ToomuchLes

Id recommend visiting Magoosh; however if online tutoring isnt your thing, Id say the Manhattan, and Kaplan are the best. I studied both of them, as well as Magoosh.

Im in a similar situation. I will be taking the GRE on Nov 8th, and two apps are due Dec 1st. Originally I was going to take the GRE in Oct, however I called ETS and asked them how long it usually takes for institutions to receive your GRE score. Yes, it does say 10-15 days, however it typically takes 7 days. Even so, if it did take a full 15 days, you'll still be alright. =)

I concur with the last two replies. Ive started Magoosh's daily study session and its extremely helpful! Moreover, Barrons flashcards and Kaplan help significantly in improving your vocab. If I may, I suggest you take the GRE in a month. Magoosh has a month study session, and if you follow it, Im sure youll do great on the GRE =) Best of luck!

Kaplan 500 words on amazon : http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-New-GRE-Vocabulary-Flashcards/dp/1607148536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379559563&sr=8-1&keywords=gre+flashcards Although I recommend the Manhattan flashcards. Personally I found them to be more challenging. Manhattan Essential : http://www.amazon.com/500-Essential-Words-Vocabulary-Flash/dp/1935707892/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1379559563&sr=8-2&keywords=gre+flashcards Manhattan Advanced : http://www.amazon.com/500-Advanced-Words-Vocabulary-Flash/dp/1935707884/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1379559563&sr=8-3&keywords=gre+flashcards

Oh Ha! Sorry that was a typo on my end. Please substitute the first word "GRE" for GPA. Sorry

The last three answers were, in fact, VERY helpful! I will contact the school, look over their fellowship requirements, and if possible, check the average GRE Quantitative scores for accepted History majors. Thank you guys!

Its important to know that a low GRE is not the end of the world; however you need to make up for it in another way - GRE, letter of rec, sample writing, statement of purpose, etc. Id recommend focusing primarily on your sample, but at the same time, scoring a competitive percentile on the GRE. This should allow you entry into a medium tier master program. During your masters, I highly recommend studying like theres no tomorrow, working on your publishing, and accumulating good letters of rec. Once you've achieved all this, you should be able to catapult yourself to an upper tier Ph.D program. I wouldnt know anything on the program you posted; although Id suggest doing two things : 1) discussing your options with a professor (one you usually know well) 2) requesting more information (such as average yr of graduation, financial aid, employment placement) from that university. Furthermore, I dont know how difficult it is to go from a Masters program abroad to a Ph.D in country, but thats another aspect to consider/research. Hope that helps =)

I disagree with a many of telkanuru's points. First and foremost, rank and geography has some importance when picking a university. You wouldn't want to attend an institution if you're going to be miserable, nor would you waste time and money on a lower echelon ranked school. Second, I've heard, from quite a few creditable people that, E.Cs give some weight to your application. Obviously it will not determine a decision between an acceptance and rejection, but it gives more points to the applicant. Furthermore I know for a fact (since I talked to the admission director at UCD about this) that holding a leadership position, participating in a sport, or merely involving oneself in a club, or community organization is favored by professors. Also, guess who's part of the admission committee? The professor whom you're seeking to work with. Obviously professors dont only want a mechanical studious grad student. Therefore concluding that ECs hold some weight. I would also like to add that I am well aware that meaningful letters of rec are more helpful than a simple letter from a prestigious prof; however I didn't see the point in explaining this, when I was merely trying to keep this thread relatively short. I know both professors very well and I'm more than positive their letters will be highly beneficial and I won't say anymore on this topic. Nevertheless, when deciding whom to contact for a letter of rec, it is important to ask someone who is somewhat well known in their field, otherwise the admission committee will treat it as an atypical letter from a nobody - hence why I mentioned their achievements. In response to hdunlop, no one, besides the admission committee, understands fully what holds weight and what doesn't in applications. You can ask, but obviously they will not highlight all the key aspects; however I possess an anecdote from the director of the committee atUCD, whom specifically stated "they're not looking for close boxed applicants." This obviously makes sense. As a graduating undergrad, and grad school applicant, you do not know what you want to study, specifically. You can have a general broad idea, but if you decided to study, say Zoot Suit Riot in La primarily, you'll miss the bigger picture and most likely, you'll close mind yourself to ONLY focus on such a historical event. Conversely, when you've been a grad student for X amount of years, you can decide how specific you want to be when you decide to write your dissertation or for a journal. I would also like to mention to telkanuru, that your posts have been nothing but condescending. You've neither gave advice, nor critiqued my applications. My decision to remain in CA is not detrimental to my future achievements as a historian, nor finding employment afterward. Moreover, I know quite a few grad students whom decided to remain in CA during their graduate yrs and there is absolutely nothing wrong with such a decision. Furthermore, if you are in fact a grad student and not some wannabe who gets a kick from pretending to be one, you do a fairly poor job of reading a threads propose and reflecting on what it's asking. Similarly to the propose of this website, in academia, individuals with more experience/education should assist people below them, rather than .. Find it to be pretty funny. Sent by iPad.

Ive already talked to professors about this. Originally I wanted to look how federal laws decimated Southern economy (primarily focusing on Virginia) during the Antebellum, and in what ways they were forced to change their southern way of life. Both professor, whom I talked to, advised highly against putting this on my app cause admission committees want an open minded candidate. Not to say Im NOT open minded, but people reviewing my application wont know that if I write what I was to primarily focus on. Therefore, in my application, I will put a general broad topic of interest; however it wont be too broad like ... "I want to study the causes of the Civil War." Thats just silly. Also, in terms of rankings, most UCs are in the top 20 in my disciplinary. If you just take a look at .. http://graduate-school.phds.org .. you'll realize, every school Ive picked is respectable, wielding a high graduation rate/employment, available funds, and most importantly, commands prestigious, well educated/known professors. Focusing on UCSB, there are 3 professors, whom Im willing to study under. I already picked one out of those three, but in case, he, for whatever reason, decides not to accept me as his grad student, there are still two others. Moreover, all three of these professors will be accepting students (I emailed them), so this fictitious arbitrary scenario, most likely, wont happen. I do realize, merely from my thread intro, that it seems Im picking these schools due to geography; however Ive done excessive amount of research on each institution, as well as available professors whom I can work/study under. Preferably, I do NOT want to wait. Life will always have its ups and downs.

Oh Ha. Cant believe I didnt write that .. I want to study American History with emphasis on the Antebellum Era. Preferably. I dont want to be more specific since I know grad committee dont like that in apps =P

Simply summarized, this is yet another thread asking, for your own opinions, what my chances are in admission to select programs (as dictated in my title =D). Presently, I am a senior at UC Davis majoring in History and Linguistics. This will be my second year at this institution, as I am a CC transfer student. In my time here, Ive become the Treasurer of PAT (honors history club), treasurer of the Fencing Club, and officer of the Latin Honor Club. I hold two awesome letters of rec from one Pulitzer Prize professor, and another from a distinguished professor (he may hold other awards, but Im a tad tired to check his CV atm, but you get the point). My last letter of rec will still be positive but its from a relatively young professor, whom has achieved success, but cannot match to my other letters. GPA : Presently 3.45 (since I still have summer classes + Fall quarter before I send my application, my GPA will vary; however it will between 3.4- 3.6) GRE: Q - 160 ; V - 163 ; AWA - 5.0 SoP : Currently being written. Writing Sample : As of now, only one professor has read my paper and he approved using it in my application, plus he's the distinguished prof who is also writing my letter of rec. I also have alot of work experiences at museums, tutoring at UCD, and one internship (not related to my disciplinary tho). Oh and lastly, there is an upcoming History Convention (only for PAT officers) that i'll participate in. It will occur after application season, but I'll still participate in it and include it in my CV. Finally, here are the schools Im applying to : UC Los Angeles UC Santa Barbara UC Irvine UC San Diego UC Berkeley UC Santa Cruz I would like to say beforehand, I am favoring UCSB over all of them - including UCLA. Not to make this into a long, sorrowful story, but I was raised by a single parent mother, and she was diagnosed with cancer - hence why Im applying ONLY in California. When reviewing this thread, simply state my chances by each school. Also if you have any last minute advice, Id love to hear it!

Question still remains open.

Hey everyone, I have a question that I feel we can all relate to, and Im looking for a consensus on a debatable dilemma. Therefore the more answers, the better =) At the end of the day, if you are tired (from work, school etc), should you study for the GRE? I would like to broaden this by defining studying as anything pertaining to the GRE (flashcards, Magoosh [which I was just doing .. but cannot seem to focus cause Im mentally exhausted], GRE textbooks, etc). Im following a daily lesson plan, provided by Magoosh, however this week I had finals for Summer Session, plus two essays. With all this, and work, the last two days Ive basically finished my errands, watched an episode of a tv show, and then bed. I do confess. I feel rather guilty since, provided I have an hr or so of free time (not related to work, or school) to study for the GRE, and instead I watch tv. I just feel so mentally drained at the end of the day. Good news though! Summer session will be over soon, and my fall schedule wont be as hectic. Im just curious what other people do. Do you FORCE yourself to study X amount of hrs, or follow your GRE study schedule, even if youre tired?

Quick question : If I am applying for Ph.D in History, as an undergrad, does my quantitative score matter? Obviously my Verbal and AWA does, but if I, for example, do terrible on the math section, will that hurt my chances of admission?

Heres what I do when I study my 50 a day GRE words (although now I decreased to 30 cause I have Summer Session 2 finals). I pull out fifty cards, and lay them into 5 separate pieces, so I study 10 flashcards at a time. I read the first 10 aloud three times, then I test myself. The ones I know, I table and read aloud 3 times the ones I dont know. Afterward, I test myself again, and if I memorized the ones I didnt from my previous test, I include them in the original ten. Then I quiz myself again. If I forget more than 3, I repeat the procedure; however if I missed one or two, I include them in the new set of 10. Once I complete my second set of ten, I mix them into my first set and quiz myself. Again, if I miss 3 or more, I study those words. If I only miss one or two, I move on to the next set. Once I hit 50, I review them all at once. If I remembered them all, I take a hour+ break, and when I mean break, I mean no GRE studying. Then I review the 50 once more. The next day, before I work on my new set, I test myself on the 50 from the previous day. The ones I dont remember, I include in the new set, and I divide them evening into 5 or 6 sets. Then I repeat the whole thing over. It sounds like a lot of work, and time consuming; however if you think about it, reading aloud 10 flashcards can take less than 2 minutes. Therefore completing, or better yet, memorizing a set of 10 should only take 15minutes. Then as you move on the next set, memorize that, you'll review your previous set. The only issue with this is, once you reach 200s+ and you can spend 45 minutes+ merely reviewing previous sets of 50. Ive been doing this for a few months now, so I can easily memorize 50 words in an hour. Plus I have a schedule, in which I study in the morning before class, come home during lunch and study a little bit. Then in the evening, 30minutes before bed, I study again. Honestly, after two weeks youll start noticing SIGNIFICANT improvement. Trust me! All you have to do is obsess over your dream grad school, and that amount of motivation will be more than enough =) EDIT: I would also like to add two more points. First and most importantly (I think), you dont need to remember the definition verbatim!! If you say the definition in your OWN words, (and you get it rights without lying to yourself that youre "close enough") thats better than memorizing the definition word for word. Also at the end of the week, or whenever you have 2hrs+, you should rehearse the entire set that you learn so far. Personally, on Sundays, first thing in the morning, I review some 1000 words. When my brain gets all foggy, I take a shower, eat breakfast, jog, whatever... an hr later, I come back and review the rest. If you do this everyday, youll learn GRE words very quickly as time goes on. I would also like to recommend reading the New Yorker, and the Economist. I always go to class 10-15minutes early, and on my ipad I just read an article. If I find a GRE word that I learn, I stop say the definition (in my head cause there are people around) and if I dont know it, I write it down and study it. Sometimes you can memorize a word when you see a familiar flashcard, but you forget its definition in an article. Its odd (or maybe thats just me).

Also, I'd like to add that I have NOT taken any recent practice tests, so I dont know if all that studying has paid off yet =X I'll probably start taking 2-3 practice tests per week in Sept (again, I have a schedule).

Hey all! So.. I've been studying GRE words for nearly 2 months now, and as of right now, I've memorized Kaplan GRE Vocab Flashcards (500), Manhattan Prep GRE 500 Essential Words, and Barrows 2nd Edition GRE Words (500). In total, with synonyms and additional words on the comment section, I probably memorized more than 2,500 GRE Words (minimum), and when I mean 'memorized' I mean I can recite definition, synonyms and everything without a pause. As you can see, Im very proud of such an achievement lol. Now then.. I shall be taking my test Oct. 18th, which allows me to continue studying additional words; however Im not sure when it will be enough. Ive also purchased the Manhattan PREP GRE 500 Advanced (different set), and another set of Barron's GRE Flashcards (an older set), which I will begin studying Sept 1 (I follow a very specific study schedule). So the question arises, *points to the title* "how many GRE words should I learn?"