pohks

Congratulations - that is great news! And a good example of how an interesting and relevant background can offset not-so-perfect GRE scores (or other aspects) of an application. Are you applying for MA/MS or PhD programs?

I had high hopes that in my current job I could do the latter. Needless to say it didn't quite work out. I still (somewhat idealistically) believe that you can combine the two, though; that's why I aspire to conduct research that would inform policy dialogue.

Hang in there - hopefully they'll give you good news soon! Hi Extexan, it's nice to have you joining the discussion! It's been rather quiet lately, but hopefully the conversation is about to become a little bit livelier - at least there seems to be some movement going on according to the results search page. Are your research interests aligned with what you are doing now? Broadly speaking I'm interested in environment-society interactions. I just received an email saying that I had been accepted to one of the schools, and they'd grant me an RA position. It's not a geography program, though, but related to my previous field - a huge relief nevertheless.

Thanks paolaplease! Any news related to Minnesota yet?

My OSU status says that as well. I assume that you're an international applicant and thus have to provide proof of sufficient funds for visa purposes. At least in my case, according to the status of the required items on the application page, the financial documents aren't due until March 15, which allows you to wait for funding decisions before submitting the documents. As persistent_homology said, the university-wide fellowship decisions are announced late Feb, and the majority of departments probably make their TA and RA decisions thereafter.

Or does UW refer to University of Washington? I didn't apply there, but according to my Excel table, between 2009 and 2013 they have normally sent out their first acceptances/rejections around February 10 - 14. According to what I have heard, it is quite a competitive program, as they only accept a few students annually. However, your research interests seem to be highly compatible with the faculty's expertise. Yesterday I received an email from OSU, saying that I had been recommended for admission by the department. There is no information related to funding available yet, but nevertheless I am feeling pretty elated!

My OSU status is still 'pending', but on the page that provides additional information on status, it says that my application has been academically approved and is now in financial review. I haven't received any email yet whatsoever. Please, please, PLEASE accept me!

I somehow managed to hide my previous post; I'm originally from Northern Europe. I woke up to a Ohio State MS rejection on GC results search. That nearly gave me a heart attack, but my status is still 'pending'. Looks like the game is officially on.

When do you expect to hear from the programs you have applied for? So far, there are no geography acceptances posted on the results page, and I'm pretty sure I won't hear anything until February or March. Still, I'm checking my email every 20 minutes, and yesterday I freaked out as I didn't receive the weekly email from OSU (I was convinced that they had already moved my application to the rejection pile and thus had removed me from the recipient list). Btw, I just found out that my B.Sc./M.Sc. institution had sent my transcripts to one of the universities only last week, although I had requested them to do so and paid the fee in early December. The deadline was Dec 31; luckily the university was nice enough to let me submit a scanned copy of my transcripts while waiting for the official ones to arrive. I'm happy that I'm currently visiting my home country and have been busy spending time with friends and family. Moreover, the time difference is around 8 hours, which means that it's worthwhile to be a nervous wreck only in the evenings.

U Arizona also wanted photocopies of official GRE and TOEFL scores. I did exactly what you did - took a screenshot of my TOEFL scores and uploaded the PDF available at MyGRE. I emailed them to confirm this was ok (I also sent in the official scores, of course), but they haven't replied yet.

Brooks, many programs have direct-admit tracks, don't they? Thus, you should be fine even if applying without a master's degree; and you're also applying for a MS program in case the PhD programs don't work out. I'm applying for one MS program, too, as although I do have a master's degree, it is not in geography. Obviousbicycle, I have the same problem with my LORs for one of the schools; the deadline is Dec 31, though. I'm pretty sure my professors won't submit anything before say Jan 6. Hopefully the schools are somewhat lenient with LOR deadlines. On the other hand, today is my last day at work before a month-long vacation! I'm feeling pretty elated.

Hi brooks40204 -- it's nice to have more people joining the discussion! Are you applying for MA/MS or PhD programs? I have submitted my applications to U Arizona, U Illinois U-C and U Maryland BC; I'm just waiting for my LOR writers to send in their letters.

I'm about to submit U Arizona and UMBC applications. U Arizona is asking for "photocopies of official GRE and TOEFL score reports", which I don't have (I never had the reports sent to me in the first place). I also found out that one of my letter writers won't be able to submit his recommendation to one of the universities on time, as his vacation is starting today, and I haven't been able to send a recommendation request as I haven't submitted the application yet. Oh well.. Paolaplease, I feel you - the same happened with my MS thesis. The grade wasn't bad, really; just worse than I expected it to be.

I'd assume that you have to submit it at latest on Dec 15 at 11:59:59 p.m.

Congratulations!! Good luck with your applications due on Sunday! My next deadlines are between Dec 31 and Jan 10, and I'm struggling with the SOPs. I'm starting to feel that the SOP that I sent to one of the schools completely sucks, and I also found a stupid mistake in it now that I started to tailor it for the other programs. Oh well..

I hadn't studied in the US before taking the GRE - however, a great part of my MS studies were in English, and I also wrote my MS thesis in English, which probably helped quite a lot especially in the reading comprehension parts. I struggled with vocabulary, though; of the 3,500 Barron's words, I was familiar maybe with 10 - 20 %. Now, take the following with a grain of salt. I studied a hundred words a day, meaning that I wrote them down with their explanations and then went through the list around 5 times until I had memorized all the words. In the end of the week, I'd go through all 700 words studied that week and, again, wrote down the ones that I didn't remember. I then transferred the words to an excel file and categorized them according to their meaning (e.g. all the words meaning "to praise" would form a category). I also looked the words up by using the "define" function of Google in order to better understand them in a context. All this didn't take as much time as you'd imagine - I worked Mon-Fri from 8 to 5.30, and studied for around 3 hours every evening and 8 to 9 hours at weekends. This is not necessary the best strategy to truly master all the words, but it enabled me to learn a large amount of words in a short amount of time, something that tremendously helped me when taking the GRE.

Thanks for the input! You're probably right. I basically rewrote the whole thing and managed to squeeze it into 500 words. I feel that some important things were left out, but I am not sure I'd be comfortable discussing them in a separate statement, as they are more than anything examples that illustrate why I am interested in x and y (I have a somewhat atypical background, as instead of going straight from MS to PhD, I've been working in developing countries for a while, and I'd like to highlight how some experiences in the field have sparked my research interests). Thus, I'm not sure they'd neatly fit under the "more to discuss regarding your academic goals" scope. I am debating whether to upload the additional document or not. I don't want the admission committee to think that I'm bothering them with redundant stuff; on the other hand, I wouldn't want them to think I am lazy or that I don't have anything to say, either (in case I choose not to submit additional information). Oh how I wish that there was a standard length and format for SOPs - or at least that schools were specific about what they want.

Oh wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe your weakness is not vocabulary then, after all. So you have already taken the GRE before? Were your scores in line with those of the practice test? If you took the GRE less than 6 months ago, you should check out the free GRE diagnostic service (grediagnostics.ets.org) to find out in what kind of questions (reading comprehension, sentence completion, etc.) you struggled the most and then practice accordingly. Good luck!

Hi Yana, I'm a non-native speaker and I managed to improve my verbal score considerably in 2 months; more precisely, 13 points from the first PowerPrep II practice test that I took to the actual GRE. Thus, I'd say that it definitely is possible to raise your verbal score in a relative short amount of time. I took many practice exams and used Manhattan books to better understand the logic behind the questions and to work on my answering strategy (although Manhattan is not necessarily the best for the verbal section - you might want to try e.g. Verbal Grail). However, what helped me the most was, without doubt, learning a lot of new vocabulary. IMO, 500 words is not enough; I crammed in the 3,500 word list by Barron's. If you have 2 months, it is doable. Good luck!

To increase your verbal score, I strongly recommend that you try to learn as much new vocabulary as possible. Try the Barron's 3,500 word list - it helped me tremendously. And as TexasGuy said, it is important to take practice exams. You still have almost a month before your exam; practice and do not panic.

Hi, Thanks very much for your suggestion - I think it is a great one. My SOP was originally around 1200 words (to comply with the requirements of programs that want a 2 page SOP), so I find it difficult to make it as concise as 500 words. I was also thinking about the possibility to submit 2 versions of the same SOP; a short one that summarizes the most important points of the SOP and fits in the text box, and a longer one where I could elaborate more on the said topics. In the longer one, I'd state in the header that it's the complete version of my SOP. Do you think this is a foolish idea?

My mom told me yesterday that she secretly hopes that I don't get in anywhere, as that would increase the probability that I return to my home country (I'm abroad now). Thanks mom!

Oh no, I am sorry - I accidentally downvoted your post when I was trying to hit 'quote'. I keep checking the app status page at least twice a day just to make sure that the status of any of the required elements hasn't magically changed from complete to incomplete.

I've only submitted one application, too, and I still have to customize my SoP for each of the remaining programs. I just sent recommendation requests for the programs that allowed me to do so.

Hi all, I'm applying to a program that requires a 300-500 word SoP copy-pasted directly into a text field ("Please discuss in a 300-500 word statement your academic objectives pertaining to your desired program plan to study, including contemplated research projects and professional career goals. Please include any administrative, research, teaching, assessment or other experiences you have had; and, how your research interests or background fit with your desired program goals.") However, below this there is space to attach an additional file ("If you have more to discuss regarding your academic goals, please attach it to the application by uploading it from your computer using the button below"). I am not sure if it's a good idea to submit this additional file or not and, if so, what to discuss in it vs. in the actual SoP. Any insights?