Swans

Well it depends on what your level is like now, but for me Magoosh (the quant lessons and practice questions), Manhattan flashcards and of course the Powerprep practice tests have been useful. I spent about a month on Magoosh quant lessons but I've been using the flashcards for quite a while because I'm not a native speaker (and neither are you I guess), so rather than trying to learn all those words in a short time I just brought those with me everywhere for some quick practice in between. I should add that I have a full-time job though, so maybe you can have a decent result within a month, but the sooner you start the better.

Well my application is pretty much ready to go. One of my referees turned completely silent for a month but after chasing multiple times he seems to have woken up again. If they all would be like that I would lose a few years of my life.

As a non-native speaker I was particularly worried about the verbal section, but with a lot of studying that ended up being my higher score. Practice scores: Powerprep 1: V 164 Q 157 Powerprep 2: V 160 Q 157 Magoosh estimations: V 157-162 Q 152-157 Actual test: V 163 Q 156 AWA 4.5 Nothing mind-blowing, but it seems high enough for my intended programmes and I prefer to focus on other aspects of my applications. If I won't have any luck I'll try to improve my Q and AWA scores in particular next year.

I'm currently working on my SOP for USC Annenberg and what they ask for in the guidelines seems to be very academic / theory focused. My current draft for them is kind of a narrative through my academic / graduate history with theorists that were relevant to me at the time and shaped my interests as they are now, but I'm worried it might seem a bit too much like name-dropping. How did you tackle this?