TeaOverCoffee

Graduate school is intensly busy. For that reason, I recommend mixing your healthy habits in with work. I accomplish this in a few different ways. First, I begin my week on Sunday evening by cooking lunch for the week. This is something healthy that I cook in a crock-pot (usually chicken, vegitables, and rice) that I can eat at my desk while writing, reading, running stats, etc. This also saves me a lot of money because I am not constantly ordering my lunch from a local restaraunt.
 
Every morning for breakfast I eat greek yogurt, a fruit, and either granola or toast. I also have a coffee that I'm obsessed with - Carabou Coffee's Carabou Blend. This meal gives me the energy I need to get through the morning hours.
 
I use my commute in the morning to prepare myself for work. Sometimes I ride on public transportation so I can sit alone and listen to music I enjoy. Music keeps me sane. If I'm not doing that, I ride my bike to work so I can keep my body in shape and work out whatever stress I have built up in my muscles.
 
While working on campus I take regular breaks from my reading/writing/analysis. I usually do this after every hour of work to give my mind a quick break. Sometimes I'll do this by reading some video game news, other times I'll go bother a friend of colleague. Sticking to this routine makes me more productive than I otherwise would be.
 
I also make sure that I cook a meal for myself every week night. This is usually a protein (typically chicken sausage or chicken breast), a carb (either pasta or rice) and a green vegetible (usually collards). I follow this meal with a Modelo Especial 24 oz or a Sapporro 24 oz beer. I think its important to fit beer into a regular schedule as long as its not in excess.
 
I never work before 10:00 am (if I can help it), and I never work past 9:30 PM. This is important. Your sanity will suffer if you're waking up and going straight to the books, and it will also suffer if you're constantly pulling late night work sessions. I usually do 10 am - 2 pm, and then take break until 5:30, during which I return home to play fetch with my dog and eat dinner. At 5:30 I hit the books and write until 9:30. After 9:30 I unwind with my fiancee. This allows me to get a solid 8 hours of work in per day while also allowing me to relax in the evening.
 
My weekends are dedicated to my fiancee and my pup dog. I might do a few hours of work here and there during the weekend, but my focus is on them otherwise.
 
This is how I stay healthy and sane. I would like to stress the importance of eating rounded meals in grad school. You need fuel to think and you need fuel to destress. If you're not eating properly you'll have problems doing both.

This is a great thread - let's keep the exchange going!
 
I'm the Queen of Scheduling, time prioritization is key!
 
- I'm a fan of freezer cooking, it prevents me from unnecessarily eating out, provides healthier options than boxed/packaged foods. I spend one Saturday a month selecting 10 key recipes (I switch them up every so often), go grocery shopping, and prepping the foods. The following morning, on Sunday, I assemble the meals. I make typically 10 casserole dishes and 10 crockpot meals (5 recipes for each and then double it). It's the exact amount needed for the weekdays and I either cook or dine out on the weekends so I get that fix in then. Every night before bed, I take one out of the freezer and if it's a crockpot meal, I put it the slow cooker before I leave for the day. If it's a casserole, I put in it the moment I get home and do my nightly routine in the meanwhile as it bakes. It does wonders for your stress to know that you have a home-cooked meal ready, waiting for you at home. I always make sure I have enough for leftovers the next day.
 
- As for meal prep when it comes to breakfast, I also make once a week on a "free" weekend - overnight oatmeals and breakfast sandwiches to freeze, and pre-portioned Cream of Wheat, smoothie packs, biscuits & gravy packs (I'm a Southerner!) - just to give you guys from ideas.
 
- A nightly routine is essential. One of the previous posters mentioned they use aromatherapy. I shower with lavender oil (I spray some on the tile so the scent rises up with the hot water). Also, for both males and females, having a weekly pamper day is nice - it relaxes you and maintains your self esteem. I I am big on self maintenance (doing weekly foot soaks instead of spending money and time on lengthy pedicures, etc). In addition, every night before I go to bed, make a list of tasks that I need to complete for the next day and also review that day's list to make sure I am making satisfactory progress. I also put aside my outfit for the day, organize my bag, and prepare my lunch/snacks. It saves me a lot of time in the morning when I'm tired. I am also wanting to start a paper journal... been reading how a lot of successful people do this and want to start incorporate this into my routine.
 
- As for a morning routine, I wake up early (like 4:30am to 5:30am) to walk my dog and head to the gym. I download TV shows on my iPad so I can watch them while I'm on the treadmill and kill two birds with one stone. I also am trying to get into the habit of meditating by setting an intention each day - a great way to incorporate this is to replace this with the time you would just sit down doing absolutely nothing but staring in to space or daydreaming.
 
- I have designated blocks of time during of reading/research and writing. They are both in separate blocks on separate days (R/R will be on MWF and W on T/TR/Sat AM).  Do this early in your graduate school career, it will come to great use when you are ABD.
 
- I also make sure my weekends are scheduled and not set without any clear tasks or intentions... a great way to waste time if you don't know what you are supposed to do for the day. I only do social things every other weekend (which are scheduled in advance to avoid conflicts) and also try to volunteer 4 hours a morning of every other Saturday. 

If you dress like a lazy undergrad in grad school...you'll feel like a lazy undergrad in grad school. 
 
If you dress sharp, smart and professional...you will feel sharp, smart and professional. And other people will treat you as if you are sharp, smart and professional.  
 
Burn the Uggs.

Well, that would be almost all of them. GREs are generally used to thin the applicant pool. Look for a strong fit and try to at least hit the minimum GRE.

Just a note: don't type in all caps. It's like you're yelling at everyone.

Reaching out to current graduate students was probably some of the best advice I've received lately. I emailed numerous grad students from several universities, and one emailed back in a very timely manner with more than enough advice about applying to one of my top universities. Though it doesn't sound very encouraging, I was happy to learn that Johns Hopkins isn't the university to apply for if you're an aspiring Victorianist because all of the professors teaching Victorian AND Romantic literature have left. 
 
Seriously, reach out to current graduate students, people, because they could inform you if you truly are a fit for the university. 

The main things I asked were about fit, the nature of the academic environment (i.e.: cooperative vs. competitive peers, faculty engagement level etc.), and more details about certain research interests of professors. Additionally, I asked about departmental orientation being more toward literary theory or close reading. Things like these are hard to infer from program websites, and getting what is essentially an "inside look" at a program can be very helpful. All of the grad students I reached out to also went beyond my questions and made other comments and suggestions that might be useful (for instance that a certain professor might be leaving etc.). In other words, you can get all of the basics from the program / departmental websites, but some of the helpful nuances can only come from methods such as this.
 
Hope that helps.

Here are some questions that I asked current graduate students in programs I visited and what students have asked me! Some of the more... "sensitive"(?) questions tend to work best over something like Skype or even better, at an in-person meeting during something like orientation or prospective student visit days, rather than email though. I also wouldn't recommend directly asking some of these questions as ice-breakers, get to know the other person a bit first
 
1. Are you happy in your program?
2. How often do you TA? What has your TA experience been like? Do you like it?
3. Do you feel that the department and professor care about your success?
4. Where else did you apply and visit? What made you choose this school over others?
5. Do you ever regret the choice you made?
6. What's one thing you wish you could change about the current grad program?
7. What do you know about working for Prof _____? (usually best if it's their advisor) What is his/her advising style like? Do you enjoy working with them?
8. Is the stipend enough to live on? Are you able to save each year? Do you have to take out additional loans?
9. What is the weather like year-round here? How hot/cold does it get? 
10. What is the rent like? How much do students usually pay? What parts of town are good places to live?
11. Is this city a safe place to live? Do you feel safe walking on the streets at night?
12. Do you know any students who are married? Have children? Is the school/department/professor supportive of students with families? (this was important to me but maybe not to everyone)
13. How many students were accepted this year? How many accepted last year, etc.... What's the average number of people that come into the program each year (some people are more hesitant to accept if there's a good chance they might be the only person in their year, or e.g. the only woman/man/minority/etc)
14. What is the atmosphere like between students in the department? Is it friendly? Competitive? Quiet? What about between the professors?
15. Do the students in the department socialize together a lot?
16. How many students graduate per year? How often is it that students fail a qualifying or candidacy exam? Are they allowed to retake them and is it automatic retake or do you have to petition for a retake (and how often are the petitions successful).
17. If summer funding is separate from the school year and you need to apply separately, how often are students successful?
18. What are the courses like at this school? How much time are we expected to spend on time (vs. research).
 
I always answer these questions honestly when I am asked and I know most grad students definitely don't mind taking some time out of their day to provide this type of information. 

I'm not sure whether or not this requires an entirely new thread, but I figured it might help out some people who were in the same boat as me. I apologize for this rant in advance!
 
I only had about 1 and 1/2 months to prepare for the GRE General test, and I wanted to share some tips for anybody who is in a similar boat (strict timeline, not able to rewrite because of finances, etc.) or has simply just slacked away their time (we have all been there!). If you have any other suggestions for General (how you studied, your timeline, etc.), please share!! I'm sure it could help some lonely and frightened soul lurking from behind their computer at three in the morning.
 
I purchased the Kaplan GRE General book (2014) and also took out the Princeton GRE (2014) from the library. In terms of quality - to be honest, both were quite similar (different techniques, but the same points in general). I preferred Princeton Verbal to Kaplan, but I'm sure this was just a matter of taste. In other words - there really is no difference, and it's a question of semantics.
 
I did not study for quantitative, which I scored in the 65th percentile for. (LOL CANNOT HELP YOU THERE)
 
VERBAL:
It is very easy to score a low 80 or high 70 just running on luck alone and guessing - this is the main reason why everyone claims the GRE is an 'easy' test. However, boosting your score into the 90s was the difficult part, at least for me. I actually found it very stressful.
 
I didn't realize this at the beginning of my studying (when the raw panic sets in and you're staring at two massive tomes that you have to get through in a short period of time) but ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS MEMORIZE THE WORDS. This is a bit of a blanket statement, but for me it was incredibly accurate. MEMORIZE MEMORIZE MEMORIZE. Once you have all of the words down (they call them GRE Hit Lists), cross reference in different books and add to them. I completed a total of 6 practice exams and all of the online quizzes for Kaplan, which I found helpful. At the beginning of my studying, my scores were ricocheting all over the place - one day I'd be getting 60s, then next high 90s. The reason for this is that you are guessing. Once your scores start to ironically lower and stabilize (at least in my case) - this means that your vocabulary is starting to improve. By the time that you have memorized all of the words in the books, you'll be scoring easily (minimum) in the 80s.
 
In terms of reading comprehension/critical reasoning, there isn't really much that you can do other than start reading more on the side (as I'm sure most of us English majors already do). I started reading the New York Times almost every day (online, just a couple articles) and started finding myself recognizing certain GRE words that were used in the articles themselves. Make sure to practice online reading - it's different from being able to grab a highlighter or use your finger to read along. Also - make sure to take notes as you read through the longer passages - how you organize them will differentiate between which guide you use to study, but the concept is the same. Notes are a lifesaver, especially when your eyes are burning from four hours of squinting at a screen.
 
To conclude: THE KEY TO SUCCESS IS MEMORIZING. I fully didn't recognize this at the beginning and wasted a couple weeks freaking out over exactly how to approach the questions. Once you have the words down pat, you'll be scoring at least in the 80s. The push into the 90s will be a further hard struggle depending on your initial vocab - write down words you see in daily life, on practice exams, from books that you're reading. But once again - all you need to do is MEMORIZE. I also used WordSmart. Just two hours of memorizing a day should be more than enough to boost your scores in a one month period.
 
ANALYTICAL:
I scored a 6.0 on my analytical, and the main reason for this was practice and passion. Take out a GRE prep book from the library and read through the 'excellent' examples of analytical - watch the way that the authors format their introduction samples and then use that format (with your own language) for each sample essay, no matter what the topic. It will save you the pressure of spazzing during the exam when you can't figure out how to format your introduction.
 
There is a skill to analytical, and that is creativity. Nobody who is grading a GRE essay wants to read through a boring or academic essay, which is counterintuitive to what we learn in school. If you are given the topic "To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities" (from the ETS website), blabbering on about why Chicago's infrastructure matches its ethnic demographics is not particularly enthralling. You'll get a 4.5 for that, but if you're aiming for a higher score (which you might not be!), you have to separate yourself from the other contenders. Infuse your language with strange/bizarre facts that can color your argument - so for instance, if you are arguing for similarities between a culture and a city, talk about the mythological background of a city such as Rome (Romulus and Remus) and how that fascinating myth of being raised by a wolf reflected the eventual mentality of the Romans. If you look at the essay topic and think 'WOW, I can't wait to write this essay,' most likely you will do well. You just have to trick yourself into being interested in what you're writing.
 
I hope that helped anybody who's panicking right now over their GRE General! Remember to take breaks and to not stress out too much - you break the exam, the exam doesn't break you. If anybody else has suggestions from their own timeline, I'm sure others would love to hear!
 
Also - contrary to what some bloated and obnoxious people say (yes, bloated), the GRE is not an IQ test. If your scores stabilize at 85%, that does not mean that your verbal/analytical IQ is 85%. You can always improve. You can always do better. And I have no doubt that you will!
 
xx
 
 

Don't get me wrong, it's great to share resources, and it's great you're reading so much, but this test is not designed to be a comprehensive exam like you will have after you finish coursework in a Ph.D. program.  It is designed to measure breadth of exposure, so if you spend all your prep time reading books rather than becoming familiar with major characters, basic plot, and major quotations from central texts (check out vade mecum and hapax legomenon in addition to the UCSB list) and preparing to handle theory questions or very specifically framed reading comprehension questions, you're not preparing for the test itself.  Make sure to take the time to do practice tests, as many different ones as you can find, as the actual test will not be the same for everyone and is scored in comparison to other tests of the same year and prior.  Reading texts is great, but this test isn't really designed to measure how well you know/understand a text.  I scored in the 92nd percentile and my main mistake (prior practice tests were in the 98th and 99th percentiles) was that I was thrown off by a different format.  I focused on reading texts and knowing intricate details of plot, character, and quotations for recognition.  Some tests will reward (some of) that, but not all.  It's really important to learn how to take the test.  I wasn't prepared for that aspect because I just took the GRE without preparing for it because I was really busy at the time and did well because my learning/testing style is similar to the way the GRE is designed.  I got a 6 on the analytical because I wrote basically the essay equivalent of a logical proof and a 97% on the verbal because of vocab (note to you if you don't know--I didn't since I didn't have time to prepare--you can't go back and fill in answers on the actual GRE, which messed my score up).  The subject test isn't like that, or at least it wasn't like other standardized tests for me.  The above-recommended sites have quite a bit of advice on strategizing for the test, and I'd spend a good chunk of time on that as well as general reading.

Princeton Review has a useful prep book that also includes a practice test. The book lays out the simple but practical concept of evaluating what to read by "points-per-page." E.g. Keats Odes, taken together, are as likely to turn up on the test as is, say, Joyce's Ulysses, which means the points-to-page ratio of the odes is something around 1:10 where Joyce's p-to-p is 1:1000!!! So it makes much more sense to save time you would spend on works like Ulysses for works like the Odes.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Literature-English-Graduate-Preparation/dp/0375429719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403375498&sr=8-1&keywords=princeton+review+gre+literature
 
I took 2 practice tests and the GRE itself, and all 3 had a question about Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard." I also remember that most of the Chaucer questions were from the General Prologue. 2 had questions about Pope's Rape of the Lock. I also think they all refered to one or other of TS Eliot's famous critical ideas: his idea of the "objective correlative" and the theses laid out in "Tradition and the Individual Talent."
 
Good luck!

Hey, I think my blog can be added too in free materials list!!

Princeton Review is already on the list, but here's a gem of theirs that I think is easy to overlook:
 
Princeton Review Vocab Minute Podcast: a huge series of very short songs featuring vocabulary words and their meanings.  They have junior (ACT/SAT) and senior (GRE) level, and if stupid songs help you learn (and they definitely help me learn!), they're fantastic.

Powerprep software: this gives you practice tests directly from the ETS, timed and untimed. 
From the ETS website: Practice book, Math Review, Math Conventions, Intro to Quant, Intro to Verbal, Overview of the Analytical Writing.
Magoosh: their website gives you free questions and free videos explaining things. They also have free ebooks: general, math, verbal. They have the option to upgrade to get access to more things, but you can use the free options. You do need to register to have access to the free resources.
Manhattan: I’ve heard from multiple sources they have are the best. They give you one free practice test.
GRE question a day: they will send you a daily question to your email, but you can also browse questions from previous days. I like it because it gives you an explanation to the questions if you get them wrong.
Princeton Review: I’ve heard their practice are very easy compared to the real thing, but you can take a free practice test. It might still be helpful.
Virtual Math Lab help for the GRE: This gives you tutorials for all the math concepts covered in the GRE.
My GRE tutor: covers information about all the sections of the GRE.
Number2: Provides you with practice questions and explanations.
Powerscore GRE prep: they have free online seminars as well as other GRE info and even info on graduate schools.
Vocabtest: this site helps you learn vocabulary and lets you create your own vocab tests.
Kaplan practice test: don’t know how good it is, but it’s a free practice test!
 
This list is definitely not complete, if you do a google search there will be lots of resources, but I think this is a good and helpful list.
Feel free to add resources you think are good! Good luck!

I also included a column on transcripts (some schools want unofficial transcripts uploaded, others want three official transcripts mailed to three different campus offices), supplemental info (a few programs want a typed list of relevant coursework or a diversity statement), program name (Rhetoric and Composition; Rhetoric, Literacy, and Composition; Rhetoric, Composition, and Teaching English, etc.) department and faculty contact (and when and how I contacted them), resumes/CV's (most, but not all, programs required one), application fee, GRE code, and my username and password for each application website (perhaps the most important column in my spreadsheet!). 

I had an account with Highrise from my old sales days, but any contact management software will probably work better than a spreadsheet. you can key in reminders, deadlines, track contacts, etc. in almost any of them.Of course, anything you use to manage this list is only as good as the information you put in. (Something I learned the hard way) so double check everything.

Lol! Well, I'm glad I made somebody on a website laugh, rather than making that same mistake on something I submitted to a graduate school!

Lol! Well, I'm glad I made somebody on a website laugh, rather than making that same mistake on something I submitted to a graduate school!

Passionate hook and motivation Background Research interests Why applying to a particular programme Why applying to a particular university How the programme shapes your future plan Read it somewhere, and though I followed the pattern, I couldn't make  my SoP as intriguing and engaging as it should have been!

Thanks Vanderbilt rejectant, whoever you might be, for this:

(Saw this on the results board. HILARIOUS.)

Just give me a list of schools that are good to go to. Like 30 schools. Thanks

I saved up over the summer, got an editing job that paid a decent sum, somehow managed to win a writing award for $700, and put a sizable chunk on a credit card that I'm almost done paying off.
 
It's totally doable, and totally worth it--when the dust settled, I received 4 offers with stipends over 20k a year.
 
I don't understand why I was down voted above; there are serious advantages to applying as widely as possible.

Yeah, I don't know how much I am willing to rely on rankings. Just because the school is a top 20 does not mean that it will be a good fit for you. When I did my first round of applications I was accepted to Tulsa with no funding (no thank you), but it also was not a good fit for my interests. I think my main approach this time around is going to be POIs, placement records, and funding packages. I think that I'm willing to shoot for one top 20 school but that the rest (probably 9) will be more within my reach. I mean "in my reach" in regards to my GRE scores and undergraduate transcripts. My MA transcript is from a top 30 school and is stellar but I'm not sure how far that will get me.
 
Also, in regards to rankings, I think placement is more important. Who cares about the ranking of your program when they have the ability to help place you in ANY job in our field?

I applied this year. I think the different processes by which one selects schools are interesting, because there really are so many great programs out there that at some point it starts to feel almost arbitrary which programs you look into and which ones simply never make it on your radar.
 
I started with rankings, even though they aren't necessarily reliable, and placement records because I wanted to make sure I was only applying to schools that were likely to help me be competitive on the job market. Some rather bleak talks with my current professors convinced me (perhaps incorrectly) that I would have a hard time applying my PhD in the way I hope to if I didn't attend a program with a strong reputation. I also looked into programs specifically recommended by my professors.
 
Full tuition remission and a stipend at or near the amount one could expect to make working a full-time, minimum-wage job were requirements for me. Many programs were ruled out simply because they didn't offer guaranteed funding. This felt unfortunate in some ways because many of the schools I looked at offered funding to some students through fellowships or TA positions that students had to compete for, so it's possible that I may have applied to one of those schools and received the funding I needed. However, I wasn't willing to gamble on that point, so I only applied to programs that offered full funding for all years of the PhD program.
 
Location also directed my initial sweep of universities. I admit I didn't look too hard for schools in places like Texas, Arizona or the deep southern US, where I simply couldn't imagine myself living (being an Oregonian who prefers cold, wet weather). On the other hand, if I was already interested in a particular program, I didn't let location deter me.
 
The previous factors led me to look into the programs, professors and research at particular schools, and from there it was all about how they matched up with my interests, whether there were people there I could see myself working with, and the impression the department website and outline of the program gave me. It felt odd to base my feelings about some schools on the content of their websites, but in some cases I didn't have much else to go on, and there is a very wide field of programs to narrow down, so some of these decisions are going to end up hinging on trivial things.
 
That's pretty much how I chose my list of 10 programs to apply to. This was my first year applying, and I felt completely overwhelmed at first by the prospect of choosing a small number of schools to bet everything on. And I still made some bad decisions, like applying to Cornell and considering it one of my top choices, even though I was more in love with the location than the fit of the program for me. I also let reputation and the kind of sticker value impact of top schools sway me to apply for their programs when there were probably schools with less famous names but still strong programs that would have been more suited to my interests. I did manage to work in a few of those non-Ivy programs that made sense for me and offered great programs and reputations, which I think will allow me to end up in the right place. So for me it ended up being a mess of different priorities to sort out while trying to make good decisions and hoping for the best.

Hello! I am a fellow 2014 applicant! I applied a year ago while I was finishing up my MA but decided to take a year off and do some teaching. How are you all going about narrowing down programs? Rank, POIs, funding packages, etc? I have a couple in mind and do not want to shoot too high with rank, like the ivies, but I also want the schools I apply to to be good schools with great placement records. What are your thoughts?

There probably are. It's not my field, but I've learned that you don't take "typically" for an answer. One thing to consider - I was like you, trying to get into PhD. programs straight from an undergrad degree. I very well might (waiting to hear from two) but I've learned that while one might feel ready for a Ph.D., getting into any PhD program is difficult as an undergrad simply because most programs take people with experience (through a Master's) more seriously.
But, don't take my "typically" for an answer. Go for it. You and I might get into Ph.D. programs from a BA. 
 
And, if you're competitive enough, try Oxford or Cambridge (in the UK). There are theoretically full-scholarships for people seeking a Master's in the field, (they won't let you do a PhD there without a Masters). You could go to Oxford or Cambridge, possibly fully funded, then go to a Ph.D. program that's fully funded later. Other foreign schools offer a good degree program in your area, especially the UK, which may be able to offer you funding. It's a long shot but an idea nonetheless.