Strangefox

If you have space left for that you can include it. I don't think it is a bad idea. But with all those SOP size limitations I believe it must be difficult for many appicants to finish their statements this way. I know, it's only like seven words, but anyway. You'd have to write it in a separate paragraph... I spent so much time trying to squeeze my ideas in a SOP that I really do not think such ending can work for me

Yes, I guess it means that they are not sending these scores. If you took the test in autumn 2005 it is exactly 5 years now since then so they must be expired.

You do not need to copy and paste it from your SOP but you don't have to think of something completely new either. Just put the same idea in other words. Are you sure that you absulutely must enter something in this box to submit the application? If you do not have to and you have this question covered in your SOP, just do not write anything in that box. It will be fine. Why do they ask this question again? They probably think that someone won't answer it in his/her SOP, I guess...

I am sure they do. How can you know for sure? I think you should ask professors

I guess, yes, if in a university English is the language of instruction, it does not matter where the univesity is located. How long have you been studying in your university? That can be important. Also, is absolutely everything in English there (lectures, seminars, discussions with professors and other students during classes)? If I were you, to be absolutely sure I would ask schools directly.

I have not, as far as I remember. Even if some questions repeat, the chance that you will have the same question (even one!) on the real test as you have seen in old GRE tests is veeeeeeeery low.

Hi everybody! My situation: I have a paper that is 25 pages long. This length is fine for all the schools I am applying to - except one, which does not accept samples that are longer than 10 pages. For various reasons the only paper I can submit is the one that is 25 pages long. I cut some parts out of it so that adcoms could still follow my idea and put [The following part has been removed to comply with the space constraints] here and there. And I wrote: The original length of the paper is 25 pages in the end of the paper. My question: Is there a chance that if adcoms like my shortened article they will ask me to send them the entire text? Has anything like that ever happened to you or to somebody you know? I am worried because I really like my paper in its original form and with all those cuts it looks mutilated! As I have said, the paper's idea and logic remain clear and I believe that it, even in its shortened form, demonstrates my writing skills well enough. And yet, who knows what the adcoms will think? May be they do not like papers shortened this way?? Thanks!

I am not a native speaker myself and I have 3.5 AW and everybody keeps telling me not to worry about that. Make sure that other parts of your application are superb and that you have good TOEFL scores. If you are going to retake GRE in February or January, does that mean that you won't be applying for Fall 2011? I hope it's not only because of the AW score!

I sometimes do that, too! I do not think it's crazy.

I would not worry so much. I believe they may have some glitch on the website. It's highly improbable that have could have thrown your scores away. It took my scores 16 days to show up. Anyways, if that makes you feel better, you might try calling ETS and telling them about your concerns.

Well, it it very hard to tell you how to narrow your interests if we do not know what your interestrs currently are You must understand that there is no standard procedure of narrowing interests, there are no common rules for that. Furthermore, only person in your field can really help you with that. How about reading more works in your field and trying to identify some area that has not been sufficiently studied? Some kind of gap? It's always good to make your research interests about bridging this gap. Make sure that you find some important questions that need answering within your field. Being from another field, my advice cannot go more specific that that

First, it seems to me that he was interested in talking to you - he suggested that himself. Second, it looks like he has some urgent business. He has obviously received your e-mails but he could not answer. I think he will do that and I would just wait some more, without sending him new letters.

The best thing is to ask your programs directly. I believe that they do not accept co-authered papers, but I would ask anyway. Who knows, may be some of them do...

No, you are not! Three hours of criticism would make anybody feel awful. Also it's exactly when you are not expecting it when it hurts the most.

Oh, pleeeeease, she is just a crazy hag! Don't pay attention to such people. You will meet them from time to time in your life, I met them and I know how extremely unpleasant it is. You write that other professors have been supportive of your work and praised you. That means that you ARE good. I do not know all the details about your skills and abilities and things that you have accomplished. But just think about them now. Make a list. I am sure there are a lot things that you can put on it. And now there are all these wonderful things about you that you KNOW are true. And there is some cheap criticism by an old witch! May be she is just jealous of you because you are young and have so many things ahead of you - and a German boyfriend! And there is nothing wrong in choosing universities in a certain place because their location is convenient for you for some personal reason, because it is good for your relationship, for example. Many, MANY people do that. It's just plain stupid to criticise someone for that! Don't let such people spoil your life! I am sure you will get in one of the universities you are applying to! Good luck!

It is better to answer all questions (some of them randomly) than to answer only a part of the questions but carefully. That is 100 percent true. Your score will be significantly lower if you leave several questions unanswered.

It depends totally on your luck. Sometimes it is clearly distinguishable: in the beginning of this section you will see the notification on the screen, that is how you will know that it is unscored. But sometimes test takers do not see any notifications, they just have to do an additional section because there is no way to know if it is scored or not.

I would ask their graduate coordinator about that. Information on schools' websites is often outdated and confusing. If the department's website says nothing about the limit, there is a good chance they do not care about "2 pages" rule of the graduate school. If it is around 1000 words I would not make it more than 1100.

Yes, it's a good idea. I totally agree.

I agree. But if it were the only option, I would do that. Imagine you have found out that a school has not received you scores and there are only a couple of days left till the deadline. Of course you can ask ETS to resend the scores but we all know that it can take up to a month for them to arrive.

Why? As soon as they see the scores, you can change the password.

That's a revelation for me, thanks! It is totally different in my country. Now I will definetely ask professors about average class size

Ok, now I am confused. I am an international applicant, so my question might sound a bit stupid... But: Let's say, a program accepts 10 students each year. So the average number of bodies in the classroom can be 10 maximum. Or not?

December 8th? Then you definetely can wait! And what if they will see where else you have sent you scores? If you have a phone interview they will probably ask that anyway. And some programs ask about that in their application. I see no harm in that. Good luck!

That is a great advice! The examples of questions that you give are very helpful. I have one question, though. When you were asking about the size if a class, you were applying to MA programs, right? I am applying to PhD programs and I guess this question would be pretty much irrelevant in my situation. I mean, they usually accept 5-10 people to PhD programs and you can find this information on their website. So these 5-10 people that they accept will constitute a class, right?