BunnyWantsaPhD

Question about LOR since we're on this topic: should I have someone who was on my thesis committee write me a letter, even if I never took a class with them and they were basically a reader at the end of the process (though I think they have a good idea of my personality, and seem to be able to write nice letters--he had great comments about my thesis at the defense; actually he had some of the best comments even though the other two were more involved)? (note: I'm from a very small, no name school). Or, should I have someone who is from a top university in the world who I took a 4 week study abroad course with write me a letter. This person hadn't finished her PhD at the time I took the course with her--but, it was a one on one course designed to specifically help the writing of my thesis. I think she's finished her degree now and I think she would also have great things to say. I'm just wondering if the reputation of the place she teaches would catch someone's eye. I guess I should just list the school--it was Oxford.

There's 28 schools out of the top 50 that don't require the Subject test. I forget which ones out of the top 30 in particular, though. I know that Chicago, Michigan, UPenn, Columbia, Duke, Brown, NYU, WashU, Northwestern, and a few others don't require it. It's pretty easy to figure it out from their websites... A lot of the websites I looked at in the top 10-20 say that the average scores are in the 90-95th percentile... : (

Thanks. So, I'm an idiot and thought that most of the applications were due December 15th like they were last year, but it looks like most of them are due December 1st. So now I'm freaking out because I'm still in the drafting process of my SOP. Someone suggested that I wait another year, but I think I can get it done and still have time for people to review them before I submit the applications. Am I just being overly optimistic? For my WS, I'm revising a chapter of my thesis. I know which schools I'm applying to and why. I just need to revise my SOPs from last year, fill out the online apps, and I scheduled to re-take the GRE on Nov 15th (which now I'm realizing that they scores are probably not even going to make it to most of the schools...sigh). Ugh. This process is so daunting. Thanks for sharing info about SUNY Buffalo! Glad to hear that it has a great environment. Any thoughts on how they weigh the GRE scores or anything?

Let me know what they say! ; ) Though, you're right, they probably will be vague.

I feel the same way that you do, purpleperson. I have a 158 verbal and want to apply to Northwestern, among other top notch schools. I'm re-taking the GRE on Nov. 15th, but I'm not even sure I'll be able to do better or even if I do, I'm not sure my scores will make it there in time! I'm going to apply no matter what--I think the best advice is that they can't say yes to you if you don't give them the chance. Though, I'm trying to be realistic. Everyone says that schools may want a 160-something and that a 160 is probably the lowest...and then you start thinking, well a 158 isn't that far off from a 160 so maybe I'll be fine, but I'm just not sure how true that is. I talked to a program that is ranked in the 60s according to the US News report and even they said that a 158 would be low on their scales (in terms of getting funding etc, not necessarily in terms of getting into the program). At any rate, I definitely would apply if you have the time/money. I would just be realistic about it all in terms of banking on getting in.

Thanks for the input jrockford27. I definitely can see how once you're in a program you'll worry less--I can definitely anticipate feeling that way. At this point I just want to get into a top 50 program. Though I'm exceedingly doubting my abilities to do so since I only have a 3.7 undergrad GPA, 3.9 MA GPA and a 158 verbal (it's really the GRE that's making me worry). Only time will tell I guess.

I leave for one day and there's so much to respond to! Thanks everyone for taking the time to help me think through all of this. Sorry for taking up time/space if this has already been covered to death on here. I guess I'm just looking for this magical answer to how to get into a program and there really just isn't one. To those that gave me information about the south--thanks for correcting my assumptions. Good to know more information about the south; I've just never visited anywhere there except for Florida, so I don't have a decent perspective (except for what you see in the media). To Bennet: my interests are the Victorian era (Dickens in particular) and gender studies (masculinity to be more specific). I want to branch out to the long 19th century so I can see the cultural, national shifts in constructions of gender. This is a pretty vague idea of what I'm studying, I know, so let me know if you want more info. I am still curious about what makes a school a "mid-tier" school then if the schools ranked in the 30-50s are part of the top tier. It seems like everyone has their own idea of what is in the middle for them, so it's hard to define, which is okay. I'm going to follow everyone's advice and just focus on fit and put out the best application that I can.

Right--that's why I said that I wasn't sure what qualified. What do you think qualifies a school as mid-tier? I'm just starting to wonder how much the rankings play a role in everything. For instance, does a school ranked in the 60s and 70s mean that you're much less likely to get a job?

Oh, add U of Buffalo, SUNY to the list. And, if anyone has information about GRE scores needed to get in to any of these schools, that would be great (I know it can be listed on their webpages, but if people have personal experiences that would be better).

I'm sure people have posted on some of these schools before, but I thought I'd have a place to have this discussion anyway. I'm just curious about the mid-tier schools (though I'm not sure what schools exactly fall under this category--I was thinking the schools that are ranked 30-50 ish). I'm trying to narrow my list of schools down and finding it hard. I'm focusing on fit and ranking as I'm pretty open to location, but now I'm starting to get curious about the location and how much the ranking actually matters once you get out of the top 20. I think I fit well with these schools, but don't really know much about them or their reputations (I have the rankings from US News, obvs). Anyone have any experience at these schools or have visited them? For Vanderbilt in particular I'm worried about it being in the South--thoughts on this? Does the school have a conservative slant? I guess I'm just looking for information that you can't find on their webpage. If anyone has experiences at these places or knows something informative about them that would be great to hear about. Sorry for vagueness!

Thanks for the advice. I have kaplan's 500 vocab flashcards. I thought I knew 425 of them for the test when I took it at the beginning of the month and that didn't seem to help. I can't imagine that the other 75 were my detriment. Though, I'll be studying them again to see what I can do!

Officially signed up to retake the GRE. Bought the Manhattan prep books. Got three weeks to study. It seems so improbable that anything is going to change, but I'm giving it a shot. Has anyone studied in such a short time with these books and done better? Let's hope so.

Good advice! I'm going to try it out! I'll keep you guys posted!

Thanks for all of the advice. I'll definitely check out various types of prep books before taking it again. I think I'm definitely going to give it one more shot, but man do I hate this thing. Sigh.

I wouldn't go so far as to say your achievements don't make you competitive, I just think that you need to be aware of what you're competing with and find an angle to make your application stand out. So, if you're grades aren't in the 3.8-4.0 range, that doesn't mean they aren't good enough (I have a 3.71 and think it is pretty good). It just means that you need to demonstrate in your SOP how your interests align with the program etc. Basically, you just want to make sure that anything you can make better that you do so. So, you can't change your GPA or where you got your degrees, but you can make sure you have a strong SOP, letters of rec, etc. It's worth thinking about re-taking the GRE. And, while funding might not seem important to you now, you might wish that you have it later. You gotta think about how much money you'll be making in your future job versus how much debt you are in. Obviously this depends on the profession; in English, for example, it would be ridiculous to get a PhD without funding because we're never going to make that much money. I'm not sure how this plays out in psychology. I'd ask some professors what they think you should do. Overall, getting down on yourself isn't going to help. But, knowing where you stand and what you can do about it will help.

right--it's in the middle, so that implies "average" or "mediocre." Most likely it's not going to completely decimate your application, but it's certainly not going to help. I've heard people say that they use the scores to determine funding as well--so your scores aren't going to be competitive enough to warrant funding (if the schools use it that way). Also, a 3.64 isn't that competitive either when you consider a lot of people applying to grad school will have a 3.8-4.0. I'm definitely not trying to be too harsh here or indicate that your application is going to fail, but I think you need to reorient yourself to what means "average," "good," "great," and "competitive" in terms of scores, grades, CVs, etc.

I definitely understand this point of view, as it was mine not to long ago. My issue is that a lot of the schools I'm applying to seem to have that cut off of 160 or, actually higher sometimes. The more people I talk to the more I hear that my scores are just mediocre or that they will only get me into mid-tier schools. I'd just hate to shoot myself in the foot by not trying one more time. Believe me, I don't want to spend the time or the money on this damn thing, but I'd also like to get into a school that I really want to go to. Here's to hoping I do better? Ugh.

Thanks for the advice! I've been thinking and I think that I will retake it because I want to try to put the best application forward and I just don't feel comfortable with my score. I know that my score might not change, but I gotta try. Also, I am applying to mostly schools in the top 40 (most of them in the top 20-25), so I know my scores need to be better. I was using Princeton Review, so maybe it was too easy? I tried at least one of the free tests from ETS and did alright, if I recall. I'll have to get some more prep. Oh, and Antigone, good luck on your 2nd test!

Thanks! I agree on the mental/emotional aspects. I think I just got psyched out this last test. On practice tests I was spending like 1/2 the time per question. So, hopefully I'll go in with a different attitude this time! I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I think I was waiting for someone else to give me permission to not think about it anymore, but the truth is that it's not that great of a score and I'm not okay with it. $185 isn't that much money if I'm investing in my future. I think I'll sign up again and hope for the best. Question: did you study more in between tests? I just don't know if I can really look at this thing any longer and I don't know if it is really helping.

I'm sure this question is getting annoying by now, but I just wanted some thoughts on wether or not I should retake the GRE. I took it last week and got the same score I got last year = beyond frustrating. My verbal was 158 and my math was 147. I'm not too worried about the math score, but I know that my verbal being in the 77th percentile is not good. On the practice tests my verbal ranged from 155-167, so I don't know how likely it is that I will do better. Any thoughts?

So since someone else has asked the dreaded "should I retake the GRE" question, I'll go ahead and ask it as well. I could really use some advice. So, I got a 158 on the verbal, which is in the 78th percentile. Should I retake it? On the practice tests I got scores of 157, 162, 155, 167. So, there's a possibility that I could score higher, just no guarantee. I just don't want to not get into some of the top schools (top 20/30?--I'm applying to at least 3 in the top 15) because of the GRE. Everyone keeps saying that it's the least important part of the application, but if schools say that they want scores in the 90-95th percentiles, does that mean that they're not even looking at other parts of the application? Is it worth the $185 to possibly not do any better? HELP!

Right. There really is no way to know how they think about the scores. Some places will tell you though---for example, I called Columbia and they straight up said that you should have scores in the 90 (or 95th, I forgot, ha) percentile. So, I'm not sure if I should just not apply if I don't get those scores, but I'll probably apply anyway... Also, I think it's just hard to know what makes a "good" SOP--I thought mine was good last year, and now when I look back, I realize that it was not (hence the re-applying). Same sort of goes for the CV--most people aren't going to have publications and awards, so does that mean that you don't have a good enough CV? Le sigh.

Thanks for the clarification. I definitely agree with what you've said. Though I will say for some of the top 20 schools it might matter more. I don't have evidence of that, but it does seem like their websites indicate that they want specific scores (such as in the 90th or 95th percentile). So, for the places that do list "average" scores or "minimum" scores, I'm going to go ahead and believe that they want scores in that range. On average, those scores seem to be much higher than the ones I already have, which is causing me to freak out. I'm just hoping that even at these places that want certain scores, it's still the least important factor in the application process.

I think everyone is putting out some good perspectives on this issue. It matters more to some places than to others, and we all don't really know how much it matters in the end. I just don't want to act like it doesn't matter at all, though I really wish it didn't...though, if I'm wishing for things, I wish it didn't exist. ; ) Oh, and omensetter, I'll be PMing you shortly!