rainy_day

At my school everyone had to write a 20 page senior thesis. If you wanted, you could write an additional honors thesis, which was 40-50 pages long, and you spend your entire senior year working on it. There were only three of us who opted to do this, my year. I think this is a fairly common approach.

I'm interested. (Applying to ten English PhD programs in the Northeast after working for a few years.)

Call! Email isn't working anymore, so call! And call when he is likely to be in his office. Do you have office hours? If not, check out the schedule and call in between classes, when it looks like he'd be hanging out in his office. Sometimes, during this whole process, we all lean way too heavily on email, but phone is usually far more effective.

Admittedly, I don't have a 'source', but it is the commonly held belief and something that has been recommended to me as early as college applications and something referenced in all the graduate application books I have read. I should clarify that it significantly weakens your letters, which in turn weakens your application. It is not something that I would consider risking. Fuzzy, I totally agree; thank you for adding this to my hastily written comment. It is not something I plan on doing, but it was an option my friend's mentor actually suggested, and since this community is all about sharing what bits of information we have, I thought I'd pass it along.

It significantly weakens your application if you do not waive your rights. If you really wanted to see your letters, here is one option: apply to a dummy school, and then have the letters sent to you and then read them if you don't get in.

For a number of reasons, I am considering canceling the GRE Lit on Saturday. I am wondering if anyone knows how much, if any, of your money is refunded for a cancellation. Also, if I were to take it now and then again in, say, April, would future PhD programs see both scores, as they do with the standard GRE? Thanks all!

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the feedback I think I will cram some vocab and take it again in November; I think that if I commit I can probably pass the 600 mark. Thanks again.

Hi Everyone: I just took my GRE and got a 540V, 610Q. I am applying to English PhD programs. I have a 3.9 GPA from an unknown school and great LORs. I could retake towards the end of a November, but I'm trying to decide if I should. Thoughts? Advice? What would you do in my shoes? (For what it is worth, I scored right around a 540 on my practice tests, too. Analogies and Antonym questions kill me.)\\ THANK YOU

Personally, I would not risk it. I am planning on giving each school exactly what they ask for, because I don't see the benefit in pushing the limits, you know? It's frustrating, how everyone makes you jump through different hoops, but I'm still going to jump.

Check out Michigan (at Ann Arbor); they are great.

Everything that I have read that suggests that you want to be sure and pass the 600 mark, to be safe from the secret cut off number. Also, as you have already heard, quant doesn't mean anything to programs like art history and English (my discipline). I think those scores are perfectly acceptable, and that you should focus your energies on WS and SOP. Good luck.

Could you rework paper 1? I definitely think it would be worth it, at least for that school where the author teaches. I think it would go along way to address fit, and if you deal with his material well--which it sounds like you do--then it could go a very long way, I think. Do you have page limits to consider? Good luck!

Honestly, you have nothing to worry about with those scores. At this stage in the game, I highly doubt it would help you to spend all that time to retake it for 30 points. Spend the time on your SOP and LOR.

Hey, that is great news! I definitely think you should send it to her, but only when you are very close to considering it a final draft. You don't want this woman seeing those messy first drafts.

It seems like a great change to me so far.

I am in sales, and my customers are professors, so hey! I can help! DEFINITELY call them. Call during their office hours. If you don't know their office hours, then look at their teaching schedule (it will be available online) and call them when you think they will be in their office based on that. I wouldn't leave a message because then you have to wait for them to call you back, and sit nervously biting your nails. I would call, if you get v.m. hang up and try again when you can catch them. This isn't cold calling because you have a relationship already, and they definitely won't mind a phone call.

I was in your shoes last year! Grad school wasn't a whim, but applying that year was, and I scrambled to get everything in order--missing the GRE Lit deadline. I could have gone stand-by, but I decided to let the whole things sit another year for two reasons: 1. I knew I wouldn't study that hard since I *might* not get to take it, which could definitely result in a terrible grade. 2. What if I couldn't take it stand by? Then all that prep was for naught. and 3. I figured the stress of scrambling wasn't worth it. So I stepped back, saved some more money, and I am applying this year. In the time between I took a grad school class that was really, really helpful. I feel more prepared both for school and for the application process and am quite glad that I decided to take another year. That is, of course, just my story. You might decide to do something very different, but I thought I'd share my own story.

There is a negative connotation with safety school that I think is unfounded. One of my safety schools is also probably my third choice, out of ten, of programs I'd like to attend. Some people may pick safety schools just for the sake of being accepted, and that is a bad idea. Just like it is a bad idea to apply to Harvard just because it is, you know, Harvard, and not because it fits. Pick schools you would like to attend. Also, pick a range of schools. That's the advice I've received and I' think it makes a lot of sense.

You actually cannot sign up for the November Lit GRE anymore, as far as I know. That being said--and my advice is biased, because I fully expect to bomb the GRE Lit when I take it next month--but I just don't think it is that important overall. You clearly have a stand-out application. Focus the remaining time on your SOP and WS. Those are much, much more important anyway.

Good luck to everyone taking the GRE Lit test in the morning!! My thoughts are with you!

Hello all, I was wondering how many LORs you are planning on providing. I know the minimum at most places is 2-3, but I have heard of people submitting 5 or more. My first thought is that this seems to be overkill. I was wondering what you think.

I've been out for two years (I'm English.) and it's definitely not that long. I agree that an in person visit would be best. If not, then a phone call. They will probably want you to send them a CV/Resume, a transcript (unofficial is fine), and perhaps a paper or project from their classes, so they can reference your work. If you have an SoP draft, I would send them that as well. Good luck!

This is encouraging. I got a 540 in the practice test, and am taking the real thing in two weeks, without a lot of studying to go.

You have nothing to lose by applying!

Fuzzylogician, do you mean that you had 8 LoRs for each school? Is that recommended? I have 4, and was considering a 5th, but was afraid that was overkill.