if its just about TC. I think you'll get a good education either place. Hell there are people coming out of far lower ranked programs than Syracuse getting teaching jobs -- maybe not their first choice right away, but it also depends on where you want to work. Good luck!

I went to Syracuse undergrad, I live in Los Angeles now. Yes the city of Syracuse is cheaper than LA, but they are both large private universities and, if not funded, are expensive. Ironically, Syracuse's campus is in the nicer part of Syracuse, USC is in a not so nice part of Los Angeles (though the campus is nice). I know absolutely nothing about computer scinece but here's one more thing to consider, it was in the mid to upper 80s today her in Los Angeles -- it's currently raining and 35 degrees in Syracuse. If you go to Syracuse you will see snow on the ground from October through April. It gets very cold in the winter and when it's not snowing it's often raining. Not that thesee are bad things, it's also very pretty in upstate NY but it's worth noting, USC is 12 miles from the beach and it's warm and sunny in LA 85% of the time. good luck!

if you're not looking at any other schools, I don't know why GRE would be a concern, but that said, Education Students avg. the lowest GRE scores of any field in the ETS comparison charts. As for NYC, if you are living rent free, you just upgraded your income by about $40,000. So don't be discouraged about being in NYC with your future spouse. Everything in NYC is expensive but it's the Rent that kills you, pure and simple Being a long time NYC resident, (who now lives on the West Coast) but has also been looking at both these programs for doctorates I'll tell what I know. TC apparently has that TC Mafia thing going, so if you do wind up going elsewhere it probably has a better networking system than NYU. Commuting to NYU from Brooklyn will save you 200 blocks of commuting probably an hour a day. I don't know about funding from NYU, but serioulsy doubt you'll get anything from TC in a Masters program. Most attend there while they're working. Have you looked at Hunter or CUNY? They're a lot cheaper. I don't know about tyour he particular specializaton, but the ed schools are decent (obviously not in the same rankings as NYU & TC) good luck

You may not get the chance to address it in an interview if they do hold it against you. Rather than an addendum, why not incorporate that into your essay, not directly per se, but perhaps discuss your past experience with failure, what you learned, how it motivated you to move ahead, etc. I'd had to justify a poor undergrad transcript (granted from years ago) and focused on the changes and growth between then an now. I think you can include something along those lines without it seeming too hamfisted. just a suggestion.

Not every irrational fear is symptomatic of a cultural phenomenon. Sometimes people are just confused or naive. have a beer.

locating their application without emailing them to ask, adds 15 pts to your overall applicant score.

if you're concerned about your undergrad gpa re getting into a Doctoral program, I'd agree about shooting for the Masters first. I'd not agree about choosing a program because you can't afford to take the GRE. I don't know how long you've been out of school, and I don't know what your goal is with these degrees, but I'd take that time to see if you could get some real world experience if you don't already have some. My assumption is, if you considering a recommendation from a lecturer at your former college than it's probably pretty limited. Because a professional recommendation in that area would carry weight too. You want to make sound decisions at this point in your life. If you did get into Columbia's Masters program purely as a means to an ends, do you really want to start racking up those types of debts when you currently can't even afford to take the GRE? -- I've worked in film and television for years, cinema studies graduate degrees don't get jobs in the industry (MFAs from USC and maybe NYU film programs yes--- but not the cinema studies degrees), so my assumption is you know this and your interests are academic. Real world experience can be quite helpful. Unless you're 100% certain about exactly what you want to do why rush like this to get into an expensive masters program you don't have a passion for?

I suppose if you're applying for an MFA or something or that nature it would be fine, even appropriate. But unless you're extremely confident in you creative writing ability and familiar with your audience, I'd agree with the above poster and err on the side of caution. Admittedly I know nothing about the Research Proposal structure as compared to the SOP, but even effectively used, humor can be misinterpreted as cheeky or even gratuitous in the wrong company.

I sympathize, and wonder myself if I should take them again. It got me in to my MA program, but I'm planning on applying to doctoral programs next year. I've been in the working world a long time and have been writing professionally for several years. I've sold scripts and articles, authored technical manuals, financial, scientific and legal presentations and been published in major publications. I got a 4.5. Granted, with both essays I felt very rushed towards the end and my conclusions suffered. I'd not be surprised to see this exercise modified or removed from the GRE in the next couple of years. Frankly it's a ridiculous exercise.

I took the GRE 6 months ago, I'd not taken a standardized (or non-standardized) tests in about twenty years. I was confident in my writing, pretty sure of my verbal and worried about Quant, so I focused 90% on quant. That said, when I did finally look at verbal, I'd realized pretty quickly that applying a formula to the verbal questions will be much easier and efficient than trying to memorize the potential words. Knowing roots was way more important than memorization in my opinion. I didn't get the scores that some of you guys got, but I broke 95th percentile having put a total of maybe four hours of worrying into verbal (twenty two years since I'd had any type of formal education mind you). Sure, if you're cable of memorizing everything it's impossible to fail. But think of it this way, what's the most efficient way of answering the following: 478.53 x 36.002 = ? A. Learning and applying a mathematical formula or process, such as simple multiplication B. Memorizing your times tables up to 500 and the third decimal

More great advice. That's really good point. Thanks! Justin

Thanks! That's really helpful. Yes, the majority of the programs post the minimal GRE score, with the caveat that they are the only a minimum for grad school acceptance (few distinguish between MA or PhD score requirements) Of them, maybe half include the AW scores, and none have been above my score of 4.5. In fact one of the top programs makes a point to state they do not even consider the AW scores. Your point makes sense and your experience is really a help. Thanks.

Hi Rex, I'm 44, I've been out of college for half a life time and just started my Masters last week in a different field than my work history. Like you, I also have asaspirationso pursue my PhD. I got my 3 LORs from: a manager at my current firm who's area of expexpertise similar to my areas of study, a former business associate of mine, and a long time friend who is an academic. I felt a combination of refelection on work ethic, suitability for the field and a general knowledge of my intellectual ability was a good combo for someone like me (or you) who have been out of school and in the professional world. In my Statement of Purpose I drew a connection between what I've been doing and my interests in the field. Honestly, for me the hardest part was preparting for the quant of the GRE after not seeing a math problem since senior year in high school. Hope that helps a little. Justin

While I agee with the above assessment of the AW, I have the same question as I encountered similar issues. I'm also applying to ed programs and I didn't prepare much for the AW because writing is the only thing remotely associated with the GRE that I've actually been exposed to in a long time (I'm a returning grad student). I'd expected a 5.5 or 6.0 and wound up with a 4.5 (which I blame on the time limits -- it's a ridiculous exercise, at the very least it would be better served by shaving a 10th of a point of your score for every minute you go over, etc rather than cut you off mid-sentence). I'm fine with my other scores, but definitely feel that the AW doesn't reflect my ability. That said, I agree the writing sample should be a clearer indicator, but I'm curious if there's a scale they cut-off at. It just seems they'd be inclined to place much more weight on writing samples, especially at those two schools (both of which I'm also considering). J

I used the Barrons book and struggled with Quant as well. When I finally to the PowerPrep tests I was relieved to see I did significantly better. When I finally took the GRE I wound up scoring a bit higher on the verbal and a bit lower on the quant then I did on PowerPrep. But like you Quant was my big issue and I did respectably. So I'd say, from my experience the Barrons book was a lot tougher on me in the quant, (which may have ultimately helped) than the PowerPrep or the GRE for that matter. Hope that helps. Good luck.

That's the 25th percentile. It's a red flag. Buy a GRE book, take lots of practice tests. I'm sure you can and will do significantly better on a re-take.

This started out as what appeared to be an earnest question and quickly dissolved into a childish string. But to the point of the original question, I do agree with "the spirit" of of many of the responses. I've been out of school for over two decades, I work a fulltime job and was carrying two preliminary graduate courses when I took the GREs. (I also have family obligations.) I had about two weeks to prepare, had not taken a math class in over 25 years nor any traditional academic courses in over 20 years. I did well all things considered and I'd never been a much of a test taker. Again, I'd had not had formal education in over two decades and was completely outside of the academic world, wherea it sounds like you're still very much in that groove. So I don't see the point of dreading the preperation for this exam, which it does sound like what you are doing. Lamenting the necessity of taking standardized tests to get into an American graduate school is like complaining about metric measurments on the Canadian highways. It may be silly, but if you you want to drive there you need to play by their rules.

I sympathize, I'm by no means a math wiz either. By the way, your first time preapring, did you take the practice tests while you were studying? Those helped me quite a bit. I also found the practice tests on the GRE website to be pretty close to the actuals. The practice tests in the book I'd used (I think it was Barrons) were actually harder. Good luck! J

PRACTICE TESTS! I'd go through with it if I were you, you'll eat the money if you postpone it I think and If you really think you choked they give you the option to cancel the test scores after the exam and they won't be held against you. I took the GREs in March. I'm in my 40s and had not taken a math class in 26 (Twenty-Six) years. I had about one to two weeks to prepare for both math and verbal. I studied the GRE book about 2-3 hours a day (Barrons I think) then took two practice tests a day. (usually one before and one after). My first score on my first practice test was about 490. I scored a 610 on the actual GRE and I know I made two silly mistakes and really think I could easily have hit 650. By the way, I found the tests in the GRE study book I was using was were waaaaay harder than the practice tests on the GRE site, My scores on the practice tests went way up once i started taking the GRE practice tests. So did my confidence. Good luck.

The verbal is great, but the quant is poor. I realize you're going for a degree in the humanities with Art History but you're way below the 50th percentile with 480 in quant -- it 's below 30th percentile. I think you should take them again. I know it's a drag. I'm like you I did very well on vebal and struggled with quant. I took my GREs in March, I've not taken a math class in decades (seriously decades), but I got a GRE book and studied the the math stuff for like 2 weeks and hit low-mid 600s. good luck. J