slporbust2016

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/969/01/ https://career.berkeley.edu/Grad/GradStatement (specifically the "words to avoid without explanation" I took that to mean that AdComms view these phrases as meaningless and trite without additional info.) Many universities have info online that might be helpful.

This is such a confusing topic. I've scoured the internet, asked professors, asked friends who have already gone to grad school, and read article after article. There's so much information, and a lot of it disagrees with each other. I even checked out this book from the library and read it. http://www.amazon.com/Graduate-Admissions-Essays-Fourth-Edition/dp/1607743213 Still confused, and feeling like I have the world's most boring life compared to the writers of those essays. From all of this research, what i've gathered is that I need to make a personal statement that I'm proud to have represent me. I need to make sure that it answers what the AdComm asked for, and I need to proofread it 349 times before I hit that submit button. I've got one that I'm trying to turn in by October 1 that's on the fourth draft right now. I feel your pain.

copaceticbroad: USU COMD 2500 is language development. You can just take individual classes there.

I think those would be COMD 4450 and COMD 3120 respectively. I know UWEC has a neuroanatomy class, and I've heard ENMU. I haven't researched it yet, though.

Unfortunately, USU doesn't have a neuroanatomy class, so I know that I'll have to take one if I get into some of the schools on my list.

Are any of your schools CSDCAS? If they are, then all of those are one letter since they just accept one general letter.

Yep. That link. If you're searching for it in google "csdcas portal" will take you to it instead of the page where they're trying to recruit schools to use it.

You could always call individual departments and ask, but in general, they're going to want it done the way that they specified. If you do call and someone gives you the okay, be sure to log their name and the date.

Me, too. The other is more than a year in advance, You can always give them a call to confirm.

They don't accept anything sent to them before the application cycle opens on 9/17. That said, my things got sent to them a few days early because of when I took the GRE, and I called to make sure they didn't have it, and they were able to find all three of the scores that I'd sent and attach them to my application. It's worth a shot to give them a call before paying $27 a score to send them again.

Which schools? My first deadline is Nov. 1, and it's because they actually start in the summer. CSUN changed their distance program to June 1, but they start in January of the following year.

Upper 140s is less than the 50th percentile. That seems pretty low for a field that is heavily dependent on being able to read and integrate research materials and prides itself on writing professionally. Just my two cents. Here's the concordance chart for 2015 to look at percentiles. Maybe research scores for the schools that you are planning on applying to? I think paying to retake the GRE would be a waste of money, though, if you can't really get your scores up on practice tests. It's my first year applying, though, so take that for what it's worth.

I've heard NOVA and also that you can use the MAT for CSUN, but I haven't verified that since they're not on my list.

I think everyone has different things that motivate them. I took the GRE once a couple of weeks ago, and I got a score that I'm happy with. I bought Magoosh and used it. I knew that if I paid $100 for something, I'd feel really bad if I didn't use it, so that was my motivation--not wasting my money. Have you taken the free ETS tests? How similar are the scores to what you got? If you're not going to make time to study, and they're about the same, then taking it again is probably a waste of money. Good luck!