Warelin

I'd recommend contacting the Grad School Office, not the Graduate Coordinator of the department. It's usually the Grad School which is responsible for passing the information to the department.

Yes. Per ETS: Name changes can be processed upon submission of the appropriate documentation to ETS. If you are sending scores and your name has changed since you took the test, contact GRE Services for assistance. It's also likely that you can speak to the Graduate School and see if they can find your file with your former name.

Unless a school asks for 4 letters of recommendation, I wouldn't give them 4 letters of recommendation. Admissions committes often have more than enough to handle. What I recommend doing though is dividing the work between the 4 professors. This will allow you to use all 4 professors.

@Bopie5: Exactly. The first round is always the hardest. Statistically speaking, I'm guessing most people don't get in their first time. I received a wait-list during my first round; which ultimately resulted in a rejection. During my second round, I applied to a few more colleges and received admission into 6 colleges. I ended up turning down a "better" ranked college for this one because I felt I could grow more here and I felt the opportunities offered here would be better and the location felt to me that it would also be a better fit. (During my first cycle, this school rejected me. During my last cycle, this school originally waitlisted me which then turned into an acceptance. I turned down a graduate fellowship that I was nominated for and won from the graduate school from the better-ranked university to attend here. Acceptances have an odd-way of working out because I thought I'd go elsewhere prior to making my final decision. The more I learned about different schools though, the easier the decision became and the more I realized what a hidden gem this school is. (As a side note, 3 of the schools I was accepted into were also the last 3 schools I added to my list after realizing they'd be a good fit.)

@Bopie5: I think the important thing to realize is that rejections can happen regardless. Fit matters a lot. Our understanding of fit often differs a lot from what the department's considers fit to be. (And the bigger the department, the harder it is to determine fit because more students will believe they're a great fit for that school.) It's just as important to remember that this is often like a lottery and nobody is guaranteed admission. The best way anyone can increase their chances is to show that they have a current awareness of the literary conversations that are happening today and how their research can contribute to that conversation and why that institution is the one that best serves their needs. Often, the "best ranked" universities are not the best at filling those holes. While you may not have publications (not even expected at the grad level-- very few do -- and some schools warn about publishing too early), there are other ways that you can showcase that you'll be actively involved in the profession.

For what it's worth (and depending on how the school sorts application), it's likely that you'll be put into a pool of BA-only applicants. It's not expected that you have as much experience as a student with an MA. The Ba-only pool is often larger as they search for applicants that show the "greatest potential to acclimate". Students with an MA are ranked on a different scale because they've had more years to learn the field and obtain more experiences.

This will not be a factor in your admissions decision. You will be judged by your previous coursework, your writing sample, your SOP and how well of a fit they believe you'd be to the department. They don't have time to analyze every typo every single student has had when corresponding with a school. Likewise, it's highly unlikely that any admissions coordinator would share all her e-mails with the admissions committee.

For what it's worth, I think most colleges are satisfied with a score of 300-305 total. Good luck and have fun! I have a friend who started grad school in a different field, realized it wasn't for them, did DCP after they completed their first semester, and is now working part-time at Disney and part time at Universal Studio. She seems to be really happy about it and has met some really cool people.

Thanks for catching that. Based on the history, it seems that someone deleted the information on Thanksgiving. (Perhaps, somebody had a little too much turkey!) I've restored it to a backed up version but it seems like some of the values are off. I'll take a deeper look later on this week!

Good luck!

Small note here: How much buffer a school is willing to offer is dependent on the school. Submitting an extra 25 words on 500 words isn't likely to hurt. Submitting an extra page or two on a writing sample might hurt because it shows that you're not willing to follow their instructions. With that being said, about 500 words generally means that they want about 2 double-spaced pages. I wouldn't stress to much as long as you can fit it in there. Less is often more though when it comes to these things though because it shows your ability to edit.

I wouldn't worry about it. This is a reason why people recommend not to look at your SOP after you've submitted.

Congrats on submitting all your applications, @WildeThing!

Unless the program specifically says to contact them, I'd advise against this for English programs. Unlike the sciences, English is a field which you aren't assigned to a POI. Your funding comes from the department rather than the POI or a grant. As such, departments aim to remain neutral and decisions are often made as a whole or through smaller committees. If you're going to ask a question, I'd ensure it isn't something that couldn't be answered by the website or through the department coordinator. POI don't accept students directly because it is usually a committee choice so acceptances usually depend on who the committee feels is strongest within each literary period or interest.

I think the easiest way to do this is to take a look at what professors list as their research interests. Usually, there are themes that you'll start to notice. After looking through research interests, see if you can find a list of previous courses offered during the past few years and see if that helps you gain an understanding of how strong a program is in a certain department. If you notice that the professors at various schools you're interested in graduated from the same school, take a look at that school's program as well.

I think the only thing you can do is apply to places where you think your work meshes well with the departments. Edit your writing sample and SOP but make sure you maintain your voice. And I think an important thing to remember is that their idea of fit might be different than yours. Even if you get rejected, it isn't a reflection of you or your work. It just means there were people who they believed were a better fit at the time. On a side note: It depends on the school's waitlists. Some waitlists are ranked; some waitlists depend on the field. If I recall correctly, UVA has a long waitlist while moving up UTA's waitlist depends on whether the two individuals they accepted within your time period rejected. Good luck!

A paper that is under review doesn't tell the graduate committee anything except that you've submitted. It could also be seen as CV padding. This would change if the paper was recommended for publication pending changes but it doesn't sound like you're at this point yet. I'd only list something as a peer-reviewed journal if it went through the process and I was given a date of which issue it would appear in. As for the acknowledged section, it depends. Were you just responsible for data collection? Or were you responsible for designing and writing a chapter? Academia is small. Professors can get in touch with others in their field easily and it could be seen as a turnoff if the role you played is smaller than you made it sound. If you spent a significant amount of time on a project, it might be worth mentioning that in your SOP.

I think @dancedementia's added advice is sound. I'd add that changing programs usually does entail restarting coursework. Some universities will allow you to transfer in a certain amount of credit hours but that number is generally low and rarely (if ever) the full amount.

I think that link would prove helpful for some other individuals. To me, it sounds like the OP doesn't have a PHD in hand though. It sounds like she has just passed her qualifying exams because she refers to herself as a Ph.D. Candidate and not a Ph.D. Student.

Congratulations @Ejt5100 and @mahh!

No. I'm saying that asking for a strong LOR is a good idea. Just asking for a LOR isn't enough because a professor can feel forced into writing a letter. The use of the word "strong" allows them to back out if they don't feel they can produce a strong LOR for you. Unless you specifically mentioned when you'd mail him for updates, two weeks is way too soon. Professors often have a lot on their plate that have tighter deadlines. Besides teaching, there are department meetings, student advising, community events, conferences, invited talks, and publications that they're working on at any time. In addition, there are often times multiple people that professors are writing recommendations for. I'm not sure if you need to send them any more e-mails, but I think an apology and thank you from you in person might be beneficial. Tone is often hard to read over e-mail.

Given that the OP used a number grade, it's possible that the OP isn't from the United States and that their country has different metrics. In Canada, an A is as "low" as an 80. In Australia, an A was as low as an 85. Getting the equivalent of an A in Australia is harder to earn in Australia than it is in the USA though because of how they grade. Most people in Australia end up getting the equivalent of a B or C during graduation. I think the majority of professors understand that applicants are a nervous wreck during application season and that students may not realize how busy professors are. My main concern here is this: Did you ( @CoconutAvocado) ask your professors if they could write you a strong letter of recommendation? Simply asking for a recommendation letter leaves most recommenders to feel forced into it. Asking if they could write a strong letter allows them a way to "bow out" if they feel they can't produce a strong enough letter. I'd also keep in mind that they're doing you a favor. Your letter will also likely signal how they view you as a fellow colleague in their letter even if they don't specfically mention it in the letter.

I think the saying "A bad score will keep you out, but a good score won't get you in" applies here. From my correspondence with programs in previous years, I couldn't find a program that puts much weight in the AW score. I think the reason for this is because schools have your WS and SOP which gives them a better indication of "fit" and of your writing style. I don't think your AW score would "qualify" you for a top-30 program, but it shouldn't keep you out of any* top 30 programs either. I think it's also important to look beyond the "top 30" because US news compiles that list based upon less than 15 percent of grad directors who respond to their survey. It fails to take into account the strengths a program has, their placement rate, or how much support a program can offer you as a student. *I will add here that there are some T30 programs that do prefer verbal scores to be in the 90th/95th percentile. Most schools are happy to share their average class profile if you ask.

Editing is a very important skill to have. However, I don't think I would worry about this. 500 words is about 2 pages double-spaced. I don't think anyone is going to sit there and count the number of words you used as long as its within about 5ish percent of their request. I would be more concerned if they requested 500 words and you gave them 600-700 words. I think you'd be best served by focusing on other aspects of your application.

In recent cycles, Johns Hopkins and WUSTL have accepted unofficial GRE scores. I think their websites indicate elsewise but I remember them allowing it during the previous cycle. I think it's usually the English Coordinator/ Assistant to the Graduate Director who fields these type of questions.