Minnesotan

I don't go to The U anymore. I'm half a continent away from MN now. Moreover, I never met the professors in question, even though I did complete a history major as an undergrad. As for the letters of recommendation, there's always one, isn't there? Everybody has one referee who makes them nervous, or outlasts a deadline, despite our best efforts to politely prod them into action. If only grant money was based on the timeliness of one's recommendation-giving, the problem would be solved. Profs would be lined up to write fantastic letters for you. lol

I dunno. "Nerd chic" means I can walk down the street in my "Look at me! I'm a grad student!" clothes, and chicks might actually dig it. I can talk about Cicero's orations and still get laid. I can admit I played Dungeons and Dragons in junior high school, and not send the ladies screaming off. Then again, with all of the "I <3 Nerds" t-shirts the girls are wearing these days, it's pretty easy to pick your targets. They might as well be wearing bullseyes.

Wow! I barely have time to get my grad work done, and all I have is a significant other who is also in grad school (meaning we see each other far less often than most couples of a similar age, relationship level, and temperament). From what I've seen, taking care of a kiddo is a full-time job in itself.

I ended up having to do just that for one school. They contacted me the day before my referee left for holiday break, saying the ref. still wasn't in, and that they wouldn't be back in the office until after the deadline had passed. Needless to say, I was less than pleased until I got the issue solved. =)

Uck! I was in a similar situation with one of my referees. Said referee is the nicest person you could meet, very enthusiastic about my potential, and completely ignorant of the concept of time. All I can advise is polite persistence. You don't want to burn bridges, but when someone agrees to do something, the least they can do is have it done within 3-4 months. But what can you do? You are completely at their mercy, and if you get pushy, who knows what the reference they eventually turn in might say? Frustrating indeed!

I'm not sure anyone would be able to stop me, if I didn't have a thesis ue, as well. The mailbox is already beginning to taunt me with its alternately empty and filled with junk mail states of being.

I wish I had the time and money to put out 13 applications. I was stretching myself thin with 6 of them. Good luck with the apps.

You misunderstood my point. It's a matter of what your competition looks like. At the top-10 programs, there are going to be lots of near-perfect applications available, so the adcom will be looking for any excuse to chuck your app. In a top-25 program, you likely have a good shot, if all that you're worried about is your gre scores. But I stand by my statement. In a situation where two applicants are otherwise roughly equal, who would choose the person with the minimum score? At a top school, the people selected will all have good test scores, I would bet. Here's the link you requested. You can adjust the criteria based on what you find most important in a program. The various foreign language programs are listed under Arts and Humanities. http://graduate-school.phds.org/

I'm glad my field of English doesn't require that behemoth.

Unfortunately, nobody pays much attention to the analytical writing score, if you send them a writing sample. In the humanities, it is the verbal that counts, and yours definitely could hold you back. Making the minimum GRE score is like making the minimum gpa score - yeah, you can apply, but why bother? Who picks someone who only barely scrapes by in their coursework or on standardized tests? At a top-10 program, there are going to be plenty of people with great pubs, conference presentations, awards, etc. *and* their numbers will be good. You really have to make sure there are no red flags on your application, if you want in to the top programs (then you have to set yourself apart with a great statement). As for why you scored better on the quantitative portion, that's because it's easier. They use beginning high school algebra problems. If you check the percentile ranks, a 700v is far more impressive than a 700q.

You forgot the last part on your list: Go to bed feeling bad because you didn't get any thesis work done (or if you did, you were too distracted by app-xiety to make it quality work).

I'd give a call if the error is still there in a week from now. You don't want someone else's (possibly negative) letter in your file.

Not literature so much as the history of rhetoric. I think you can get Feb. notification with a few schools, as long as you got your stuff in on time. Places with rolling admissions would be the ones to worry about, re: getting stuff in early. Then again, there are only a few decent programs in English with rolling admissions (that I know of). As for compartmentalization, you're right regarding many history programs. Especialy places like UToronto. Other places treat History like the inderdisciplinary pursuit it is, and don't handcuff you to narrow areas of inquiry.

If you check the stats from last year on the results page, you will notice quite a few English programs send early acceptances by the beginning of Feb. That seems like incentive enough to have my apps in early. Some science folk are already accepted for next year. Another reason I should have listened to my dad and majored in something useful.

The problem with idealist.org is that all of their jobs require you to like people, children, or animals. It seems like a losing situation, really. Does the position of Mad Scientist require an MS, or can you get in on the ground floor with a bachelor's degree?

I think I'd be better off if I was, though. I've spent twice as much on my education to begin earning half as much in triple the time. I'm obviously not a math major, either. So, umm... where are you applying? What field(/s)? Give us the scoop, man!

None of that sounds very exciting. I wonder what sort of credentials one requires to become a gigolo. That always looks like fun in the movies: living in exotic places, entertaining wealthy women, not having to complete a thesis (a.k.a. having a sex life). I wonder if you can get a certificate for that. Okay, so maybe the movies romanticize a bit. I suppose I could always go do some more language work, or enter a really good school as a non-degree student, and win the professors over with my wit, charm, and rugged good looks. Or the gigolo thing. I dunno.

Yeah. A lot of programs I applied to (in the humanities/soc. sciences) had a minimum gpa of 3.5 for phd apps. I'm not sure if that means your most recent degree work, or in undergrad work, as well. Point being, if you have questions about how they'll view your grades, then they'll likely have questions about your grades. You should answer them in the statement of purpose - that's what it's there for. Oh, and to answer the original question, I would look for a true safety school, if you don't feel the ones you have now are all that safe.

I resolve not to bite the mailman for the first 45 days of 2008. (I get a little upset with him when he doesn't bring me acceptance letters.)

Sadly, I would probably watch Nerdcenter more often than I watch Sportscenter. It's a good thing "nerd chic" is in this year, or I would never get laid.

I would be a sad, sad boy if I didn't at least get accepted to one of my programs. I haven't even thought about what I would do if I didn't.

Yeah. I'm in the same situation as Britt. At North American schools, it is no longer frowned upon to earn one's MA and PhD at different institutions. In fact, it seems like about 1/3 of the people I'm studying with are doing an MA here, then moving on to another uni. I guess I'm using my MA as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. I applied to do my PhD here, as well, but there are some other schools I would prefer. Besides, I think I would fit better at some institutions where my dissertation topic is more closely aligned to my potential advisor's current interests.

Ha! As if this process is ever cheap. I would have loved to have had the time and money to put in twice as many applications as I did, but alas! it was not to be. I could only swing a half dozen before my thesis work began eyeballing me from the bookshelves and office desk. Let alone the $1000 it cost me, all told.

I shared this idea with one of my committee members who decided it, like most of the things that come out of my mouth, was hilarious, yet ultimately misguided: My idea was to begin a grad student draft, much like the draft systems many professional sports use to fairly distribute young talent. The purpose is that it would save a whole lot of time and heartache if each potential PhD-candidate could send all of his or her credentials, supplementary materials, and a generic application form to a central pool. Each major university would then get to take turns selecting the candidates they felt best suited their needs, thus eliminating months of preparation and waiting, as well as mitigating the cost of most postage, transcript fees, test results, and the like. Also, there would only be one bureaucracy to misplace your materials and claim the post office never delivered them. Again, like sports leagues, they could hold a supplementary draft at mid-season for people entering graduate school after autumn semester. Those who do not wish to participate in the draft can, of course, become free agents after a certain amount of coursework has been completed as non-degree students. And those who are ABD can do the same, once they have fulfilled their requirements at the university that laid claim to them. Okay, so maybe my advisor was right about the extent to which I've taken the analogy. However, I am going to stick to my guns on the idea of a central credential pool. Not only would this be easier on the students, but it would also afford better security if an independent company contacted each undergrad institution for transcripts, made all referees prove their identity and assure the authenticity of their letters of reference.

That seems as if it might cause some confusion when new documents arrive, too. I mean, who's to know if the person entered the new data (say you retested at ETS, or have new info on your xscripts) when you check to make sure your supplementary materials are in? I guess that's how it goes, though - every institution has to be different.