DrFaustus666

To be honest, and I don't mean to start a massive argument or to insult your writing skills (which I'm honestly certain are superior to my own), but isn't crafting your writing to the requisite format part of being a skilled essayist? I mean seriously, when you're submitting to a journal, a dissertation committee, or a conference, you're structuring your argument and changing the scope of your work to the requirements at hand. Why should the AW section be any different? Yes, I understand it's only in half an hour, and that it takes but a minute to be graded - both of which are ludicrous. But if you realize that to pander to such a system necessitates key introduction/conclusion/transition words, basic structure, clarity of prose, and impressive vocabulary, then why can't you provide them if for no other reason than to do well on the test? I would never publish something with which I wasn't comfortable, but I would certainly change my style for one essay in this situation.

Well, that's my two cents, anyway.

This section is so subjective and effectively horse shit. I killed my first essays, both of them were beautifully constructed and thoroughly thought out. I received a 4.5. My second experience with the GRe my essay (issue) was terrible. I received a 5.5.

My verbal score was a 560.

food poisoning

Are there certain things you tend to say that make you awkward? I don't know what exactly that entails, so it's hard to come up with specific advice, but here's what helps me (I'm a bit awkward myself): stop thinking about how awkward you are. That's always been one of my greatest follies--the more I think about it, the more it comes out! same with being nervous. You gotta just act confident. I also find that it's good to stay positive about things. Like, don't be too cynical, and don't put yourself down. It's not good to be arrogant, but it's not good to be self-deprecating, either. Remember to stay professional, and that will help, too. Hope some of this helps!

So, I've been in touch with several professors from my top school. They've all be super kind and helpful, and they all are interested in me and my research. The prof I'm hoping would be my advisor if I were to be admitted has asked me if I'm available for a phone date after thanksgiving since I wouldn't be able to actually visit the school due to financial reasons. I'm really excited about this, and this prof seems to be as well. One problem: I'm extremely awkward and socially impaired. I've got good credentials (except for my GRE, that's good enough to just fit their min), and our research interests overlap perfectly. I'm just worried that once I open my giant awkward mouth, things will start to go downhill. It won't help that I'm suuuuper nervous about this.

Anyone have any advice, or anything to alleviate my fears about being all weird?

food poisoning

It's really very simple: would you go to this school if it turned out to be the only one that accepted you this application cycle? If the answer is yes, then you should apply there. If not, then there's no point in investing the time and money in that application.

It's the same question that you should be asking yourself about every school that you are considering, regardless of ranking.

For each school you are considering, you should learn about not only current research options but also future placement options (based on the success of recent graduates). Based on the program's success in recent years, you should be able to tell if you'll get a useful education there.

Disclaimer: This MAY be regarded as a rant, and DEFINITELY contains colorful language.

A university's (whose name I shouldn't reveal so I reserve the right to refer to them as Douche Bag University) graduate admissions office and the department to which I was applying have just pissed me off royally. The program's faculty essentially sold me on their program, wooed me with syllabi and topics of things I could study while attending, and the program director even went as far as to tell me that their PhD program is "perfect" for me. Okay, I applied in January. In February the department put me through fucking hoops, asking for EXTRA materials that were not requested in the application. That's Fuck You Number 1. I sacrificed the time and expense to do this. In March, what do you know, the school tells me that despite the fact that they swore up and down that my application was complete a month ago they were missing a document. That's Fuck You Number 2. So yes, I jumped through those hoops to get them this document and they e-mailed me stating that the application was complete. Hmm, but on the online application status it was changed from Complete to Incomplete. Finally, in April I get sick of seeing the "Incomplete" status and ask the graduate admissions department for an explanation. I find out that the English department forgot about the application that they put me through hell for. And how do they respond? By re-fucking-jecting me FIVE minutes later. That's Fuck You Number 3.

Enjoy the 80 bucks I spent on this shit, Douche Bag University.

Like I said, I'm pissed. I don't appreciate being handled this way and this is me being polite.

So has anyone else been put through situations like this, and should I even bother trying to express my sentiments to this school (fine, without the profanity)?

They will not care. Not even a little bit.

They will care only a very little bit about your verbal score, which is obviously astronomical.

The program at Yale wants to graduate rockstar scholars, not good test-takers; no Lit professor would fall in love with your writing sample and ideas but take issue with your AW score. If you get rejected from those programs, it is because your writing sample and statement didn't make the cut, or because there is no one to advise you despite their (your) amazingness. So focus on those, and on fit.

Think about it this way: knowing the nature and conditions of the test, and then knowing the skills being a lit scholar requires, would you care?

I got 730/6.0, but I did study for the Analytical section. I used that Powerprep program and looked at all the sample essays to get an idea of what they thought was good and bad. FWIW I thought the "good" essays were also unsophisticated and lacked skill, but you really have to go back to your middle school "hamburger model" essays. There is definitely a formula they're looking for.

I'm surprised your quantitative score isn't lower if you can't work out that (480+580) > 1000.

Pick up a test book and read through their suggestions for how to tackle the verbal section - because as the others have said, there's a huge penalty to leave questions blank, but it's also bad to randomly guess. I have the Princeton Review and the Barron's Guide - each was helpful (the Barron's had better vocab lists, though). Their techniques work. Read them, study them, practice them. They'll help you focus how to read the passages and what to look for in the least amount of time possible.

I am not trying to sell anything, FYI, and I would recommend looking into your campus library/career center for test books, rather than shell out for them yourself.

Why tell them? Plus no matter what they will gossip behind your back if you tell them

It is better to answer all questions (some of them randomly) than to answer only a part of the questions but carefully. That is 100 percent true. Your score will be significantly lower if you leave several questions unanswered.

Several of my friends have been in situations where their supervisor was dating a current/former student. All of them resented it. People will perceive you as having an unfair advantage due to the relationship, regardless of whether it is true.

Honestly, it would be a complete pain in the ass to hide one's partner from one's peers throughout several years of graduate school. My partner works a job that often requires working on Friday and Saturday nights. As such, when I mention him and people haven't met him, they often ask when they will, for more information on him, etc. And, because we are partners, he is invited to departmental events just like I am and attends them when his work schedule permits. Sure, people may gossip behind my back about our relationship and/or my partner. BUT, that doesn't mean that it would be easy to hide our relationship from everyone in my department.

OP, if you end up trying to hide your relationship, you will have to constantly be on guard about what you say and do. It may require lying to your colleagues/friends/peers at times in order to maintain the mistruth that you are not in a relationship and/or that your boyfriend is not a professor. That's not an action to be taken lightly, considering that you'll have to do it for several years. And, if and when your colleagues/peers do find out, they will know that you have been lying to them and that will change your relationships with all of them. You have to consider whether or not that it is worth it.

While the Barron's 3500 word list is great for increasing one's vocab, it is insufferably tedious to plod through that whole thing! It's great that it provides sentences to contextualize the vocab but the alphabetical presentation doesn't really work to anyone's advantage. I've gotten through a good chunk of it but have decided to avail myself of other more fun resources. Definitely consider using a book that presents vocab words along with their synonyms because you're more likely to remember them that way (i.e. a list of words dealing with criticism, servility, death and mourning, etc.). You can also make such lists yourself. Yet another great strategy would be to make flashcards. If the thought of having piles and piles of index cards isn't your cup of tea (and it isn't mine either) you can do like I've been doing and use flashcard-making software and study vocabulary on your computer. I use a free program called MemoryLifter (http://www.memorylifter.com/) that has really helped me to retain a lot of words!

One amazing book I've been using is called Fiske Word Power. It has 100 chapters with 10 words each. Every chapter is structured around a fun and quirky theme, like "Am I Timid? Or Are You Intimidating?: Words for the Brave and the Cowardly" (e.g. craven, pusillanimous, timorous, tremulous, rebarbative, redoubtable, etc.) and "How Deep Is the Ocean, How High Is the Sky?: Words About Heights and Depths" (e.g. apogee, acme, apex, zenith, nadir, etc.). The Fiske book offers two unique sentences per word, a chapter quiz after every three chapters, a longer test after every nine chapters, a final exam and fun activities in the postscript which add to the practice (gosh, I must sound so nerdy). Here are some cool examples of that fun practice I mentioned, in the form of funny thought experiments:

"If you asked a laconic herpetologist why he or she chose that line of work, what might the person reply?" "Mary asked an oenologist to recommend something potable for those who are frugal. In simple terms, what has Mary done?" "Frank is an itinerant numismatist. What might we find him doing?" "What might a lepidopterist put in his highboy?" "Do you find ribaldry risible? Why or why not?" "Which of the following superheroes might be seen as a virago: Spider-Man, Wonder Woman or Batman? Explain."http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-WordPower-Edward/dp/1402206534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289417310&sr=8-1

Another efficient way to memorize words is to make up your own funny phrases. To remember the meaning of winnow (which means to separate grain from chaff) I use the following mnemonic: "separate the winnowz from the los-owz" (the winners from the losers), which I concede is utterly ridiculous, but it helps me remember it which is all that matters! Here's a reference that might go over your head if you've never played one of the Super Smash Bros. games. Since I have, I find that conjuring one particular image in my mind is a great mnemonic for remembering the word toady (synonymous with sycophant, or a servile flatterer). One of Princess Peach's defensive moves is to pull out her retainer (a servant) named Toad to parry her opponent's attacks. Clearly that makes Toad a toady because he puts his neck on the line to flatter her majesty.

Here are some links so you can actually picture what I'm talking about:
http://seemslegit.com/_images/4c8a715d3518a38c479005ab28080c60/686%20-%20bowser%20nintendo%20peach%20ssbb%20toad%20video_games.jpg http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/small/0902/dont-shoot-super-smash-bros-brawl-samus-peach-toad-demotivational-poster-1235532735.jpg http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/halolz-dot-com-supersmashbrosmelee-toad-hastheworstjobever.jpgThere you have it, another silly way to remember a word, but I really will never forget it! And after preparing assiduously - dare I say, sedulously - for the past few months, I've got hundreds more where that came from! I hope you find my suggestions helpful. Good luck!

Harpy Emma: Hear, hear ! It's been almost 40 years since I sat in a math class, and you only beat my best quantitative score (690) by 30 points---while my verbal scores in three takings have been 800, 760, and 720--in chronological order (go figure!).

But many many things are stacked against me, and I am sure there are others like me, who (possibly naively!) hope against hope that a GREAT GRE score--one of the very few things that we can attain without years of work--may offset weaknesses in our applications.


In my own case, that's why I continue to fret, and will take it one more time, hoping to get a high quantitative score also.

Harpy Emma: Hear, hear ! It's been almost 40 years since I sat in a math class, and you only beat my best quantitative score (690) by 30 points---while my verbal scores in three takings have been 800, 760, and 720--in chronological order (go figure!).

But many many things are stacked against me, and I am sure there are others like me, who (possibly naively!) hope against hope that a GREAT GRE score--one of the very few things that we can attain without years of work--may offset weaknesses in our applications.


In my own case, that's why I continue to fret, and will take it one more time, hoping to get a high quantitative score also.

Congratulations harpyemma on your good GRE scores and best of luck in the application process.

That said, I don't think your post is very helpful to the community of gradcafe users. The test certainly is not easy for everyone and for some people it is a major obstacle to continuing their education. Based on your numbers, 95% of people have a harder time on the verbal section than you, so I am betting those 95% do not appreciate having you tell them not to worry. Furthermore, coming to a specific forum dedicated to discussing the GRE and how to do better, and then being suprised that people in the forum are dedicating themeselves to the GRE is just unnecessary. That is a bit like going to an AA meeting and telling people to just relax, have a beer, and everything will be fine.

I trust that you didn't intend for your comments to belittle anyone, but please be sensitive to the numerous people who use this forum as a resource to improve their GRE scores, advance their chance of graduate admissions and may not be having as easy a time as you.

There is, of course, the argument to be made that not everyone is you nor does everyone possess your skill set. Leaving that to the side...

Most of the anxiety is not inordinate. While I agree that adcoms aren't likely composed of monsters, you're missing the reality of application levels in the past few years. As much as every person on an adcom might know that not everyone tests well, when there is a stack of 600 applications and you need to get it down to a reasonable number without reading every page in front of you, GRE scores offer an objective marker from which to begin eliminating candidates.

Fair or not, it's not unreasonable to think that certain programs, whether they have a cut-off point or not, will turn to these scores to at least weed out some part of the applicant pool. With applications running at around $100 a piece, it's worrisome to think that your writing sample and SoP may not be seen at all because of a standardized test score. For this reason alone, I think it might be worth working onesself into a tizzy over the exam, especially if that pressure pushes you to get a higher score and (hopefully) make it to a round of application review where your true skills can be evaluated.

I think that should your peers find out about it, that they will probably suspect something nefarious or at least the thought will cross their mind. That is, unless they know the quality of your work. In my own case, if I were your peer and I knew you were capable of producing high quality work on your own, I wouldn't think anything of it. If I knew you had difficulty producing high quality work, I would wonder. I guess it boils down to how much your peers' opinions of yourself will have an effect on you. Do you value this relationship enough that even though your peers might frown on it you would still be happy in it? As for your career, I don't think it *should* have an impact on your career since no policies are being violated, and ultimately you will be judged on the quality of your own work (perhaps I'm being nave in this).

If I were you, secret-name, I'd be more concerned about the potential implications on the job market than on what your peers think. Regardless of who you date, that person isn't going to magically get along with all of your peers (and, for that matter, neither will you!).

Honestly, as a fellow student, I think it will look weird. Whatever they say to your face, I doubt many people will really accept right away that nothing happened before you left the lab / graduated. As others have said, even though it isn't fair, people will be questioning whether you can stand on your own or whether you have gotten favors or help.

That is all related to your 'professional' life as a student, though. As far as ostracizing someone who is dating a professor (at another school), I really really doubt that will happen. I don't think other students will care who you're dating, except that it is slightly more interesting than your typical significant other. In terms of your social life, I don't think you can or should hide it; trying to be 'covert' will only make it seem more questionable when it inevitably comes out.

I say you've got as good a shot as the rest of us. Nothing in this process is a sure thing but I think you have a fair chance.