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gingersnapsback

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  • Application Season
    2013 Fall
  • Program
    Information Science

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  1. I agree with what midnight said: professors are usually more than happy to write LORs for students even if it's been years. If possible, I'd try to go see them in person (Skype is good, too!); if not, send them a few samples of your work from their class. Usually, if you were a strong student, they'll remember you. Also, giving them your SOP, resume, and anything else you include in your application can be helpful to them as well. (Basically reiterated exactly what midnight said, but that was all good advice!) Good luck!
  2. I agree with daydreamer254. The weight that some programs put on the LORs can be radically different than others. My program required 3, but I only had to have one from faculty (it just didn't seem like that put THAT much weight on LORs, to be honest). Some programs put much more weight on GPAs (and you have a good one, so I wouldn't worry) or the GRE (some don't require it); some don't really seem to care about those at all. My program said the two most important things about my application was my SOP and another essay I had to write for them. Like daydreamer254 said, it doesn't hurt to ask. The one prof I did ask, and who did write my letter, said that he'll upfront tell students no if he doesn't feel like he can write them a strong letter. He won't waste his or the student's time. When I asked, I asked if he would be "comfortable" writing me a "strong" letter so as to give him the option to say no if he didn't feel like he could. I don't know how much time you have left until you graduate or are applying to grad school, but if it's awhile, you can always try to get to know the profs now. I transferred my junior year to my current university, and as soon as I knew what prof I wanted to write my letter, I made sure to go and see him during his office hours and took more than one class with him so that he could write me a strong letter. However, like daydreamer254 said, they don't need to know you that well and vice versa. When I asked my prof, I gave him my resume, SOP, and another essay for my grad school just to give him more information about me, why I wanted to apply, what I wanted to do once I graduate from grad school, and a bit of information about my previous work. He said that helped a lot. I think it's also a good idea to tell the prof why you're choosing him/her. The reason I chose my prof is 1). He graduated from grad school from a top 5 and 2). I do so much writing for his class (and do well), and I bombed the GRE AW, so I really asked him to highlight that. Also, getting some from employers is a good point. I already work in the field I'm going to grad school for, so I asked the director of my place of employment and my direct supervisor (who also happens to be a professor) to write two for me. Employers may not be able to speak about your academics, but they can speak about your personal character, which says a lot, too. Good luck!
  3. When I asked for my LOR from one of my professors, I let the online application system request sit for about three weeks. Then, I sent a kind email asking if there was anything the professor needed from me regarding my LOR; I figured this was a way of reminding him without actually reminding him. Luckily, that's all it took, and he submitted it the next day! I'd say sending a nice reminder email would be fine. It's been three weeks, and she may have just simply forgotten and needs a reminder (my prof told me that the request email just got buried in his inbox, so he was glad I reminded him). If you send her a reminder email, I'd give her a few more weeks, and then just keep emailing her periodically. Good luck, and I hope you get your LOR soon!
  4. I particularly liked Princeton Review for Verbal and AW, (Barron's for Verbal was also really good), and I used Cliff Notes Math Review for the quant. (But I'm terrible at math, so that's probably not the path for you, since it gives a really thorough review of every single math concept from about elementary school on.) I bought Kaplan's, Barron's, Princeton Review, and GRE for Dummies (I spent quite a bit) and found that having so many books was problematic for me because I got so overwhelmed. However, that could just be me. Also, sometimes they contradicted one another and so that was confusing. I found the information on the ETS's website was really helpful. Just make sure you go there and not buy the actual book; I almost bought it and then found out it's on the website for free (at least, it used to be).
  5. Hey! I took the GRE back in September. The book I found to be most helpful was the Princeton Review GRE book. For some reason, I felt like that one was the easiest to get through (I purchased the Princeton Review, Barron's Kaplan's, and GRE for Dummies). The Barron one you mentioned was also extremely helpful. For the Quant section I used the Cliff Notes Math Review; I'm absolutely atrocious at math and ended up doing pretty well on the Quant, so I recommend that one (however, that book is built for people who need a really thorough review, so if you're good at math, that book is going to be pretty useless.) I also really recommend Barron's vocabulary flashcards; I carried some of them with me at all times so when I was waiting in line or on the bus, I could just pull them out and get in a few minutes of practice. As for my study methods, I started a few months before and spent weekdays doing about an hour of Verbal and two hours of Quant. I did a lot of practice problems, read the chapter, and made sure the next day to review any concepts I had had a problem with the day before. Taking the weekend off was a good idea, I think, because it gave me a break and time to absorb. However, I made the massive mistake of not studying for the AW and my score showed, so make sure to look over what they look for (I thought the Princeton book did a particularly good job of that.) I think older books are great for practice problems, but the information in the front about the actual test might be wrong because they've changed the format of the GRE over the last few years (but you can get that information from the ETS website, so I don't think that's a big problem). Also, make sure you do practice tests! Getting used to the timer was really hard for me, but after a few practice ones, the timer didn't intimidate me that much anymore. (I started doing practice tests about a month before.) Good luck!
  6. I am an absolutely terrible standardized test taker, so I knew I required a lot of time to study. I took mine in September but started studying in mid-May. But each person is different, and some people don't require nearly that amount of time to prepare. I would usually spend an hour or so on Verbal a day and then 2 hours or so on Quant. (I took the weekends off.) I was extremely happy with my Verbal score, and for my program, my Quant was fine (although would probably be considered low by some standards). I made that mistake where I didn't really study for the AW and got a 4, so lesson learned there. I think my amount of study time for V/Q was good, but like I said, I should have done way more preparation for the AW. Good luck!
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