Minnesotan

Hrmm... earn an MA before fall, or buy Mass Effect? I hate tough decisions.

I chose Assassin's Creed, instead, because I remembered how much of my life KotOR soaked up. If ME is an improved version of that (sans jedis), I would be in deeeep trouble.

I had one guy sneak his (electronic no less!) recommendation in three days after the Dec. 1st deadline. Egads! By the way, only two more months to go until the December deadlines start coming back yay or nay! Everyone cross your fingers and hold your breath for me until then. (If you all suffocate, I might have a better chance on the waiting lists. Ha!)

I was actually making a joke, but okay. I guess people in the humanities shouldn't tease people in the social sciences - they don't take the time to teach humor to political scientists at the undergraduate level. =)

What are the grade equivs. on a 4-point scale? It's sometimes deceptive when you only see a percentage, coming from an A-F system.

Raw numbers will also get your application shitcanned before they bother reading the SoP and LoRs, if you screwed up badly enough as a bachelor or master.

I had a couple of December 1st deadlines, so I've had my apps in since the beginning of November. I won't hear back until Feb-Mar, but I still get anxious. It's only 5-7 years of my life, right? lol

Bah! Everybody knows words are more important than numbers. =)

I've retired the 360 for a couple of months, so I can finish up my thesis. Maybe I should dust off the Halo3 for an hour or two per day. heh

Do polisci programs even look at the quantitative scores? I thought they would be more interested in the verbal.

I don't know about SRI, but the rest are all big research universities. They probably have the money somewhere, if you know where to look. Best thing to do is contact the departments.

Is December too early to begin the freaking out process? *sigh* Most of the deadlines haven't even passed, yet. Anybody have a good strategy to help me forget I have applications circulating? Hypnosis? Repeatedly hitting my head against a wall? Large amounts of booze aren't working.

In the humanities, the MA programs are much easier to get into, but much more difficult to get funded. I bet you'll have an easier time with it, being in the sciences, but there are always going to be cash cow programs at the masters level.

Most programs are happy to provide you with the data you need. Just ask them how many people applied last year, and how many were accepted.

I put off procrastinating, so I could get my apps done. =)~

My MA was in Interdisciplinary Studies, not English, so who knows how that will go over. It could be an asset or a hindrance, depending on the program. I listed my schools above, I believe (there are a couple of threads likes this, lol).

I believe your last sentence included the most important datum in your entire application: you don't need funding. Make sure schools know that.

Yeah. I am hoping that the good schools I applied to, with 1-2% acceptance rates, get about 99 total @#$% ups for every application like mine. I don't think I'm being very realistic, though. lol Thus, I sent out some safety apps.

Right. I made sure my two backups were in places I would really like to live. =) Anyhoo, this is my second time around (MA almost complete, yay!), and I figure I would rather have a phd from anywhere than not have one at all. Huzzah for safety schools.

Only you know what you want. Like I said, I would rather have a PhD from *somewhere* than none at all. If you're only willing to settle for the top schools, then that's your call, and good luck to ya'. I suppose it's different when you can easily get a decent-paying job with your bachellor's degree. In the humanities, it doesn't always pan out. If we want to work in the industry (and be respected, and paid a reasonable wage), a PhD is fairly important.

Sadly, I could only manage six applications. I hope I didn't make a mistake, but it's all I could take. I applied to a few harsh bringers of the application smackdown (UW-Madison and WashU for English, Indiana for History), a "Canadian Ivy," and two mediocre State Universities for safeties. What about you? Did you mix it up a little, or put all your eggs in the ivy/public ivy basket, like so many English peeps seem to do? (I honestly don't understand why you would apply to Yale, Cornell, Penn, Washington, Madison, Iowa Writers Workshop, Stanford, and NYU, thinking that you're 'bound' to get in at one of them. I have perfect grades, and almost-perfect gre scores, but I left myself plenty of wiggle room, in case the top 20 programs reject me.) I dunno. I took geography into account a lot more this time around. I know I would not be happy for very long on the East Coast, or in the Deep South, for standard of living and my inability to suffer heat over 70F, respectively. I would much prefer to live in a Midwestern college town, where I can rent a whole house for $500-1000/month. The Northwest has nice weather (I know - I'm weird), so two apps went that way, as well.

I'm glad I went into an obscure sub-field that doesn't require the subject test. The general test stressed me out enough, and I aced that thing. I know I wouldn't do nearly as well on the Lit. portion, so the "alleviation" might get a little carried away after that one. lol

At least you're not applying to programs in the humanities. A 420 verbal would look pretty bad. I would say it can't hurt to try, but you seem to be choosing some pretty elite programs. MIT? Is that realistic with your grades, let alone your gre scores? Make sure you have some true safety schools in the mix (I'm not familiar with the electrical engineering rankings, so maybe that's what Arizona or Texas are). I know I would rather get a PhD from South-Central Missouri State Baptist University, than not earn one at all. And, if there is a South-Central Missouri State Baptist University, no offense to those who attend what I am sure is a fine, fine institution of higher learning.

I realize I'm not a professor yet, but what's up with that. So many of my buds are running into the same deal - there's always one committee member that is trying to be a complete a-hole, for seemingly no reason! I don't mind the lazy committee members; it's the busybodies who scare me.

I take it your programs don't have a Dec. 1st deadline, then, eh? lol I had a couple of early closes, so I just made sure everything was done by mid-November. It's easier to get all of the suppmat packets out at the same time.