grad_wannabe

I got my last scores in exactly 7 days. You can self-report your Q and V on your application. You should be fine. Either way, it would be a nice gesture to call the admissions office and let them know your actual score report will be coming in a tad late. They're humans. They might want to put a post-it on your file or something.

Screw the GRE. Screw the GRE all day long. I could be working on my statement, reading material published by, and reaching out to, potential advisors, working on any of ten fascinating extracurricular projects that I fervently love, catching up on reading material that I think I should reference in my statement, and instead I'm sitting here watching a video on fractions. This freaking blows.

Call your target admission offices and just ask what their admitted GRE scores are like. I got a very straightforward answer when I did.

I used Magoosh to prep, and my actual scores mirrored exactly what the practice tests told me.

I'd focus on bringing up the verbal. Do you use Magoosh's vocab app? It's really easy (and I think free to boot). You can study vocab any time you have a spare moment.

If you're going into engineering, no one will care what your AWA score is. Verbal, maybe, Quant, absolutely.

It did indeed seem redundant, especially when they show you the PDF they make out of your application, and yearssss of research and publications are squeezed into boxes measuring 2x3 inches that can't possibly be thoughtfully perused. Do we know what the timeline is for USC, when we start hearing back? Also, this is totally ignorant on my part, but do they do interviews? RE next deadlines: I've got one on 11/21, two on 12/2, one on 12/10, and one on 12/15.

I was VERY tempted to not apply, but figured ultimately that the early deadline would give me a nice kick in the butt in terms of getting my applications together. plus my next deadline is Nov. 21st and that's not that far away. congrats to all us of who got our USC apps in! Was anyone else a little stilted by the 1000-character field boxes where we had to enter publications and research experience? do they even look at those?

I got very similar scores (one point higher in each section) and I'm retaking.

Echoing applemiu. Retake, man. You won't get into those schools with those scores. For comparison, I'm applying for communications programs (so not STEM by any means), and at Stanford their lowest scores in last year's admit class were 155 for each V and Q.

They published their incoming PhD student GRE scores on the site, they're pretty damn high. Median combined is 317. http://annenberg.usc.edu/Prospective/Doctoral/~/media/2013%20Prospective/Documents/ClassProfilePhDCommunication.ashx I feel pretty good about my 'SC app overall. I met with a POI last week, I've been working on my SOP for months, my GRE score is decent and already sent, and all my transcripts are in. I'm more nervous about the Stanford application coming in December. I'm retaking the GRE for that. Does anyone know what TIME the USC app is due, exactly? I couldn't find a time on the site. I'm assuming midnight, Nov. 1st, PST?

Last week I had a dream that I got in a car accident, which caused me to miss a meeting with a potential POI. I had a panic attack IN THE DREAM. Waking up was a relief, though. This USC early deadline is actually turning out to be a good thing, it's forcing me to get my ducks in a row far earlier than I would have otherwise so I'm catching lots of potential areas of improvement. Not looking forward to GRE attempt #2 in early November.

I'm qual focus long-term. I'm worried about programs like Stanford who state their "average scores" are 155 each.

Hi Pedanticist - I'm having trouble with my SoP for USC at this very moment. I have very little "personal experience" in mine, and onlysofar as it contributes to the "intellectual arguments of the scholars who have most influenced your thinking" component.

My GRE score is the part of the applications I'm most worried about. My research experience, grades, and letters are all very strong. My verbal/AWA scores are fine. My quant score, however, is very low (151). I'm kinda freaking out a bit, as all the programs to which I'm applying are incredibly competitive.

This is a decent score. Don't worry so much about it.

>should this interview go well and smoothly, would I have better chances to get into the program? I don't think it's a question of "good interview = better chances" but more like, if the professor gets the sense from the phone call that you are 1) a good match for the program, and 2) an overall reasonable/insightful/interesting person to interact with, then hell yes that'll help your chances.

I attended a grad info session last week (I live very close to one of my top picks) and I was genuinely surprised at the number of people who flew across the whole country to attend.

"Despite the poor state of the job market following my graduation in 2010, I remained steadfast in my desire to secure a position that would challenge me and allow me to contribute through public service. Within one month, I was hired as a legislative aide in the <state> House of Representatives, which enabled me to build on previous experience as an intern with a Tallahassee consulting firm and exposed me to an incredible variety of engaging and challenging policy areas. Although the experience allowed me to gain perspective I might otherwise not have, I found myself wanting to immerse myself in a single area of focus. Shortly thereafter, I applied for and was accepted to a position with the Governor’s Energy Office. Even from my first few days in the Energy Office, I knew I had found the policy area I was looking for." I agree with RidetheLightning - this is just too step-by-step. They don't want to read a picture book retelling of your CV. SHOW, don't TELL. Dump us right into the middle of the action, right into the middle of the decisive moment. "I found myself wanting to immerse myself in a single area of focus. Shortly thereafter..." Wait, what? What happened there? That sounds like it could have been interesting - how did this "want" come about? What sorts of projects were you working on that led you to that desire? With what aspect of those projects were you most engaged?

Letters matter quite a lot. In grad school for my MS I was awarded a full-ride fellowship (the only full ride the department awarded), and I'm pretty sure it was because one of my letters came from a super-star in my field (as my research, CV, GPA, and general background were pretty equitable with my cohort - in my opinion I wasn't that noticeably better than anyone).

Hi everybody! I'm making decent progress! Finalized my list of schools. Took the GRE and got my scores (151Q, 165V, 5.5AW) but the quant is low so I'm retaking in November. I'm terrified of those enigmatic funding cut-off scores I keep hearing about. Got enthusiastic agreement from all three of my rec letter writers, and I've entered their info into the first-due online app so they've already been notified. Completed the entire first draft of my Statement of Purpose and sent it to my recommenders. Completed my CV (some of my programs require them, others don't) and sent that to my recommenders as well. I've had three skype conversations with people at my #1 choice school (two current doctoral students and the dean of students), those went beautifully. I'm very encouraged. This week: select and reach out to PoIs, continue work on the statement, order transcripts. One thing that's been AMAZINGLY helpful: talking to people, over and over again, about my research goals. This has given me TONS of incredibly useful feedback and insight. Just through a series of conversations, I've been able to shape and focus my goals dramatically in the last six months. I have a big meeting tomorrow with a guy who's taught at both my #1 and #2 schools, hoping he can give me some insight. Luck to us all!

Magoosh: 148-153Q/160-165V Actual GRE: 151Q/165V Didn't study enough, less than 100 hours total over 4 months. Re-taking in November.

Hi AnkG, I don't know if this is the type of feedback for which you're looking, but I immediately took umbrage with your introduction. Engineering is certainly not the only science in which a practitioner can build things that benefit society. It is also absolutely not the only branch of science that is dynamic and ever-changing.

I started mine back in July, just putting a few paragraphs into a word document, and have been working on it in a somewhat piecemeal fashion since then. I've been dumping notes into my phone (I'll be walking down the street and get a thought like "oh! I need to mention XYZ!") and then putting those notes into my document. What's been especially helpful is having actual conversations, over and over again, with people about what I want to do in grad school. Every time I vocalize my goals (ostensibly, an elevator-pitch version of my statement) I find myself crafting the wording slightly differently, drilling down on what exactly I find important. Then, through the actual having of the conversation and answering questions and talking out loud, the ideas become more concrete. Immediately after the conversation I again make notes on my phone, then go and dump those notes into my statement document. In the last few days I've started crafting the statement itself.

Thanks TheRufus! I decided to go ahead and apply to USC. I did indeed ask my letter writers, back in July, and they all said yes. I figure if I give them a Statement of Purpose by this Monday, that's 6 solid weeks until the buffer acceptance date, and that should be enough time. May I ask how you chose 'SC?