JennyFieldsOriginal

$1426. That's GRE general, GRE subject, additional score reports, fees for mailing supplementary material, and application fees. Doesn't include the money I spent preparing for GREs. It's seriously disgusting. I figure it's an "investment" though and that I'll get in back in the form of a stipend. But that's just to make myself feel better because I want to throw up when I see that number.

I know A LOT of people who scored just about what you did, or even lower and they still got into top 20 programs. Don't sweat it. That score is nothing to be embarrassed about! I'd worry if you didn't break 500, but you did that and then some. Your verbal score is good and that is MUCH more important. They're not going to weed out your app based on that one test, as far as I understand. Try not to stress and best of luck!

One of my professors submitted her letter directly to the graduate office because the upload thingie wasn't working for her, but on my application status check page (which i refresh furiously like a crazy person when I'm bored) it says she didn't submit her letter. How long should I wait to call the grad office? She submitted a couple days ago and I know there is a huge volume of stuff coming in right now, so should I wait till next week? Friday? I wanted to run it by people here because I'm experiencing residual cuckoo-ness from the whole process. Congrats to all who are done apps, and thanks for everyone who offered helpful advice through this process! WE DID IT!

it seems a lot of schools are just requiring unofficial uploads of transcripts, and not asking anywhere for them to be sent to the graduate office. should i send an official copy in case or am i being neurotic? thanks!

I don't focus heavily on theory, but if you pick up the huge Norton Anthology of Literary Theory and read around in it something will definitely spark your interest. When I was studying for the Lit GRE I made a ton of notes about stuff I wanted to check out when I actually have time to read for pleasure. Sorry if that's way too general!

i was also told plain white. i keep thinking of that scene in legally blond with the pink, perfume sprayed paper sent to harvard law. i might just send off one of my apps like that and see what happens

that's definitely a good point. that's why i'm so nervous. i'm also starting to feel a little funny because at my school there are sample SOPs availible that got people in (to the english lit phd program) and a lot of them don't have fit paragraphs at all. some don't mention the name of the university or any scholars in the department. one of the ones the professors on the committee sounded like they were really crazy about didn't mention the name of the university or a single scholar from my school. i'm still going to agonize over my fit paragraphs, but i'm beginning to think the committee is going to have the conversation they have about you based on what you say in the statement in general, and that you're not going to bring a whole lot up that they haven't already considered. who knows though. (clearly not me)

this could be paranoia here, but my fit paragraphs just don't sound quite like i want them to, and i'm afraid they are going to tank my whole application. is this a real possibility or late in the game nuttiness?

do you have a professor you could show this to? i firmly believe everyone has a great SOP in them, but this just isn't it for you. my first attempt was soporific, like BONE DRY. it's improved massively and i think yours can too. i think you need to latch on to something you can contribute to a scholarly community. the things you're listing, as others have pointed out, have been done and done. that's why i asked if you had a professor who might help you. when i got a little stuck my teachers instructed me to play up particular parts of my interests, helped me with the all important question of tone, etc. good luck and don't be discouraged! you'll have something great by the end of this process.

i'm getting my LOR writers small edible/drinkable things-- chocolates and tea for the two i'll be able to give something to in person, and a starbucks card for the one i have to mail something too. along with a heartfelt thank you note, of course. if they don't want these things kids, spouses, the dog, etc can always eat them. i was thinking maybe a fun book for my one letter writer. i'm keeping it under twenty bucks so it's not like an OMGZ HUGE DEAL but they did so much for me and i wouldn't have made it without the support of these people, so they certainly deserve a little something they can enjoy.

if you take the test and get your scores some will ask you to simply report the score you got, and then ETS will send them confirmation that you did indeed get the score you said you got. most schools aren't touching your application until weeks after your deadline, so just get in everything you can, make sure you've at least taken care of everything and you should be fine.

this website offers questions that are a lot more difficult than any of the math questions i encountered. i didn't get a stellar math score (630), but these test prep sites would have had me believing i'd be lucky to break 500 (and so i should pay for more of their products to scrape up a few more points). i'm only talking in generalities here, and mostly about things like kaplan and princeton review and even this site. they make these prep things a lot more difficult because they want you to be relieved and attribute it to the great preparation you received. the stuff ets gives you is the best predictor of your score (it was unbelievably accurate for me), but i can't knock the kaplan math book. it was great. princeton review is also good, the only thing i will say is take the good of the preparation (it WILL get you ready for the test), but don't get down on yourself about how difficult the questions are and really don't flip out about the scores you're getting. best of luck.

generally my professors seem not to care one way or another about the analytical writing component. some of mine (who sit on admissions committees) seemed confused that they'd done away with the logic part and were almost entirely ignoring the AW.

I think you're dead on about the first part, I don't think you need to mention this person, but if you're going to feel weird not putting it down and it's going to bother you, then just throw it on there. The second part though, I'd use caution about. The conventional wisdom about contacting professors you might want to work with varies widely among disciplines. For instance, I think it's really important in the sciences. If you're in the humanities, however, I'd be careful throwing emails out. I'm in English and have been told explicitly not to do this because it feels strange and forced and doesn't create a good impression in the minds of some professors. Obviously take this with a grain of salt, because I don't know any better than anyone else and in some disciplines it's a critical part of the application, in which case alexis's advice is spot on. I'm applying to Yale too, so good luck I hope we all get in

thanks guys! yup you are all correct and i just wasted twenty bucks like a damn fool. i'm thinking of just having them do hard copies. everybody seems generally happier that way. i've offered to take schools off my list if that's what it takes. i totally get that this is annoying for them and it should be as easy as possible because they are doing me a huge huge huge favor by helping me out at all but it's my ONE recommender who keeps throwing a wrench in the works when the other two were just going to grin and bear it and now i look like a yo yo sending out 30943 befuddled emails and generally making myself appear incompetent. hi-yo RUN ONZZZ! as all who read this can probably tell, my head is about to explode.

mine have that as well and i was thinking of having the interfolio service mail a hard copy and then just having them fill out the boxes by hand. this is a REALLY ridiculous part of the process.

just fyi i'm applying to english phd programs. don't know if that makes a difference, but just thought i'd throw that out there.

i'm applying to 12 schools and one of my professors recommended i get interfolio so that they only have to upload the letters once. is there any downside to doing this? i'm hoping no one has interfolio horror stories:)

i'll be 23. took a year off after undergrad. i'm nervous about being so young, but i've talked to a lot of people who regret not doing this earlier when they had the freedom to move anywhere without regard to spouses or kids. it's really impossible to tell when the right time is. upsides and downsides to everything i suppose. i feel like now is the right time for me, but who the heck knows?

thank you! i'm beginning to question whether i'm qualified to attend grad school if i can't figure out which buttons to push on an online application. blah.

for UCLA's application it seems i can only mail a copy of a LOR to the department. am i just being silly, or is there no place to upload email addresses? thanks!

i have dream programs myself. i fantasize about going there, about getting the acceptance letter, i envision the excitement, etc. i don't get fixated on JUST ONE school though. i have many programs i'm dying to go to and i'm applying to ALL of them. i'm an english lit PhD applicant, so perhaps my range of options is more broad, but i'm applying to 13 schools. there are some on the list that don't make it into my grad school daydreams. there are some programs i'm not drooling over. the thing to do is keep your eye on the prize: the PhD, the tenure track position (one day!). apply to schools that would happily attend, even if they aren't all your number one choice. the most important thing for me is that i get in SOMEWHERE. i know that the acceptance rates paint a pretty dismal picture, but i tell myself that all i care about is being able to go to school next year. i know i'm going to be rejected from a ton of schools. but i can physically only attend one university unless i figure out how to clone myself before the fall semester (not likely since i'm in the humanities). you can have the fantasy all you want, but just make sure you downgrade what you put all your hopes and dreams onto. for me the fantasy is yale, i'll be crushed if i get in absolutely nowhere. don't know if that helps at all, but i hope it does. this process is awful and difficult and nausea inducing but this time next year you will be happily working on a PhD, and all because you bucked up and got to work on those fit paragraphs. now have at it and best of luck!

anybody else having a heck of a time finding out the code number to send your scores out? i'm applying for english phds and have been googling furiously almost to no avail. please tell me i'm being silly and there is something easy i'm missing.

it seems to me that most programs have december 15th (or later) deadlines, but i just thought that if anyone knows of programs that have earlier deadlines it might help everyone out to post them here: for instance, the johns hopkins app is due december 10th(!!!) good luck all. we are almost finished!

i think that if by some chance a program that is a "big name" is somehow low ranked you shouldn't worry too much about the rankings. from what i've heard the ratings aren't taken terribly seriously by professors, but there is a lot of internal chatter about what kinds of dissertations come out of which schools. i spoke with one of my teachers about this and she said that it's pretty much nothing unexpected. schools you think are good probably are. that said, if you have a specific specialty i'd worry more about a school's reputation in your field than general rankings. of course, if a school you want to go to for, say, 18th century british lit is full of really famous academics who are all 90 and not long for this world i'd reconsider going there. also, keep in mind exactly what kind of placement graduates from a school are getting. i'm thinking of unc. they seem to be really good at getting graduates placed in schools in the south. if that really doesn't float your boat you may want to look elsewhere even if their ranking and placement statistics are good. this is just what i've gleaned from the website and superficial chatter of graduate students though. for all my blabbering, i'm still obsessed with seeing the rankings!