gradwoes

I'm getting the feeling that I applied to way too few schools. Is 4-5 enough (mind you, these are 4-5 pretty competitive schools)? If you want to know anything more specific about my academic background, PM me...

I'm currently doing my master's at an Oxbridge university. While many of the deadlines have passed, there are a multitude of funding opportunities for Americans: the Rhodes, Marshall, Gates-Cambridge, Rotary, Fulbright, etc. Also, each app has some school-specific scholarships (and these deadlines may not have passed): The Clarendon Fellowships, Weidenfeld, etc. Also, some of the colleges at Oxbridge offer their own scholarships.

"Meh"

I'm getting the feeling that I probably did not apply to enough schools...but anyway, applying for South Asian history. Applied to: Princeton Chicago Harvard Columbia Tufts (maybe - app not due until Jan. 15th) GPA: 3.93 Maj: 4.0 MA: n/a - no results until June. GRE: 650 v, 740m, 5 writing. Waiting sucks - BLERG.

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/jacobjavits/index.html On the homepage, it states that:

Thank you all for the sound advice, everyone. After thinking about this, I see myself in agreement with milestones13 - my trepidation is more psychoanalytic than admissions-related. I don't think I'm going to retake - after all, why waste another $160?

I'll try to be brief, as this seems to be a common question from most wary members of this forum. I took the GRE last week and got a 650 verbal, 740 math (a somewhat surprising score - on PowerPrep I was averaging 720 verbal, 650 math). As for my other background, I graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from a top-10 university (and also achieved honors in my major). I'm currently working towards my Masters at an Oxbridge university on a full scholarship. My undergrad GPA was about a 3.93, and my major-GPA was a 4.0 (weighted)/3.98 (unweighted). I'm hoping that my application accoutrements (recs/writing sample/statement of purpose) will be strong. As for schools, I'm considering applying to programs in South Asian history at: Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Chicago, Berkeley, and Tufts. I'm also applying to the Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the Javits Fellowship, and the Ford Fellowship (I'm a minority, but not in a category that is 'severely underrepresented' in the academy). My adviser has told me that I have a strong application and that GRE scores will never make or break an application (he also told me that the number one factor in admissions tends to be departmental politics ). But, as silly as this may be, I just don't feel confident about my verbal score: a 650 tends to hover at the average (but below the median) at these universities. I'm also concerned that dropping $160 dollars on a retake may lead to an improvement in my verbal score, but a backslide into my PowerPrep averages on math (thus perhaps keeping my total score the same). What are your opinions on my score? Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks!