pea-jay

As a Californian wanting to leave this state, for grad school I'd take a hard look at what programs you want to study at which particular campus. With budget cuts and continued state deficits, I would check each program to see if they can stay funded. Some programs have been axed to save money, class sizes are up and course offerings down. Not saying this will be an issue for your program but just be aware of it.

some schools will take a scanned copy of the transcript with the proviso that you cough up a real one if offered admission.

So there has been much discussion on when applications will be going in and what, here is a poll question which you can elaborate on if you want. When will your applications be in by? First one? Personally, I am shooting to have my NYU one done be December and the rest in by early January.

I purchase the Princeton Online course...very detailed and interactive. Also super expensive. Normally $499 i think. I got it on one of their half off deals which I'm hoping will give me the boost i need take the GRE once and only once. Cheaper option would be 800score.com their program is less interactive but includes practice tests. It's virtue is that it costs only 25 bucks.

Do you have any equivalent work/volunteer experience? I'm apply for Public policy programs (focused more on urban and management issues though) and I'm more than 10 years removed from my undergrad and a few relevant grad classes as not to make an academic recommendation possible for me. In my case, my fall back position are LORs from current and former supervisors as well as a politician I was a strategist/asst campaign manager for last election cycle. I'm hoping this will be sufficient to make up for no academic references.

Well I did it. I booked a trip to the Big Apple Nov 11-14. <Gulp> At least they were cheap, slightly less than $200. Already registered to sit in one class, working on professor contacts. Definitely visiting Baruch and NYU, probably Hunter. Still havent worked out where to stay just yet. So how did it go?

hey that's a pretty neat idea

I've posted enough to give away gender, age and family status. And as for knowing someone outside of this forum apparently KieBelle and I attended the same discussion panel at the same grad fair in San Fran last week, though that's hardly a formal introduction or anything. As for myself, unless the name is obvious i kinda just guess based on gut feelings as well...mostly based on gender/age stereotypes and screen names. On the other hand, thanks to JohnDiligent's revelation, that isnt a good strategy either.

Definitely check into the GRE requirements. Some universities will be upfront with the requirements and others <CoughNYUCough> are ever so elusive. Like other posters have noted in related forums, even if it wont preclude entry, it may cost you in terms of access to funding. Given you're poli sci, the verbal score will indeed be a hinderance. If you find universities are noting cut-offs above that line, you may need to consider a retake.

I'd say your best bet if you cant find a job and do not get in is a volunteer program such as the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps if you want to stay stateside. I did that when I came out of undergrad with zero job prospects before applying for a masters program. Added bonus in many cases you will get money for grad school or equally important, to pay off undergrad loans. I got nearly $5K towards my grad schooling and had 20% (yes percent) whacked off my undergrad loans due to my job assignment (teaching @ an inner city Chicago school).

Got a question about the CUNY system. Do the admission offices communicate between the colleges? I'm going to apply to Baruch and am considering Hunter. Would one college know I've applied at the other?

I know there are a few threads out there on contacting professors prior to application to gauge interest, direction and I wont duplicate that question. What I am looking for is what exactly one should (or shouldnt) write in that first communication. After all first impressions count. I seem to be struggling on what to write, beyond the cursory intro. I know you are supposed to know what that prof is currently working on but beyond that I'm not sure. Obviously your research interest should mesh, but what if you really are open to working on whatever they are, knowing full well you are perfectly fine with working on something completely different with one of their colleagues. (I say this because I am applying to a professional masters program where the vast majority of graduates never return for PhDs.) I'm honestly fine with whatever research once in the program, if it is part of a Graduate Assistantship. Any tips, dos and donts would be appreciated. Thanks

Well if you love the program as much as you say you do and you are on an academic roll, so to speak why not go for the pHD? Anytime you leave a university, you run the risk of not returning (for whatever reason). Go apply for the PHD program and worry about it only if you do not get in.

Wow, and to think I was actually considering applying there a few years back. Geography can be the unwanted child of some universities. My undergrad was Geography. My university only had four FT professors and 1-3 adjunct faculty members that taught a course or two a semester. Although there were only 36 of us in the cohort, we were often shut out of our own classes because they gave Education Majors priority registration to some Geo classes. I graduated with the minimum of Geo classes and wound up taking a second minor to meet the university graduation requirements. I mean, WTF is wrong with that picture??

When my wife was working on her teaching credential full time, she got a decent amount covered in grants. Because we still had significant expenses (daycare) we used student loans to bridge that gap. In fact a majority of the loaned amount went to non-school expenses. A stint at Starbucks covered the rest.

That's gotta be for financial aid purposes. Most schools usually say that directly though

Yep. Its late

Did she abbreviate it G.A.S.S ? Now that would be even funnier

At one point in my life, I really wanted to get my PHD and become a TT professor of Geography (my undergrad field). Academic "difficulties" in my first 2 years and mediocre GRE scores killed that option when I was just out of school. A lack of focus with a related masters program and starting a family in my mid 20s ensured it wouldnt happen then either. In the spring of 2008 when I was in my early 30s, I visited UC Berkeley, specifically the Geography program and inquired about the MA-PHD route, with the TT teaching position in mind. The experience was a little discouraging for a variety of the usual reasons (uncertainty in program funding, a dearth of good teaching jobs and the substantial loss of personal income). But the clincher was the fact that I would be nearly 39 when I would exit the program, a full 10 years above those that push through directly from undergrad. Add in the fact that your early post doctoral jobs are not tenure-track and most likely would require one or more moves to pursue (a non-starter with a family), meant this choice was not meant to be for me. In that sense, I was definitely too old. And I think there is definitely a point in time for everyone where at TT position just becomes unworkable due to age. It may not be exactly 24 or 25 but probably is in the vicinity. Oh well. At least I DO enjoy my work and am looking forward to pursuing a MA program that will provide me with quantifiable benefits to my career. Nor will it preclude my spending the twilight of my professional career a few decades from now in the classroom as a guest lecturer, adjunct professor or non-tenured assistant prof (if get my PHD sometime). Which is just fine for me.

Extra time away from your graduate wouldnt hurt, especially if you can find that public sector angle. Problem is the public sector isnt hiring, though you must not discount the private but non-for-profit organizations...many MPA programs have non-profits in their focus. I tried grad school right after college and was kinda directionless in what I was going to focus on in this area and so when my money ran out, I couldnt find any compelling reason to continue. But since then, I put 4 years in the educational sector (teaching and administration), 2 for the largest utility company in CA and by May of 2010, 8 working for local government as a planner (transportation, energy, housing and land use). I can honestly say I did not feel "ready for grad school" until this past summer when I was finally able to focus my past experiences and future goals in a more cohesive manner. Im not saying it extra time is needed for everyone, but with MPP programs at least there is less pressure to press on to the master's level right out of an undergrad program.

Thanks for the advice! Im totally going to do this, got time and resources to put together a mid-nov trip. And as my signature line notes, three of the four universities are within a few miles of each other. I have already been to the fourth.

English programs are probably the least likely to place emphasis on the quantitative. But I would suggest a retake to (1) further boost your verbal score (2) try and improve on the math and (3) get the overall score over 1000.

I signed up with 800score.com (it was cheap) and went through their reading comp lessons and found their suggestions kinda unworkable. The suggest way too much writing down as you read and that is time consuming. So for this and the math part I signed up with princeton review online to get a better feel for this section. As for reading speed, I'm a pretty fast reader but that isnt much better cos i'll miss the teeny tiny details ETS will ask on some questions.

Don't forget work experience, at least for some programs. A few universities I have talked to place the GPA below that of work experience. Well thats what I hope anyway as I'm pretty well removed from my undergrad years. Can't speak to the GRE as all my programs call it "strongly encouraged, but not required" Reading through the lines on that statement, I would say you better still take it if you want to have decent chance at getting in. So Im taking it very seriously.

Yeah, thanks for the KOD article, I downloaded it. Stuff like this should be kept somewhere on here as permanent resources for future grad student applicants