Amanda

Yeah, I can't really speak to your chances of being admitted since I just posted a "oh god, will I get in?!" post. However, I wanted to just say you're not alone out there. The main program I'm interested in is very exclusive but my interests fit it incredibly closely. Everyone I know (including people with experience in graduate admissions) have said, "You are definitely in there!" but I'm still nervous. All it takes is reading about their 12:1 acceptance rates and a rocky evening working on my SoP and I am terrified again. I think the best advice I can give you is the advice my boyfriend gave me. He said, "Do your best, work on the things that you feel need the most work, and don't take it personally if you don't get in the first time." Giving something your best effort is really worth it in and of itself. If it helps at all, from my perspective your stats look excellent and I think you're in a pretty good place depending on what you consider a terrible GRE score. Good luck with your applications!

I don't know about most people but I tend to operate on the basis of if they want you to call them something other than Dr. Awesome, they will tell you. I've actually gone on calling professors "Dr. Awesome" long after knowing them personally because they never corrected me (like when someone says, "Oh, you can just call me Amanda!") and I've also been told that I come off as exceptionally respectful. They might not be related but I wouldn't be surprised. Anyways, yeah. If they want you to call them something else, they'll say so.

Hey, I know you wrote this a while ago but if you're still around the average is about 1340 for last years PhD program. I'm not sure about the MA program but if you go to their website and look around for incoming class profiles, you should find something illuminating. That's were I got the mean for the PhD program.

Awesome! I think it's worth checking out no matter what. I visited once before and the atmosphere there is so inspiring, it's great just to bask in it all! What program are you applying for? PhD/MA? What concentration?

Hey, I just saw this. I'm going to be there, you still going?

I like the interesting conversation that popped up in this thread! Something that has been tossed around in these answers is working between classes and working late night/early morning. I know that's what I did to be able to work and go to school. For a while, it was late nights and then I switched over to early mornings (like, at work at 4:30am) to accommodate my school schedule. I guess I should add as part of my statement that there was about a nine month gap between the two universities I attended (the first one was way too expensive for me to keep up with) where I worked two jobs and I raised baby birds. Sooo....when I went back to school I quit one of my jobs (by this time the baby birds were grown up) and I felt like I was living the easy life. Anyways, I definitely think that some schools make it tough to work while attending classes. The first university I went to mostly had daytime classes, which was one of the reasons I had to leave. I was trying to work over nights and go to school which just didn't fly. Oh, and thanks everyone for your reassurances. I appreciate it. I just set up a couple meetings with professors so I'm getting my confidence back!

Of course I know that captiv8ed, but thanks for the reminder!

Oh man. This post is soooo off topic. Opinions, anyone? On the off topic discussion... This is a very good point. I was maintaining full time status or above at my school which translated to twelve credit hours or approximately four classes. However, because I knew that I had to keep working, I planned my semesters to take pretty easy classes when I knew I had to take more or when I had an internship. Also, it took me six years to get through college that way, including work and school through two summers. I definitely don't see how it could be done on the four year plan. Annnnd....again, opinions anyone? I need some reassurance here!

Thanks for the reassurance. Well, to be fair it fluctuated (since it was a food service job) between 32 - 40 hours but occasionally more than 40 since I was working in non-salaried management at the time. I did have the benefit of some consideration in regards to time to write papers and study for tests since I had a lot of seniority. At the same time, I remember working more than one last minute late shift that resulted in all nighters, not because I hadn't started until the last minute but because I got home so late and the papers were due so early (home at midnight, paper due at 8am). If I ever dropped below 32 hours it was always filled in by internships (I did three part time ones and one full time one while in undergrad) and volunteering (lots of community service stuff here) so I don't feel bad just going with "full time throughout undergrad". It's all about time management. Also, I always assumed that if I was incredibly busy I wouldn't have time to spend money which actually helped me save up a bit during undergrad.

Oh, I don't think that's so bad. I mean, the professor was certainly rude but depending on the individual and their time constraints maybe that's all they could spit out. I would say that you should just ignore it and continue contacting other professors. I think professors are a little jaded to this whole process and know that a lot of students send out form letters trying to get in with someone. Maybe they were just having a bad day on top of this. Myself, I have just been looking for professors who seem interesting and striking up conversations if I can. I think it's better to go a little slower and make a real connection rather than seem like you're out to get something and be cast aside altogether. Not that I think that's what you're doing though!

Okay everyone, sorry to post yet another one of these but I'm taking a break from writing emails to professors and finishing up my SoP soooo... Here's my profile: Social Sciences major GPA: 3.75 from a non-prestigious, non-research university GRE: 570Q / 770V / ?? AW Attended and presented at a conference as an undergraduate. Wrote a senior thesis which was entirely self designed and included survey research, interviewing, and processing/analyzing all the data I collected. My senior year my department gave me an award for the most promising graduate of their program, highlighting my interest in academic research. Three glowing LoRs. They are from professors who are probably not that well known but one was the department chair and is now an assistant dean. I have lots of general work experience as I volunteered, interned, and worked (full time) my way through college. I've been employed full time since I graduated in May 2009. My one downer is that I have not pursued an MA. I know that I am interested in research and feel that it would be silly to take that route just as a "prereq" to a PhD program. I'm applying to the PhD in Communications at these schools: USC Stanford Berkley UT - Austin Berkley UCLA I am totally in love with the comm program at one of these schools (don't wanna be TOO specific) and so far I've visited the school once. When I was there I met the department's assistant dean of admissions and a current student who was going on to do his PhD there. I've stayed in contact with both and they have both been very encouraging. I also spoke with the director of one of their Masters' programs who encouraged me to attend as well. I'm currently in the process of contacting professors in the department and will be flying out there to visit the school again (hopefully with some professor meetings as well). From my take on it, I am a great candidate for this school and my interests match up with a number of the professors' interests. But...in spite of all of this I am having a major bout of nerves. So somebody, tell me what my chances are?! (Feel free to include or leave out the extra curricular stuff since I didn't clarify what school it was for).