balderdash
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Posts posted by balderdash
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Well done, man. There were about 1.5 million tests taken over the last 3 years, says the ETS. If that's true, then only about 2,000 of them got an 800 V. Combine that with the knowledge that not all 2,000 got an 800 Q but more did than they would have at a 400 V (just guessing that if you're smart enough to get 800 V you are more likely to get an 800 Q than at a lower V score), I would guess around 500.
Of course, AW throws it all off... I would guess a very small group of people actually get a 800/800/6. But honestly, once you're in the 750+ range for both, I don't think it matters. No school is going to go "800/800/5? Idiot." or "780/770/6? What a twit."
Edit: Yeah, so I just read that thread that you posted after I began doing the math.
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Yeah, there's no hard and fast rule (and certainly no word counter).
What you have to understand is the average grading time is 1 minute per essay... so obviously they're not reading them closely. What you have to do is make sure someone who skims it would think it's insightful even if it isn't a good essay. This entails good topic sentences, good conclusions, tight transitions, 5 paragraphs with 3-6 sentences per, and good vocabulary words that jump out to the reader. Whether or not you actually write a convincing argument doesn't matter as much as making it look like you did.
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Actually, the only WTF moment I had was because I forgot what was actually a really simple rule: if one triangle has sides x, y, and z, x has to be somewhere between z-y and z+y (obviously that's not mathspeak but that's the basic idea). For some reason this was completely foreign to me.
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bad romance
instant romance
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Interesting. I am looking a lot at MIT now. Not sure if I have a shot though
I would also think Stanford, with guys like Sagan and such.
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During college I...
Relevancy wins out. Waiting tables is admirable, but I think everyone will have done some sort of work on the same level (I worked cash register in a grocery store, pulled pints at a pub, and made sandwiches in a deli). Much more important are the work experiences that give you experience, knowledge, and preparation for your intended field of study. Whatever makes you a professional ________ (for me, political scientist) is what they're looking for. That said, if it was something really prestigious or something to which you had a continued commitment, it's probably worth inclusion. Since you said you didn't have a steady job throughout, the latter doesn't apply. But if one of your jobs was, say, interning in the White House, then put it even though it's not relevant.
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Actually, I was wondering if this hard and fast rule changes for a few awards. For instance, consider the award "National AP Scholar." It's not exactly prestigious, but I don't think it's something that can be thrown away offhand. Or how about something that doesn't necessarily yell "this is from high school," like Morgan Stanley Young Leader Award. If your CV just lists them like
Award X, 2005
Award Y, 2004
Award Z, 2004
and you started university in 2004, I don't think it's a problem.
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As an undergraduate (UNC - Chapel Hill) I put myself on track to become a career academic because at the time it seemed like the best way for me to utilize my interest in languages. I double majored in Classics (Greek and Latin) and Germanic Languages. The second major included work in Middle High German (a medieval literary dialect) and Dutch. Now I'm in the middle of a master's degree in Ancient Christianity (Notre Dame), in which I've continued with Greek and Latin as my primary research languages and German as a vehicle for reading scholarly research. I've also picked up Syriac, an ancient semitic language (dialect of Aramaic) related to Hebrew and Arabic.
The process has been fulfilling on a personal level, but I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a professional academic. My grades are fine but I don't find myself driven to do the kind of research I need to make a niche for myself in the academy. More than anything I've always just loved learning languages, i.e. being able to speak them and immerse myself in a new culture. Right now I'm mostly reading dead languages, reading articles by old German scholars and doing my best to keep it up as a spoken language in my spare time.
For some time now I've been wondering if I could find a more fulfilling outlet for my interests in languages, travel and cultures as some kind of diplomat, foreign service officer, language analyst for one of the federal agencies, etc. My GPA at UNC was a 3.75 (graduated "with distinction"). After a year of work at ND I have a 4.0 for my M.A. My travel experience is as follows: during college I spent a summer living in Germany and volunteering at a kindergarten. I have worked in orphanages in Russia and India. I've traveled as a tourist to Dubai, Warsaw, Zurich, and Paris. This past semester I went with one of my classes to Vienna to work in the national library and look at the medieval manuscript collections in several of the old monasteries in the Danube Valley. I think my aptitude for languages is very high and that my academic record is good enough for what it is, but I'm concerned about not having the specialized training in some kind of Area Studies/Political Science/Economics, etc. For those of you who have experience in this sort of field:
1) Do employers look more for specific training or general aptitude?
2) Could I hope to land a job after finishing my current M.A. with prospects for further training (i.e. with the possibility of having further education funded by an employer) or would I need to do another master's on my own first?
3) Is it common to find a master's program relevant to what I've described that carries some kind of financial aid in the form of tuition remission, stipends and/or graduate teaching assistantships? The current appeal of sticking with the track I'm on is that a doctoral program would be funded, but I don't want to stick around just for the sake of having it easier in the short term.
4) If I should look at doing another degree before seeking employment, what kinds of programs should I look at? I have a lot of ambition to take on responsibility and do something that will "make a difference," help people, challenge me, etc., and I'd like for it to be in a context where I could utilize my love for language. I know there are degrees in international relations but I'm also aware that JD and MBA programs can have international law or international business concentrations. Since I'll have this M.A. from Notre Dame and am interested in comparative religions, I think I might try to look at a track that would allow me to be involved with religious freedom, interfaith dialogue and that sort of thing. I'd also be interested in knowing what kinds of jobs are available for people interested in professional interpreting (for an international organization like the U.N. or a private firm devoted to issues I'd be interested in).
I apologize if this is all over the place. These are thoughts that I've been turning over in my own mind for a long time and I'm just dumping them out on the screen here. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer!
Haha this is kind of all over the place. However, I'll do my best with it:
1. I think a bit of both matters... I do know that if you're placed on the list of accepted foreign service candidates, you're ranked according to a bunch of factors, one of them being your ability to speak a 'critical' language. But that said, I do know a few people who had past stints in the CIA who were hired because they were good with languages and promptly asked to learn another one that was completely different. So with diplomacy and the like, it's not really important. I think, though I'm not 100% sure, that it's the same for business. I know at least 2 people who graduated with degrees in the Classics and got a job at a Morgan Stanley type -- anybody can learn how to run a discounted cash flow model, but far fewer can analyze it, you know?
2. I think one masters will be more than enough. When I worked for the UK's Department for International Development, a lot of the learning (even for mid-range managers) was done on the job. I don't think many employers expect the master's to get you 100% trained for the job... but that said, you'd certainly be helped out by a bit of work experience first.
3. Master's? No. I'd be surprised if you found such a program, unless it was abroad.
4. I really don't think I'm the person to answer this, and I would suggest elections observing and such but your languages aren't really the type to aid you in watching Nepalese elections, you know? So I'll leave this question to someone else.
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Same here, it was an identified quant section at the end.
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over/under
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I would like to echo this too. My school's fellowship coordinator was one of the best reviewer's I had, because she had read thousands before and had no problem hurting my feelings with honest criticism.
Yeah, just to give some examples of the negatives I've heard back from 3 different sources:
"I do not like your last paragraph."
"This sentence is gratuitous editorializing. "
"As for the Personal Statement... it is not winning."
"Above all be more humble and less preachy."
And my personal favorite:
"You sound like you already understand and condemn current policy and aim to redo it single handedly. If so, you are wasting your time at School X... just proceed to reform the world in terms of your superior views and moral judgements."
Well, academia requires a thick skin, so we have to get started somewhere.
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I just want to respond to the question about how to find schools. You should start as follows: take research you've enjoyed reading, figure out where the author is teaching, and look at their colleagues to see whether you would be happy in the intellectual environment. What is lost in applying somewhere you don't get in? Just the application fee: you should be spending minimal time tailoring an application to each individual school. In the scheme of things, the $100 application fee (or whatever it is) isn't so much. Apply everywhere that you think you'd be happy and let the admissions committee decide rather than ruling out a place a priori.
True. When applying for undergrad, I paid all of the fees up front then submitted the apps, so on December 31 I had one application left (after submitting the others in October) to do for which I didn't want to write the essays. But since I had paid the $70, I wrote them and submitted. I ended up going there. This year, for my master's, I applied to 2 schools in October and was waitlisted, so I applied to the third on a whim and was accepted last-minute. I'll be starting this fall. So I think it's tough to judge which schools are worth the effort and which schools aren't, especially when "fit" is so important.
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Balderdash, a 1570 is a splendid, superlative score! No more than maybe 500 people out of the 450,000+ GRE test takers each year score 1570 or above. Congratulations, but I believe your results are NOT typical.
Cheers, and good luck in whatever you do.
Well thank you for the praise, but I think it's much more to do with tenacity before and luck during the exam. I just meant to impart that it's not impossible to raise scores drastically in only a few weeks if one works really hard and has a bit of help.
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7, all PhD, all in the US. Total cost of applying: $635.
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2) Make sure that you start writing early and ask for feedbacks from your professors or TAs (if you know them well enough). They know what professors like to read!
Although I'm currently going through the process, not reflecting back with oodles of wisdom to pass on, I can add to this a little.
One of the best reviewers has been a person in academic advising at my school who helps students for scholarships (Marshall, Truman, Rhodes). He spends a lot of time reading personal statements and seeing how well they fit the program and the student. Granted, he's a particularly awesome individual, but I think that most people who are applying should see if their school's advising office has such a person.
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Definitely retake if you're thinking top 20, even if you're an international student.
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I decided I was going to take it mid-June and scheduled it for 3 weeks later. When I started studying, I was getting around 1300. After spending about 3-4 hours per day studying after work, I ended up with a 1570. So if you're willing to work at it pretty consistently and thoroughly, a few weeks is enough time.
Ok I am thinking of going to grad school. I graduated in May and I want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. It seems after looking online you can schedule to take the GRE about any time you want, so I was wondering for all those who have taken the GRE how long would you suggest a person would want to study for it, and would you reccomend just taking the normal GRE or a specialized one?
GRE perfect score
in GRE/GMAT/etc
Posted
Unfortunately, what works one way isn't necessarily true for the opposite. A great academic record isn't overly ruined by poor GREs, as it's just one test from one day and really isn't anything to do with skills professional scholars need. But great GREs do little to mitigate a low GPA (yours isn't bad, by the way, so don't undersell it) for exactly the same reasons. I think you can expect the same look as someone with a 3.5 and dual 700s would get, but obviously that's really subjective.