Minnesotan

From what I've heard - and take this for what it's worth, since I am a humanist - you are right. Engineering programs are concerned primarily with the GREQ, especially for non-native speakers. Is your TESOL score strong? That might be more important as far as judging your ability to perform well in classes.

Huzzah! Congratulations. See, patience pays dividends in the end. =)

Grab a used book on eBay or Amazon. It's quite helpful for strategic information, and it'll only be a dollar or two. I used the Princeton book and a few word lists online and broke 1400. I highly recommend it. In fact, the library probably has a copy, as well as other prep material. It might be worth a look-see.

There you have it. In my field and situation, defending this thesis of mine and getting a pub is a summer well-spent. If you have a clear goal, then I would spend as much time as possible working toward it this summer. We're not manual laborers, so we can easily put in a 10-hour day; just remember to take one day a week completely off. No articles, no editing, no school-related errands -- nothing! I plan to take a couple of weekend trips, but otherwise summer is my time to do the work I really want to do. (Oh, and find a damned place to live. Grr...)

I moved you over to the Biology forum, since this question is pretty discipline-specific.

I'm polishing up an article I want to submit, and thinking about getting fellowship apps ready for the fall. The summer is when we, as scholars, are supposed to be most productive (or so I'm constantly told), so I'm trying not to waste too much time staring at bikinis. If I bring a book to the beach/park, I can divide my time fairly equally between being a bum and being productive.

I got my registration materials recently. I bet you'll hear by mid-June.

Heh... no problem. I'm glad I could help. I am hoping I remember to revisit Semanza's book about once a year, because he really does provide some great advice. Good luck with your studies.

He probably just doesn't have a ballpark yet and is waiting to reply until he does.

Why not post it here? If you ask nicely, I'm sure people will provide constructive criticism. *Edit: I almost forgot to add -- it's time to find new advisors, if they're "not into" helping you get into grad school!

I might not, but Epicurus certainly does.

I wouldn't base my decision on just one person's input. Explore both programs. Talk to the professors and current students. Take a walk around the campus, the department's offices, and sit in on a class. Think about the money, the commute, where you would rather live, how helpful the advisors and office staff are (relatively speaking - this is the East Coast we're talking about). There are a lot of things to take into consideration, and one person's opinion should not rate very high on that list; you should go to the school you want to attend, not the school someone else likes.

One thing to consider, though: if you're not going to increase your verbal score by 50-100 points, don't retake it. It could actually make you look like a worse candidate if you retake the test and demonstrate no, or only a slight, improvement.

What a scam!

I know that about half of the lucky buggers at WGI who got in everywhere they applied were sporting horrid GRE Verbal scores, and these were not just mid-range top ~50-75 programs, either. I know one went with Berkeley, another with Harvard, and I'm thinking Yale or Brown, too. Anyway, it appears they will overlook a <700 verbal score, if your fit, statement, and sample are in good order. Nonetheless, I would strongly suggest you apply to programs based on fit, not on prestige or other trivial qualities. The most successful applicants this year were good fits with the places they applied, regardless of the level of prestige. No matter where you earn your PhD, it's going to be the quality of your scholarship that earns you your reputation.

It's funny: the advice I got from my advisors was helpful or not based entirely on what their strengths were. The big name, highly prolific "superman" professor gave me the best advice about SoPs and writing samples. The new professor, a few years out of grad school, gave me the best advice about how to select schools, which schools have good working atmospheres, and what red flags to look out for in their promotional material/websites. The crusty old codger who is on his way out, well, he just wrote me a very enthusiastic LoR (although it took him five tries to figure out how to work the online recommendation forms). Like my undergraduate history profs. repeated over and over, drilling it into my head, one has to evaluate one's sources, locate their strengths and weaknesses, and treat them accordingly. I think a lot of the older professors either A) did not have to deal with such stiff competition when they were moving up the ranks, or forgot what it was like to be a young upstart. I've been reading Gregory Colon Semanza's book (which I highly recommend, by the way) about building a career in the Humanities, and it is amazing how much his guide, having been written by a professor only a few years out of graduate school, seems so much more pertinent than the others I have read before, which were mainly written by more established professors. Academia may change slowly, but it certainly does change from one decade to the next.

History of Medicine or History of Science programs might be interested in you. If you're interested in them, it's worth looking into.

The thing is, Cornell, with the exception of Boston, you only applied to prestigious universities that get hundreds of applications each year from people with perfect pedigrees. My suggestion to the OP is to apply not only to dream/reach schools, but also to some good top 50'ish schools, as well as a backup or two in the top 100. People have this idiotic idea about prestige in graduate school, as if it means anything; this is not undergrad, where a Harvard acceptance is all that meaningful. You're going to get a rigorous education from an American "research 1," no matter which one it is. Apply to programs that work on various levels: prestige (if you must), location, financial support, advising, and especially program fit.

Honestly, if your potential employer can't take being called "a goof" by someone she doesn't know, then I doubt you want to work with her. Besides, if she's the type to hold a grudge over such a silly mix-up, she probably deserves to be called worse. =)

Some schools have had legal problems after explaining why applicants have been denied acceptance, so many programs outright refuse to provide that information anymore. It happens -- I wouldn't take it to heart. The "we're very selective" line is included, in one form or another, in just about every rejection I've ever received. It's meant to make you feel better, not to rub it in your nose (I hope). They're just trying to say that they had lots of highly qualified applicants, including you, so they had a tough decision to make. "Better luck next year." Although it was hardly what you wanted to hear, I seriously doubt they were trying to be cruel or unprofessional.

There's a big transition one needs to make between undergrad and grad school. Most successful students make it. I know I can't drink more than once a fortnight, unless it's going to meet with an adviser and having a maximum of two beers while discussing school-related matters. Keep in mind, I used to go out every night after getting my homework done as a bachelor's student, and managed a perfect GPA. In grad school this is not possible (nor is it desirable). The first few days of orientation, and any visitation weekends you attended, might give you the false impression that your whole cohort goes out and gets sloppy after every meeting. You have to realize that beginning the term with such bonding rituals can serve an important purpose, but when the time for socializing is over, we all have to put our sober hats back on.

Good point. I had one professor get back to me, telling me they were cutting his program next fall. I would have had to work in a completely different field, in the unlikely situation that I was still accepted.

People get in without having contacted professors ahead of time, but most people who have served on admissions committees tell you that it's good to have someone fighting for you during their meetings. If you are able to make a personal or professional connection with one of your professors, I think it will only help you.

Give another read through Ham. I think he is, as you say, stylistically similar to a Hemingway or a Caesar in his economy, but he is also playful in his double entendre and the way he will dice up a commonly used word or phrase in an effort to stand it on its head or present it in a new way.

As long as you're consistent, I doubt anyone will hassle you. I've studied in a few foreign countries, and they've never done more than tease me about my use of the American standard.