[Graduate Journalism Application Size-Up]

Program Applied To: Science Writing/Journalism

Schools Applied To: NYU, BU, MIT

Schools Admitted To:

Schools Rejected From:

Still Waiting: All

 

Undergraduate Institution:  St. John's College, NM

Undergraduate GPA: 3.2

Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.3

Undergraduate Major: Philosophy

 

GRE Quantitative Score (Percentile): 73rd (159)

GRE Verbal Score (Percentile): 97th (166)

GRE AW Score: 59th (4.0)

 

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5

Years of Work Experience: 10ish, with about two being teaching/communication/language related

Describe Relevant Work Experience:  Volunteer positions with environmental education organizations (gathering data and giving presentations to the public), two years of teaching K-12

 

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc):  Each of these schools wanted different things for their essays and statements.  My NYU application was mediocre, partly due to inexperience and partly due to feeling like I had to cram answers to all their questions into one essay.  

The MIT application was my strongest and included open-ended writing samples, and I felt my SOP was pretty decent here but not great.  I ran an early draft of the SOP by a former professor and she told me it was okay but I needed to improve it.  I ended up rewriting large parts of it, dramatically focusing it and focusing less on my experiences and more on my goals. 

The BU application got a dramatically chopped MIT SOP (the word limit was half), and I felt I didn't explain well enough why I wanted to go to BU specifically, nor what 

Strength of LORs (be honest, describe the process, etc):  I didn't get to review them, so I have no idea.  Three of my four have doctorates in science or philosophy, and the fourth was my professor for two classes and my advisor for a senior thesis project.  Two professors said they thought I had made a good choice in career and schools, and the rest said they were happy to write the letters.  Note that I did not send super-leading emails asking for good recommendations,  which may have been a mistake.

 

Other:  All of these schools are reaches for me, and I don't expect to get into any of them.  

--

[Graduate Journalism Application Size-Up]

For the sake of being nosy, I was wondering if people would like to compare academic records and admissions statistics.  I know it's a little early for results but I was hoping to see what the competition was like.  Here's a form:

 

Program Applied To:

Schools Applied To:

Schools Admitted To:

Schools Rejected From:

Still Waiting:

 

Undergraduate Institution:

Undergraduate GPA:

Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable):

Undergraduate Major:

 

GRE Quantitative Score (Percentile):

GRE Verbal Score (Percentile):

GRE AW Score:

 

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable):

Years of Work Experience:

Describe Relevant Work Experience:

 

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc):

Strength of LORs (be honest, describe the process, etc):

 

Other:

--