Maleficent999

I think of a CV as a place where they can see all the information they might want to know quickly. It's a summary, if you will. The information might be elsewhere but they might not want to search everywhere to figure out what publications you have or what relevant classes you've taken. They could, however, glance quickly at a CV to get this info so it could be helpful even if its a bit redundant.

Agreed, sounds like the verbal is probably most important in your field. I'd guess that a perfect score in either area seriously outweighs anything that is lacking in another on the GRE.

This may be a silly question too, but is it pretty common for people who are not even accepted to a graduate program to apply for NSF or other fellowships? I haven't applied for any outside funding but I'm not sure if I should be.

I asked for one from UCSC and it was granted. I got an email the week after I sent in the paperwork. I'm going to continue to request them from schools, though a lot of them won't let you choose that option until the end of the application.

Question for you, was this interaction framed by the professor as an interview? I had a very similar experience but it was framed as a casual chat on the phone rather than a formal interview. I think I'm mainly confused by my interaction becasue the head of the graduate school at one of the schools I'm applying to is actually the cousin of a friend of mine. My friend put us in touch. We were emailing back and forth regarding general grad school questions but then she wanted to talk on the phone about my research and to encourage me to apply to her school. I wasn't intending to apply originally but after the conversation I decided to. I thought I blew the phone conversation once I realized it might have been an informal interview since I was applying, but then she sent me a bunch of links to information about living in the city where the school is and continued to encourage me to apply. *shrug* I'm not really sure what to think now.

What I am attempting to do in my SOP is make it the most interesting few pages about my research interests and experience as possible while leaving the mawkish stuff for my personal history statement. Please let me know if you guys disagree, but the route I took was to introduce a simple, yet unique idea about my education that I then used as sort of a stylistic ribbon woven throughout each paragraph. My undergrad institution is famous in a weird way. I discussed how all my unique experiences there (conspicuously inserting a bunch of bragging points) contributed to my desire for a graduate education. I think the idea behind the "hook" is not to change the content of your SOP, but really just make it stand apart a little, tiny bit. We all have to talk about the same stuff. My goal is for the adcomm committee to remember it apart from everyone else. "Oh yeah, wasn't that the girl who...such and such..."

Ohhhhh I misread your post. By "new GRE scores" I was thinking you meant new because it was your second or third time taking the GRE. You meant new GRE vs. old GRE format. SORRY!

Good job getting an early start! I think I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I had been thinking about all these questions years ago instead of only giving myself a year.

What were your old GRE scores? I ask because mine are pretty similar to your new ones and I'm wondering if your old ones proved to be a problem in a different application cycle?

I took the GRE yesterday and...WHAT THE WHAT?! Those quant sections were ridiculous. I studied REALLY hard for the quant and I was getting 160+ for all my practice tests. Then they threw the experimental quant at me right off the bat and it totally messed with my confidence. It was nearly impossible but the other two sections weren't much better. I was like, IS THIS MAGIC?! WHAT AM I READING!?!? HIEROGLYPHICS?! Yeah, not pleased but I'm sociology and most schools only care about my verbal score.

Did they let you bring in a list with the school names and codes so you could enter them?

Unfortunately, my work gives out write-ups if you call in sick on a day that you requested off. I work in an office of only 3 other people so its very difficult for more than one of us to be gone at a time. Thank you for the input. Hopefully I can schedule any interviews on weekends and just call in sick if I have to go during the week.

Hello fellow graduate and future-graduate students, I am applying for Fall 2014 admission and I have one major concern regarding the interviews. I haven't finished my applications but hopefully I'll at least get an interview somewhere. For those of you that are or were working full-time during application season, how did you handle scheduling interviews at schools? I'm hoping that my job will be accomodating without asking too many questions (they don't know I am applying and potentially quitting in the future), but what if I can't get the time off? Do they give pretty advanced notice? I know most of the interviews will be during the week. Were you/are you honest with your employer? Would you go to the interview anyway and just call in sick? Are schools accomodating with interviews or do they expect you to show up at the risk of not being admitted if you don't show up? Any insight is much appreciated.

Thanks! I'm just trying to be realistic. If I didn't work full-time and had another few weeks to prepare I could probably aim for 90th but I'll be happy with 80th and ecstatic with 90th.

I'm taking the GRE on Saturday. My GPA is 3.73, which isn't terrible but it isn't amazing either. I'm hoping just to be in 80th percentiles or higher on all 3 sections. *crosses fingers and cuddles her vocab flash cards*

What were your GRE scores?

Maybe this is an ignorant question, but how does interfolio work? I'm afraid I might not be admitted this year and if not, I will HATE having to ask for all my LOR's again next year. Should I ask them to upload to some sort of service like this to avoid all the hassle next year should something go awry?

Hello there, I am currently in the midst of applying to multiple sociology PhD programs in the U.S. However, recently I have been in touch with a contact who is the PhD program director for a MSW/PhD program and this person has begun to "court" or "poach" me pretty heavily. I don't have any experience in social work and I have two concerns that I hope you all can help me with: 1) How will a MSW/PhD differ from a PhD in sociology? I have already been looking at sociology programs with a social justice focus so I'm not sure it would be much different, I'm just not sure what the benefit/consequences for me would be I entered into a MSW program. I really don't know much about them. 2) Should I be concerned that this person is trying so hard? I'm worried that the program isn't very appealing if they are trying so hard to get new students. Is this pretty typical in the field of social work? Is the applicant pool small-ish? What kind of things should I be looking for? I know the program is accredited and the faculty seems to be pretty accomplished. I'm sorry for being vague. Feel free to message me for specifics but any information would be helpful.

Well that's what I'm trying to decide: how relevant is it? I think it might be but because there are projects that I'm in charge of and tons of math/reports but if you all disagree then I'd like to know.

I currently work in corporate accounting and I worked in non-profit accounting all through undergrad. Do you think I should mention this if I'm applying for graduate schools in sociology? I think it could be related since I've worked heavily with math and statistics for 5 years.

I'm trying to decide the same. I can't afford 10+ schools unless I get fee waivers so probably only 6-7. UCLA is only happening if I KILL the GRE.

What are your research interests?

I have very similar research interests as you do, I believe.

I'm taking this year off to be with my family before leaving for 5 years. I also wanted to make sure I miss school as much as I thought I might (I DO!).