schoolpsych_hopeful

"pretty much wasted my life eh?"

Boy, you're a right ray of sunshine, aren't you? as the Brits say.

Well ... you've hit a nerve and now I'm going to do my best to prove you wrong.

I'm currently enrolled in an MA in Germanic Studies at a probably Top-30 University, (4.0 average) already have another MA from that same university (3.8 avg), and the Chairman of the German Department has already told me they'd be pleased to accept me for a PhD in my current field (Germanic Studies).

But I'm setting my sights higher yet. I want to go to a very prestigious school, in a related but multidisciplinary field. And you MIGHT be right, it MIGHT be futile, but, dammit, I'm going to let THEM reject me, not give up because YOU say I should.

By the way, if you'd like to meet somebody even more pessimistic than yourself, there are other posters on this forum with whom I could arrange an introduction if you like.

So, damn the torpedoes, and full speed ahead.

@DrFaustus666: Universities don't give credit for "fair share of life-problems". Your application is weak, from an academic point of view you've pretty much wasted your life. A perfect GRE result, whilst demonstrating your commitment, would not significantly strengthen your application. Prescience is not my strongest point, but there's no way in hell a top uni is going to accept you. It'll be tough enough to get accept *somewhere*.




sD.

This is my GRE story. I was applying for admission to Columbia University in their Master's programme in Political Science. The admissions office told me that I needed a Quantitative score of at least 750 to be eligible for consideration. It looked as if the school did not have a specific minimum for verbal or AWA scores.

(1) I took the GRE exam twice: once in October 2008 and again in December 2008, all after studying on my own. Worked through Kaplan and ETS guide for GRE prep.

(2) My scores from October 2008 GRE's are; AWA 4.5; Verbal 630; Quant: 670. Not good enough for admission to Columbia. So, registered again to take the GRE in December 2008.

(3) My scores from December 2008 GRE's are: AWA 4.5; Verbal 650; Quant: 660. At this point, I was frustrated.

(4) Self study is not working for me in terms of helping me achieve the target score of 750 in maths. Did some research on the Internet and enrolling in Mlic's GRE turboprep class in London. Soon after enrolling, I received a file dump, with all sorts of study materials and tests. Called the Mlic company in desperation and asked for guidance on how to proceed.

(5) I explained my situation and said that I was going to just focus on the AWA score and the Quant score going forward. I was asked to prep through the essays file and the mathematics preprogramme assignment file.

(6) The company gives you a terrific template for the argument essays but merely suggests that you create two different perspectives for the issue essay. I worked on 6 essays and turned them in before the start of in-class training.

(7) Worked through the quant assignment file which covered some really great stuff in algebra, statistics, and gave me amazing strategies for working on quantitative comparison section. In hindsight, it was probably the comparison problems that let me down. I was beginning to get some new insights into how to approach this section. Was that the missing link?
I could not wait to attend the classroom training.

(8) The Mlic classroom training quickly escalated to high difficulty levels of GRE math and covered sections that I had not seen in other books. Sequences, arithmetic progression, cool problems in exponents and geometry, and all the drilling in comparison problems.

(9) I was required to take the GRE's again within 30 days of finishing the training in December. So, I got a GRE date in January 2009, and took the test. At the end of the day, when
I asked for my score report, my quant score was 770. I could not believe it. I had skipped the verbal sections (I received two sections, one obviously not scored).

(10) I waited for the official score to arrive to confirm my quant score. My official score report read: AWA 5.0; Quant: 770; Verbal; --

(11) I applied to Columbia with the new maths scores and was accepted.

(12) So, I am thankful to Mlic for a great GRE course. I could not have made 770 in maths without Mlic course.

It's really great that you're planning ahead! It's important to start thinking about grad school as early as possible. In terms of the admission process, there's a lot more to it that I would be able to explain here. I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591477999/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0155050699&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HKS7QR62J7J666NXKB0 It's written specifically for people looking to go into Psychology, and it explains the process in detail.

I don't think your B+ average is a problem, but you definitely want to pull your overall GPA up to a 3.5 at least. Adcoms like to see an upward trend in your grades.

The best advice I can give you is to get involved in research! You absolutely need research experience if you want to pursue graduate school in psychology. Contact your professors and see if they have any openings for a research assistant. Even if you start out just doing something boring like data-entry, it opens the door for more opportunities down the road.

No chance,, you insecure person, No chance.

Hey i stumbled upon this website.
www.dictionup.com
For 5 dollars i bought about a 1000 words and their definitions on audio.
learning these words on my ipod now

From the perspective of a current grad student, if you sent something along the lines of : "Hi, I'm just finishing undergrad at X School, and I'm interested in applying to Your Grad School and working for Your Boss, would you have some time to talk to me about it?" I'd be perfectly happy to e-mail you back and chat.

We were all in the decision stage at one point not too long ago- that, and our departments love us to help with recruiting.

It seems like you have already made up your mind, so why are you asking?

Thank you tkskinner!! I think that was the push I needed. I just e-mailed all three of my potential letter writers, and one already e-mailed back saying yes! I think maybe I was putting it off because now it's sort of official that I'm applying, if that makes sense. No turning back now...

It's really great that you're planning ahead! It's important to start thinking about grad school as early as possible. In terms of the admission process, there's a lot more to it that I would be able to explain here. I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591477999/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0155050699&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HKS7QR62J7J666NXKB0 It's written specifically for people looking to go into Psychology, and it explains the process in detail.

I don't think your B+ average is a problem, but you definitely want to pull your overall GPA up to a 3.5 at least. Adcoms like to see an upward trend in your grades.

The best advice I can give you is to get involved in research! You absolutely need research experience if you want to pursue graduate school in psychology. Contact your professors and see if they have any openings for a research assistant. Even if you start out just doing something boring like data-entry, it opens the door for more opportunities down the road.

Dude. Suck it up and get a roommate.

Actually, I take it back. Pile on tons of debt and dig your own grave.

You're not even attending yet and your username is gradschoolstinks? You feel entitled to a solo place... for what reason? You can't stand the thought of rooming with someone?

The negativity! It burns!

Actually the precious poster is INCORRECT!!!. Student loans can be taken out to cover Cost of Attendance. This includes tuition, room and board, health insurance, etc. Students loans are for Cost of Attending an institution not just for tuition. Read title IV.

Good morning, patrons of the GradCafe (GradCafé?). My (user)name is Edible, and I know nothing about applying for grad school. I'm so overwhelmed by the prospect that I sought out a place specifically to discuss it. This setting felt more appropriate for such a conversation than the usual professional wrestling forums I frequent. You know how it is: Great place for enjoying glorified carny entertainment with toothless hicks, but pretty mediocre when it comes to expertise on higher education. Still, props to the toothless hicks for figuring out how to communicate using the fancy word machine.

So, here's the skinny: Undergrad in psych with two years down (less one course) and a major average of B+. No research experience. No knowledge of how to seek out graduate programs. Nobody that springs to mind as somebody I can ask for a reference. Very few redeeming qualities at all.

I know what you're thinking. "B+? Surely he can't be serious." Well, I am. And if you're going to call me Surely, make sure you spell it correctly.

Anyhow, I recently overcame some serious motivation issues. I'm clean. I swear it. About the B+: I'm better than that. No, really. I'm actually what most people would call "smart." Whatever that means. I can kill any coursework dead when I want to and am at the moment highly aroused with the notion of research in psychology, especially that of the social persuasion.

So, let's assume I take my next two years (plus one course) of undergrad, including an honours thesis, and just kill it dead. What else should I be doing to ensure my best chances for graduate school admittance? How do I best go about researching grad programs? For further help, should I tie down my academic advisor and waterboard her?

In the realm of grad school admissions, I am a virgin. Take me now.

Also, apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum. It seemed too general for most other sections. Such is burden I carry for knowing nothing.

I find this post misinformed and stereotypical on so many levels.

I don't know why you think that people who got on waiting lists are ones who slacked off in ug and took basket-weaving or dancing instead of classes that could strengthen their applications. I also don't understand why you put liberal arts in the same category as basket-weaving, but I'm not going to dignify that with an explanation of why you're wrong. People who get onto waiting lists are usually very good applicants who the department would love to accept, if it had more funding. They are not anything like what you describe.

As for the advice to prove to the adcom that you would do anything for a place in their program, including spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars, I'd be very weary of doing that. There are so many reasons not to be the person who wants things too badly. You want to be appreciated and well payed for your trouble; you don't want to be the person who everybody knows can be offered less and will still do more. Stay within reason. I also wouldn't be surprised if professors don't want to work with people who seem too invested in their work, it's a bit uncomfortable, and can give off an impression of naivete.

As for learning languages in general - that could be good advice for some people in some disciplines, and useless for others. If what you do has nothing to do with languages and you find an awkward way to work the fact that you taught yourself 3 languages into your SOP - it's going to be just that: awkward. Not to mention that it'll take up space you need for more pertinent things. [case in point: I am doing a PhD in linguistics and have in fact taught myself and learned several languages, but none of that made into my SOP. My CV mentions my language skills, but no one really cares about how I obtained them. If anything, language courses have documentation and as a result receive more recognition than self-teaching].

As for Rosetta: I don't understand why you would spend so much money on a resource that can be replaced by much cheaper resources that will give similar results. There are online sites for beginners in many languages, there are books and tapes, there are language exchange programs at most universities. Why not start there? Your money will probably be better spent on summer courses and immersion camps after you acquire some basic skills.


It is good advice to try to boost your profile as much as you can - both before you apply and once you're on a waiting list. Take the time to figure out if there is some important skill that you don't have: it could be a language, stats, math, programming skills, advanced classes in your major, writing skills, experience writing a large paper or working on a research project, or something else. Do what you can to first of all acknowledge that there is something missing, which the program might be worried about in terms of abilities and fit, and try to do what you can to fix it. Take a summer course, for instance (and mention that you plan to do so somewhere on your application). Teach yourself, take private lessons, work one on one with a professor. There are many options for improving deficiencies. Consult your mentors - there is no one quick solution like the one in the post I quoted. But there certainly are things you can do.

Hi - The information you provided really only provides a very generic outline of who you are and what you do. Certainly people with similar stats as you have gotten into top five programs, so based only on what you provided, yes, you have a shot at a top program. The truth is, the devil is in the details. All the little things from the grades in your most relevant courses to your statement of purpose, and of course the quality and strength of the LORs will make the difference. If those are all great and you fit well with the programs then you've got a shot.

I think that it looks presumptuous and a bit pesky to "drop a few lines" as the application deadlines unfold. Isn't the whole point of the quick initial email to see if they are taking students with the veiled intention of making a slightly good enough impression upon them that they'd remember you when applications arrive?

I got more detailed responses than short ones. Even the shorter ones were mostly polite, "yes, taking new students and look forward to seeing your application materials!"

If they took the time to write more than one sentence to you they will remember you. One professor seemed generally pumped about our matched interests and my experience and then sent me a new paper that person had written. I didn't want to respond to that email for suspicion that I'd be lumped into the annoying applicant category. So I responded quickly with an acknowledgement that I read it and a possible ramification.

It's seriously just like a high school dance.

Maybe...Maybe.... a quick email once you submit your application: "Just wanted to thank you for your response in the summer and to let you know I did end up applying to your program and listing you as a potential advisor."

You'd have to have the content of the old emails present, which is why I have been saving these.

But even then I still think it seems a bit trying.

To be honest, the thing is that I find the GRE absolutely useless if you want to go into music. I don't want to sound pedantic at all, but I speak five languages fluently, and having a decent verbal score doesn't mean anything at all: it only means that you spent a month memorizing random and uncommon words. Moreover, my analytical part went great --I do not know the score yet but I'm positive that I'll be fine. So anyway, I've decided that I'm definitely not going to take it again. I have a GPA of 3.89 in one of the best music schools in the country, great letters of recommendation, my portfolio is really strong, and my résumé shows what I believe is enough international experience for my age.

Furthermore, I find the GRE a robbery. It's really expensive and I don't want to give these guys more of my money --I work part-time because I am not rich at all.

So, if the universities where I am applying to prefer rejecting me because of a low verbal GRE rather than accepting me because of a strong application, that's their problem, not mine! (just kidding, but in a way it's true).

Thanks for your comments by the way!

I don't have a fear of flying, but I do have my own phobias that have caused a ruckus or two in the past. I can tell you this though: there are other medical conditions that would prevent people from flying, and departments would obviously have to accommodate a person for that disability. In your case, you obviously have more than just a minor fear of flying: it's a full blown phobia, with panic attacks and fainting and all sorts of physical manifestations of your extreme anxiety. Such being the case, I have a couple of recommendations that should help you avoid the "but it's just flying" conversations and get you the results you need.

First off, do you have any sort of medical records documenting your severe anxiety about flying? Have you been hospitalized, or were there incident reports filed at the airports where you had fainting or panic attacks? Have you sought any sort of treatment, whether counseling or pharmaceutical? Gather whatever records you have, or work with your boyfriend to put together a time line of dates, incidents, particular symptoms. Any of this will put significantly more weight behind your claims of the phobia/anxiety, and should help smooth the way for alternate travel plans if anyone seems reluctant to accommodate you.

I would recommend going to the Disability Services offices on your campus to speak with someone about your situation. You might need to make an appointment, but there are people who are employed for exactly this reason. They are paid to help students work around limitations in order to maximize their experience at the university, and they are also there to advocate for you in case your department (for whatever reason) is less willing to have you travel by train instead of plane, for instance.

Finally, within your department, talk to either a trusted professor/advisor, your Director of Graduate Studies, or whoever might coordinate student attendance at conferences. It depends on the climate and personalities within your department, but among those people you should be able to find *someone* with a sympathetic ear. This whole travel arrangement thing could potentially be a non-issue, where no one would be bothered at all by your aversion to planes. If it is something that requires a bit of discussion and effort, having a person within the department on your side will help you navigate the problem.

The important thing, I think, is to start working towards a solution before the anticipated problem gets too close. If you can work out this understanding and arrangements with the Disability Services and your department before any conferences are discussed, then everyone will be prepared and no last-minute changes will need to be made. Also, if you suffer from such intense anxiety and panic attacks for several weeks before a planned trip, your ability to find advocates and make these arrangements might be diminished. Work with your boyfriend, the services on campus, and your department to start the ball rolling on this, and you should be able to avoid a lot of hassle.

I mean, I appreciate the effort you've expended, but I'm fully aware about how CAT works. So are the people who write Princeton Review and Kaplan, and both counsel spending more time at the front than the back. No offense, but I'm going with what they say.

Also, you're ignoring other beneficial effects of spending more time on the front. Usually, you have to warm up and take your time at the beginning to get your brain working, even if you're mid-test. Also, getting a few answers solidly right to start the test boosts your confidence and helps you with the rest.

So I'll keep my "misconception," thanks.

Without going into too many boring details, I went into a PhD program straight out of undergrad and decided a few years in that it was not a good fit for me and that it was time to move on. I am currently in the processing of reapplying to PhD programs and this experience, along with my time in grad school, has demonstrated that I had no idea what I was doing the first time around. That said, I figured I would share what I have learned in the hopes that it might help some people out there who like me were, whether they realized it or not, in over their head. That said, I begin with the caveat that I can only speak from my own experiences and those of the people I know from grad school so this is an inherently biased sample.

1) Rankings are useful, but they should not be the sole determinant of where you apply. I made the mistake of applying to only top 25 schools in a specific geographic region. In doing so I missed out on a lot of good schools that would have been a great fit. More importantly, the rankings, especially at the top, can be entirely uninformative. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. could not place a single student at an R1 for a number of yeras and they would not drop out of the top 10. Similarly, there are mid ranked schools who do a great job of training grad students and have amazing faculty and placement records that will never crack the top 15 (for a number of reasons). Lastly, some top schools have a large number of graduate students. This can be both a blessing and a curse. It can be a curse if there are 3-4 people in your market year who all do the same thing and want to work with the same people.

2) Placement records can be misleading. What you really want to know is where their PhDs have received tenure. There are many people who get top 15 or top 25 jobs and then fail to produce and are denied tenure. While the school may not be at fault for this, if there is a repeated pattern of this it may well indicate that students are not properly trained.

3) Look for schools that offer a research design and dissertation writing class. I have known a number of people who have struggled to write or even formulate dissertations because they had no idea how or where to begin. Having a course that forces you to think about what you want to do for a dissertation and then helps you make progress toward that goal can be invaluable.

4) Lastly, do not be afraid to leave graduate school or look into other programs if you are not happy. I know that this is not exactly cheery, but it is a piece of advice I really wish someone would have given me. A lot of very smart capable people, some of whom are very successful political scientists, have attended multiple PhD programs. More importantly, there are a lot of smart people who have, for whatever reason, decided that grad school is simply not for them.

I apologize if this is a bit disorganized and rambling, but I really do hope it might be helpful for at least a few people who are new to this whole process.

Thank you tkskinner!! I think that was the push I needed. I just e-mailed all three of my potential letter writers, and one already e-mailed back saying yes! I think maybe I was putting it off because now it's sort of official that I'm applying, if that makes sense. No turning back now...

Awesome. Yeah, I figured that would probably be the general consensus. (Though I wasn't suggesting asking random questions -- I believe I said "relevant," implying that they would be questions to which I would actually want to know the answers.)

Thanks!

thanks for all the advice. I feel much better now.. I;ll definitely call them and inform them about it.

I got mind-*beeped* by my over-imaginative parents (who gave me their over-imaginative genes) when I told them about this.

They were like "YOU SABOTAGED YOURSELF. THEY'RE GONNA THINK THAT YOU'RE IRRESPONSIBLE FOR NOT FOLLOWING UP YOUR APPLICATION AND CHANGE THEIR MINDS"

An old Chinese legend says it's bad luck to write a name in red ink. They say that the person whose name is written in bad ink will soon encounter very grave misfortunes. I work for a Chinese company and write names in red ink all the time when no one is looking and nothing bad has happended. Don't sweat it.

Is anyone applying to the MA program in International Development at American SIS for the Spring 2011 term? If so, please share your profiles.