Minnesotan

Although your GRE scores are really bad, I would remind you that they look at the complete application package. However, if you have the time to take the GRE again (and study for it), then definitely do so - you could easily make up for that verbal score with a week of memorization. And while I realize your program is likely not that interested in the verbal section, it sticks out, which is exactly what you don't want it to do. Also, a 640 quantitative is only like the 60th percentile - that might stick out, too, if all of the other applicants are scoring over 700. Then again, don't ask me. I think the whole process was a crap shoot that comes down to: -not totally screwing something up -and catching people on a Friday rather than a Monday

Does your prospective university use a straight letter grade (a, b, c, d, f) or a +/- system (a-, b+, etc.)?

Yeah. Good luck being in the <2% Iowa chooses. I applied to their fiction program last year, but people in the speculative genres are always at a huge disadvantage to begin with. Plus, my work might not be in the top 1-2% of all BFA graduates in the world. But let's not split hairs. =)

I'll send you the info via private message, since anyone associated with my program would know who I am by my replies.

I'm an MA candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University (Toronto), and love it. With your three disciplines, you could easily tailor a statement. The program revolves entirely around your thesis, and you can pick and choose courses from any discipline. Plus, it's the largest Arts school in Canada, with the second-largest number of grad students. It's a very nice environment in which to work. Here's the url of the brochure, in PDF format, if you're interested: http://www.yorku.ca/web/futurestudents/ ... terdis.pdf

Some reasons to apply to a masters program include: -If you are interested in a unique program, not offering a PhD -To be allowed extra grace time to make up whatever deficiencies (languages, etc.) exist -If you're not sure you can hack 5-8 years of grad school (honestly, in a respectable program, you're going to be pushed hard) -If you want additional training in research methods, etc. Personally, I'm doing my masters in interdisciplinary studies at a large (60k students) research uni, and I am loving it. It's a very rigorous program, and everything - the people I've met, the contacts I've made, the training I'm receiving - I'm getting out of it is invaluable.

In the humanities, it's not even worth applying to a top ten school without a 3.8+. I am sure the sciences offer more opportunity for undergrad publishing and research experience, so that might be a good track to go down. Honestly, a 4.0 in your last two years would do wonders for your application (plus good test scores on the GRE/whatnot).

Now that it's scholarship season, soon to be application season, I am betting things will pick up again. I know I came today for a little reassurance that I'm not the only poor schmuck wearing out his keyboard (and stretching thin his sanity) composing plans of study, tailoring CVs, &c.

Why is nobody else going to York? I feel so alone!

I can't tell you what to do, but from my experience "open" relationships are much more difficult once you've had a "closed" relationship for a while. Much better to do it the other way around, I suppose.

That's a very early start!

Depends on when I get my funding and student visa situations under control. This has been a very long process.

I read 1984 and Animal Farm in junior high, like everyone else, but that was a long (long, long) time ago. And I like to read an author from start to finish when I take the time to study their work. My late start on Pratchett has to do with my self-imposed interdict on fantasy-brain-candy-novels for the last couple of years. I used to read way too much of it, and I needed to focus on my studies. But, in the last couple of weeks, I've finished up the Wizards storyline (Rincewind, et al.), and am just ending the Death storyline. I'll have the Watch storyline going soon. Either way, late start or no, I read exceedingly fast. It's difficult to keep me in books, even with all the libraries around here. I need to find more work like Middlemarch or Les Miserables to keep me busy this summer.

I wouldn't let my folks open any letters from grad schools after the first one they opened was a rejection. I was studying abroad at the time (thus they were getting my mail), and made them forward the mail halfway around the world, which meant everyone had to wait that much longer before hearing the results. But I'm not superstitious. =)

I have a BFA in writing, myself (although I'm off to grad school in a completely unrelated field), and the truly sad thing about MFA programs is that the only piece of the application packet the department takes into consideration is your writing sample. The grad school itself has some minimum qualifications, but all a good GRE score will get you is a leg up on the other GTA applicants who would rather teach writing than pay for something as ultimately worthless as an MFA. heh Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't get so worried. Yes, you'll need to prepare, revise, and have professors look over everything possible, but remember that any program outside the fine arts will take a broader approach in the selection process. There are research proposals, test scores, grades (why do writers need good grades? pfft!), and references to consider, in addition to the writing sample. As for Othello, I have no idea what's up in the world of science, so I'm worthless there. =)

I'm not sure how helpful this is, as I am in the humanities, but I did extremely well on the GRE, had a flawless undergrad record, had several professors look over my research proposal/statement of purpose, and had all the pubs, internships, fellowships, etc. that one should need, and I was still hit and miss. For example, of my top three schools, I got into one. I got offers from all of my 'second-choice" schools. But, for some reason, only got one offer out of three back-up schools that I felt were guaranteed to accept me. I never got waitlisted anywhere, though, which made me sit up and take notice (what, with the majority of the chatter on these forums coming from people on waitlists). So my conclusions are these: -What they say about finding a fit being more important than anything else is probably true - places like Oxford and Yale see over four hundred applicants in my field per year, of whom they pick twelve or fourteen people (respectively) who somehow stand out. I seriously doubt there was a lack of applicants in the pool with 4.0 gpas or near-perfect GREs. I would, in fact, expect the opposite is true: most people without flawless CVs are either scared off or weeded out damned quick. -Again, there's the point about lining up an advisor ahead of time - your proposed research may be original and important, but the experts in your area might not be taking on new advisees. I went to Oxford for a while as an undergrad, and I can tell you for a fact there is still a sort of patronage-clientage system that goes on there behind the scenes. Sometimes the old maxim is true: it's not what you know, but who you know. -The opposite of my first scenario is also true. If the vast majority of successful applicants in a pool are mediocre students holding 3.5 GPAs and 600/600/4.5 GREs, people with good grades and test scores would stick out like a sore thumb. -Last, but certainly not least, I think there is a high level of chance once it comes down to the final round of vetting apps. I mean, maybe you said something particularly clever (or stupid) in your statement that sticks out in one professor's mind. Maybe someone was in a particularly good or bad mood when they first read your statement. With so many applications and so few spots, most decent programs have to make some tough choices using - let's face it - information that is incomplete at best. I mean, really! How many of you out there feel a couple of paragraphs about your life history embedded in a research proposal could come anywhere near describing your potential as a grad student? I am overjoyed I got in where I did, but there was a point there where I had gotten all my rejections right away and no acceptances yet, and I was worried! Anyway, enough of all that. The real point to my little lecture unbid is that I would do a few things better if I had to do it again. 1) I would send out more feelers to professors whose research interests match mine. 2) I would send out a whole lot of applications, regardless the ridiculous costs (this is the next seven years of your life you're applying for). And 3) I would triple check every piece of material that is sent from my home, from my referees, from testing services, and from my undergrad institutions to make sure it all arrives on time and reflecting the best light possible; if that means taking the GRE a couple of times, I would do it. Good luck with the apps. I feel your pain.

I know at my undergrad institution one was much better off working as a writing gta than as an English gta. It was all the same department here, but the writing instructors were in much higher demand, what with all the Freshman Comp. sections that needed covering. Thus the people who apply for the writing GTAs get a much nicer offer when the acceptance letters go out. It may be different elsewhere, but college writing/freshman comp. classes are normally what keep smaller English departments afloat.

I've been reading a little historical fiction, but this summer is my last chance to be a bum and read the silly literature I read for fun. Finished off the last Vonnegut and Bradbury books I had yet to read, and I'm starting on Pratchett and Orwell. I like to read everything in sequence when I find an author I enjoy. I did pick up Quintus of Smyrna, though. I want to read Iliad again, though, before I start him up, so that everything is fresh in my mind. Watching the movie Troy doesn't quite cut it for me.

No, but I think I could point you in the direction of someone who would offer you a cash loan. =)

If you are able to self-motivate and keep at it, Classical Latin is very easy to learn on your own. You've gotta love the Romans and all their wonderfully strict rules!

Something I found extremely helpful when I was first starting to translate is the little "Disce Latinum: Latin Grammar" book by R.O. Marshall. It's 46 pages of nothing but tables, charts, and exempla, so that you don't have to flip through your gigantic copy of Wheelock's (or whatever tome you're using) to remind yourself that what you're looking at is a fourth declension accusative ending. It was five pound at Blackwells in Oxford, so you can probably find it for $9 in the states.

He's right, that one.

I stand corrected.

L's made a good point. If you're doing work in the humanities, then it is assumed you're going to mess about a bit before coming to a final topic, thesis, and question. However, I would bet the hard sciences are more strict than the social sciences.

Nerd has a point. There are no sure things in this absurd process. To rephrase my prior comment, I would send a couple of applications to schools where it looks like you are well over the minimum qualifications they list at their website. No sure things, true, but applying to a few programs that have acceptance rates higher than 3% is a very good idea. If I had it to do all over again, I would have applied to more schools, despite the cost. I applied to 8, and I got my second choice (Oxford can bite me!), but it's better to have lots of options rather than worry your butt off until the beginning of June, like I did.