Loric

I don't even know what R1 means..
 
I do know that Purdue really dislikes it when you misspell their name as if they produced chicken. Had an adminstrator write me a very terse email once when I wrote a story about one of his grads taking over a position at a major company. On my own little obscure blog.
 
Ok.. so.. let's rank this!
 
Flyover State Schools:
U of Tennessee U of Nebraska U of Oregon Somethings that Sounds Overly Religious:
Southern Methodist U Chicken People:
Perdue Places Named After Superhero Men:
Kent State Wayne State Hippies:
U of Colorado Boulder Other:
South Carolina U U of Washington Rochester There, whoo.. that was some tough ranking but I think it'll help you pick the right school.

They'll hate you.
 
If this is the route you want to go, go with something like Interfolio and get a generic letter and tell the writer you want to use it for multiple schools.
 
Frame it as you saving the writer the time, effort, etc.. of writing out multiple letters.. but dont tell them it's 18. Cuz that's legit insane.

I don't even know what R1 means..
 
I do know that Purdue really dislikes it when you misspell their name as if they produced chicken. Had an adminstrator write me a very terse email once when I wrote a story about one of his grads taking over a position at a major company. On my own little obscure blog.
 
Ok.. so.. let's rank this!
 
Flyover State Schools:
U of Tennessee U of Nebraska U of Oregon Somethings that Sounds Overly Religious:
Southern Methodist U Chicken People:
Perdue Places Named After Superhero Men:
Kent State Wayne State Hippies:
U of Colorado Boulder Other:
South Carolina U U of Washington Rochester There, whoo.. that was some tough ranking but I think it'll help you pick the right school.

I think if you can't begin to tell me the first thing about the program other than what can be gleamed from the applications page on their website.. it's one school too many.

I'll just point out that I've been accepted to more programs and offered more funding than you have, if you want to pull people's history into things as a means to belittle the advice they're giving. 
 
The goal here is getting in and getting funded, is it not? I offer sound advice for that. It is not presented in a manner to spare your feelings. 

Then my question would be why you're going through with all these applications and why they're on your "final" list in the first place. Schools can tell when you're just applying for the sake of applying. They do not look kindly on it. 

I don't even know what R1 means..
 
I do know that Purdue really dislikes it when you misspell their name as if they produced chicken. Had an adminstrator write me a very terse email once when I wrote a story about one of his grads taking over a position at a major company. On my own little obscure blog.
 
Ok.. so.. let's rank this!
 
Flyover State Schools:
U of Tennessee U of Nebraska U of Oregon Somethings that Sounds Overly Religious:
Southern Methodist U Chicken People:
Perdue Places Named After Superhero Men:
Kent State Wayne State Hippies:
U of Colorado Boulder Other:
South Carolina U U of Washington Rochester There, whoo.. that was some tough ranking but I think it'll help you pick the right school.

I'll just point out that I've been accepted to more programs and offered more funding than you have, if you want to pull people's history into things as a means to belittle the advice they're giving. 
 
The goal here is getting in and getting funded, is it not? I offer sound advice for that. It is not presented in a manner to spare your feelings. 

I have nothing but contempt for weakness. I suggest for your sake you adopt the same outlook.

Then my question would be why you're going through with all these applications and why they're on your "final" list in the first place. Schools can tell when you're just applying for the sake of applying. They do not look kindly on it. 

I have nothing but contempt for weakness. I suggest for your sake you adopt the same outlook.

Then my question would be why you're going through with all these applications and why they're on your "final" list in the first place. Schools can tell when you're just applying for the sake of applying. They do not look kindly on it. 

And adults should be able to handle being told they're wrong and not coddled.

I have nothing but contempt for weakness. I suggest for your sake you adopt the same outlook.

Then my question would be why you're going through with all these applications and why they're on your "final" list in the first place. Schools can tell when you're just applying for the sake of applying. They do not look kindly on it. 

A) It's not an entrance exam. Many schools and programs don't even ask for or require a GRE score. It is not a requirement for graduate study.
 
What college/university didn't have multiple choice scantron tests for most midterms and finals? What was it, free response interpretive dance? Did you have to tell them what you "felt" the answer was while sitting in a purity circle? Hippies.
 
C) A drop in score that is signifigant between the practice and real test just means the practice system you were using was inadequate, not that the real GRE got harder, more difficult, or changed in any way.
 
D) It doesn't make/break an application at any school that looks at your record wholistically. There are cutoffs at many schools, that's true, but even what most people are ranting is a "poor" score on here is above that cutoff.
 
Some people wont get into a graduate program for reasons entirely unrelated to the GRE, GPA, letters of rec, etc.. but you can be sure that's the first place they'll place the blame. If you can't handle a basic test without a complete freakout how do you expect to handle the stress of a graduate program?
 
I was in graduate school previously.
 
I had a day where I didn't sleep in a few days, hadn't eaten, hadn't showered, and had a cluster headache (google it, it hurts). I went to my professor who was 20+ minutes late for class - she was in her office just chatting with another student - and told her I was going home, it was a "work" day and I'd make up my work on the project well before the deadline. She agreed, but the next day she said in an advising meeting that I had "ambushed" her and I wasn't being a good student by asking to miss a class and then going home. That I wasn't taking my responsibilities seriously. She threatened to pull my funding for my next few projects because she said I was being so irresponsible.
 
That's the sort of real nonsense stress you'll have to deal with. This test is nothing.

Yes, test anxiety is a legit thing.
 
On the other hand.. you're applying to grad school. You have gotten through high school which is wrought with standardized tests by getting good enough grades and scores (on standardized tests, no less) in order to get into college.
 
Then in college you almost certainly, at the bare minimum, faced some standardized tests at the midpoint and end of every semester for 4 years.
 
That's a lot of tests. You'd think there'd be some coping skills developed by now. You had to have done halfway decent on these tests to be realistically considering graduate school.
 
So what's going on with this forum and the apparent mass freakout of "omg! test anxiety!!!!!!" self fullfilling prophecy?
 
I have this feeling that if there was less emphasis on people's test anxiety as an excuse for a poor score, there'd be more focus on getting better at taking the test... so you don't have to take it for a 27th time.

So I want a degree that recently popped up, created from the ground up new - an MFA.
 
It's a design degree but intermingles with film and performance as much as it does visual art.  The primary reason I want it is because of the internships the students in the program are doing, which are great connections in a closed industry that's near impossible to break into without "knowing" someone.
 
But as I alluded to, no one even has the degree yet (the program isnt old enough) it's the only program of its kind and only offered at one school....
 
I don't know, my app is in and i'm being considered as we speak so there's no turning back in that sense. I'm going if I get accepted. I guess it's that I wish that there were more options or even a backup plan. It's pretty much "please take me.. you're my only hope Obi Wan.."
 
And it feels so weird to be in that position. For background, I went into an MFA theatre design program originally. My undergrad is theatrical design. I've been doing boring "day job" work for a few years after having left the theatre program I was in because I was fed up.
 
The new program is actually the career I wanted. It just didn't exist before so I went into theatrical design as a "related" field.. only to get constantly picked on because of my interests and career aspiration "That's not real art!"
 
So.. I'm very torn on the whole thing. I think going after what I want, and have wanted, is the right move. An opportunity is presenting itself and i'd be silly to ignore it. At the same time, I'm worried with it being a new program at a private school it might all end up being a very expensive waste of time with far more promises than actual rewards.
 
What do you think?

And adults should be able to handle being told they're wrong and not coddled.

When you consider this, consider the number of people on Grad Cafe alone who say they're applying for 10 or more schools.
 
If the schools all accept someone.. and having limits, reject someone else.. that's 10 schools and only 1 is getting the student, while the other 9 are scrambling to either pull from the waitlist or actually backtrack and admit people they rejected. It happens all the time.
 
It's not a position anyone wants to be in.

I'll just point out that I've been accepted to more programs and offered more funding than you have, if you want to pull people's history into things as a means to belittle the advice they're giving. 
 
The goal here is getting in and getting funded, is it not? I offer sound advice for that. It is not presented in a manner to spare your feelings. 

Then my question would be why you're going through with all these applications and why they're on your "final" list in the first place. Schools can tell when you're just applying for the sake of applying. They do not look kindly on it. 

I'll just point out that I've been accepted to more programs and offered more funding than you have, if you want to pull people's history into things as a means to belittle the advice they're giving. 
 
The goal here is getting in and getting funded, is it not? I offer sound advice for that. It is not presented in a manner to spare your feelings. 

Purely based on city, i'd choose Chicago. I'm from Florida and I think Miami is too hot, and i'd not be caught dead in Minnesota. Nothing against Mass, just no desire to go there either.
 
This is not based on their programs, school, quality, or anything of the sort.
 
Have you been to the schools or know much about them? Since you're in, you do get to be picky about it now. Who has horrible parking? Who has nothing but a Walmart for 50miles? (had a friend who went to a "good" school with great funding that fit that bill.. and visiting him was.. an adventure..)
 
Have you had many dealings with the office staff who handle things? If i knew then what i know now, my first grad school would have been quickly crossed off the list as the office staff, administration, etc.. are absolute jerks. It's like being at the DMV 24/7 and there's not a single helpful, friendly, etc.. person in the buildings.

Purely based on city, i'd choose Chicago. I'm from Florida and I think Miami is too hot, and i'd not be caught dead in Minnesota. Nothing against Mass, just no desire to go there either.
 
This is not based on their programs, school, quality, or anything of the sort.
 
Have you been to the schools or know much about them? Since you're in, you do get to be picky about it now. Who has horrible parking? Who has nothing but a Walmart for 50miles? (had a friend who went to a "good" school with great funding that fit that bill.. and visiting him was.. an adventure..)
 
Have you had many dealings with the office staff who handle things? If i knew then what i know now, my first grad school would have been quickly crossed off the list as the office staff, administration, etc.. are absolute jerks. It's like being at the DMV 24/7 and there's not a single helpful, friendly, etc.. person in the buildings.