sarabethke

Or....and this is coming from the Queen of Procrastination here...when you find yourself not wanting to do anything you're *supposed* to be doing, work on your applications so you feel productive! Not really plannable, but I think it's doable

1) hahahaha @ this brilliant multiple choice question 2) oh no! to be completely transparent my verbal went down a little the 3rd time I took it, but my writing went up which was the reason I took it again. still, I'm confident that GRE scores are not super important. Necessary, and important, but not super important. Take heart, everyone!

Yes, SUPER common to retake the GRE and do much better. It was hard for me to imagine that practice matters more than knowledge, but I honestly believe that lots of practice is what helped me improve. I think started out with a 157 and improved my score a lot. Definitely focus on verbal and spend some time practicing the writing according the your guidebook's guidelines.

I don't know how relevant this is to your whole question, but especially considering your concern about where to start and how to find resources, even if your current department doesn't offer many courses on theory your professors likely use it. This is something I did not have a clue about in undergrad. But talk to them about theory, and they can show you a way in.

You know, I (like many of us) had great intentions for starting getting my materials together during the summer, but it didn't happen and it all worked out. You're only as behind as you can't handle being. I work great under pressure, so "behind" is very relative. I tried working on my SOP early because I knew it was super important, but I couldn't get it finished until my wonderful advisor set up a workshop so we could peer review one anothers'! There were actually about 8 of us in my program applying to PhD programs, so it was worth holding a small workshop for. We had one followup workshop to see how revisions went, and the whole process made that a lot easier! Even if I was terrified to show all my dreams to my peers on paper lol. That was done by probably mid-October. My CV was pretty much done before I started, because of, like, an Intro to Grad Studies class, followed by a GTA application, and then an intro to teaching comp class. My advisor was pretty on top of making sure our CVs were ready to go long before applications for school or jobs. Always show your CV to someone because they will just fix it all for you instead of you having to guess if the format works or whatever. Actually one thing I did was find a prof from my school on academia.edu and used her CV as a template for mine. Worked beautifully. Letters of recommendation--I didn't feel comfortable asking anyone to recommend me until I could give them my materials (SOP and CV pretty much), so that was another thing that added stress to getting my SOP done. I don't think letters are necessary to do super far in advance--I've had several professors come through for me on very short notice before with no problem. However, there was a girl I knew my first year who was applying for programs and though one of her recommenders was working on her recommendation months in advance, she didn't get it returned until kind of last minute and that was a lot of stress for the student. I made sure to ask by the beginning of November because I had a few December 1 deadlines. ***One thing to remember about letters of rec is sometimes you have to submit your application before the school will send a form to your recommenders, so do try to get everything you can done as early as possible so that profs don't have to upload something in a rush when it's already winter break or they're on sabbatical in France or something. Luckily with my writing sample I'd already done a lot of revision before turning it in for a seminar the year before, so even though I agonized about doing further revision for months, I didn't end up changing it at all. I finalized my list of schools I think by October for sure, possibly September. I wanted to have a good idea before taking the Subject test so I didn't waste money sending my results to places I wouldn't apply to. I think a couple did change though. I wouldn't completely resist applying to schools you're iffy about based on location because you can live anywhere for 5 years. I ultimately did choose based on location and stipend, but as long as there are faculty in your area of interest who are involved in your training, the program will be worth it. I didn't contact any POIs despite my intentions. I'm shy and feel lame reaching out to important people I don't know! What I DID do though was find a list of grad students in the department, found someone who was working on things I was interested in, and contacted THEM about the program. That was actually extremely helpful, and I felt better able to trust what they had to say about the program, atmosphere, etc. Most of all, don't agonize that you're "behind"! Just get a little team together and knock this stuff out together! I had more fun with my MA cohort bonding over PhD application stress than I imagined, and it's so much better when you're not alone.

I really don't think so lol conferences are there so you can get ideas out there and people can collaborate! Conferences=networking. You never know who you'll meet and how that might help you later! Just like publications, conference presentations can only look good and help, unless maybe you're only presenting at the one tiny conference put on by your school that no one outside of that school has ever heard of! And even that at least gets you practice and experience

When choosing between the University of Mississippi and UC Davis, it was a difficult decision when it came to purely academic concerns and fit with the department and faculty. What ultimately made up my mind was the huge difference in stipend and the somewhat superficial criterion of location. However, my partner will be moving with me, and the location makes a huge difference in making him happy with leaving where we are now. It's not just him though--I ain't mad at moving to California. Just continuing my western progression across the continent!

I accepted my offer from UC Davis! So happy

And in at Davis. Is this really my life?!

Hahaha yes the planning began immediately

I'm in at Mississippi!

Congratulations on the decision!

hahahahaha I love it! I'm crying laughing--thank you!

I'm getting published for the first time, and I just got an email asking me to do a final proof of my article so I guess this is real and actually happening. However, they asked me to write up a short "about the author," which brings that imposter syndrome right back. What do I include? What do I not include?

So is anyone else's whole life in limbo right now? I'm supposed to give notice to move out of my apartment Friday...but won't know if I'm moving out of town for two weeks after that. Even if I don't get into a program we want to move somewhere else in town, but we haven't even looked anywhere because we can't commit to anything right now because we don't know what we're doing yet! I need to talk to the apartment people this week to see what my options are but have no time because I am currently crying my way through an American ecocriticism class that is so far away from what I'm used to that I just don't even know. Also this week I need to be applying for a job because I can't count on getting into a school to go to next year. But there's that paper for that other class also... I'm supposed to be in a wedding halfway across the country on June 4. Haven't bought tickets yet because idk if I'll be flying from where I am now. Thinking about just driving, and then looping around to see family (brand new baby niece!!), hit another wedding, then drive home. But will I be able to bring one of my little sisters back with me whom I haven't seen since last summer when I need to find a job for this summer (summer jobs are just the worst and most pain in the ass to find)? Anyone else wondering how all your decisions need to be made right now and why can't it just spread out over the rest of the year??