Kitkat

I think that it really depends on the program. As long as the programs you are applying to say that it is not important that you test scores get there after the deadline, then that is all that matters ..... Some programs say that they want it all, scores included, by the the deadline, while others don't mind as long as they were sent out by that date. In the end, I think that when push comes to shove, I think that most of these programs probably won't really be looking at applications until after the holidays anyway. Especially the closer to them that the deadline is.

I personally am not applying to any programs with a deadline before Dec 1, and only have one that has that date, and in that case, it is more of a funding deadline then a hard deadline for the program. But I also for the most part had a good idea of which schools I wanted to apply to before I scheduled my GRE. If I hadn't decided on a large-ish list and knew when the due dates were, I would have probably scheduled my GRE for one of the exams before they changed the whole thing. What bothers me the most about this whole thing with ETS and the new test, is that they decided to do this at the most inconvenient time, as its the beginning of the application and the problems go into a major application season. It also means that the schools might be having an interesting time in the spring and looking at applications, and trying to figure out what these new scores mean as well.

I wish that were true, but they only go away after 5 years, and thats much larger then the time people normally have between the first time and the retake.....

full barn

full barn

Well is the sub GRE required for the application or only recommended? And are you using it to strengthen a weak application or a strong one? You don't necessarily have to scrap it, as long as that one is one of the ones you have ETS send out ASAP. It would be close and you have to make sure that you stay on top of it and keep track to see if the school gets it in time. If it is only recommended, and you have a good application even without it, I wouldn't even worry if it didn't get there before the deadline, as long as everything that is required is there on time. Then if it comes in, they will still consider it, and all it will do is add something extra to your application.

I think that Immuno has the right idea. Better sooner rather then later. It gives you more time to go over it and not make any mistakes and you're not trying to do it in a panicked rush if you are trying to do it later. But it also depends on when any of your programs let you start doing the applications and all. I know that some of my programs don't open the applications online until later this fall. As a side note to what you said about the sub GRE, when are your applications due? I ask because I am wondering if you will have enough time for those scores to get to the programs that they need to. It might not be a huge issue if they are in Jan., but I know that some have earlier ones as well. I have one of mine due beginning of December for funding, and another one due mid December.

I would have to agree with several things in that comment that you liked to. Considering that plate tectonics was a a major thing in the field in general, and is now one of the most basic point that geo undergrads have to learn and was discovered scientifically recently, there is a lot more room for people sharing. And there are so few people comparatively going into this field. The people in my department are very friendly and everyone seems to know everyone else for the most part. From what I hear, beer/other alcohol is always helpful on field work as well .....

I think the only time you can cancel scores is after you take the test but before you see the score. Otherwise, that score is stuck on your record, and when you send them out they will see both.

Keeping with the whole contacting POI's, considering that I have a list of about 10 schools that I am looking at, it's a lot of people to contact. In each case I have 2-4 people who's research I am interested in. I'm thinking that this list might shrink, based on how people respond. I am wondering how you and other people have dealt with contacting numerous POI's. I'm guessing it involves lots of time.....

The first quant section determines how you will will do on the following quant section. The first verbal determines how you will do on the following verbal. So it is not dependent on the first few questions that you answer, but rather how you do with that section as a whole. This is mainly with the whole setup that they have with the new test. You are allowed to move around in the section however you want really, so you can answer the easy questions first and then go back to answer the harder questions later. So they don't force you to answer the questions in the order that you get them. So it is no longer dependent on the first few questions that you get and how you do on them.

Ok so I forgot to mention here that those three groups, the one that is the hardest, gets you in the top range of scores, the middle hard scores get you middle scores, and the easy section gets you closer to the lower scores. So its not like you are getting a harder test for now reason. Its trying to figure out where you 'belong' in the range of scores. So your grade is still totally dependent on how you do and how many of the hard questions you can answer correctly.

For those who have already taken it already, how are you dealing with waiting until November for the official scores, considering how close it is to needing to send out the scores? I know that they give you a basic idea of how you did and all. I can understand why they are doing it this way, seeing how the percentiles turn out with the change in the test. But I am taking it in Sept. and am sort of getting nervous about it. Not so much about taking the test itself, but about waiting for the 'official' results, mainly because it is all so close.....

I'll be applying this fall for geobiology programs, so a lot of overlap between evo bio and geology. Have my list narrowed down to between 8-10 schools with a mix of MAs and PhDs. It will get more settled once I've contacted all of the POI's I have. Still have to retake my GRE's and will be taking them on Sept 3.

I don't think that those F's should be a huge issue. Sure, it would have been better if you never had them at all, but hindsight is always 20/20. You changed, you improved. It's better then going in the other direction, and getting those grades your junior year or something. I really don't see it as a reason why you should not apply to Cornell. Just make sure that you make everything that is under your control as good as you possibly can, and go from there. Like you said, even people who seem perfect get rejected, and people with less then stellar stuff get accepted. I think that you are closer to the perfect, although not quite there. You have some mistakes, which shows that you are human. Fit is what matters, and if you think that you have that and can show it in your application, do as much as you possibly can to play that part up.

If you go to ETS's website here: http://www.ets.org/gre/institutions/scores/how/#howgen and specifically look at the computer based section. It explains how the new test is section adaptive, rather then question adaptive. What I have heard from other sources on how this works(Kaplan, princeton review, and the like), is that in the first section you will have a mix of questions. Based on how well you did with each type of those questions you will get a certain set of questions in the next section of that type. It seems to be broken into about 3 different types of question sets for the next section. If you did well, you get 'medium' to 'hard' questions. If you do ok, you mainly get 'medium' questions with a few 'hard' and some 'easy'. If you don't too well you get mainly 'easy' and some 'medium'. Its probably not entirely right, but you get the basic idea from it.

So here is how I see it right now. Having gotten into an MA program, and done well in it, it should help make up for doing bad in undergrad. But I have heard of some cases where people have not gotten into a PhD program because of his/her record in undergrad despite this. You are focused in what you want to do, which is great, and getting experience in conference is also great. What I am wondering is what your overall undergrad GPA was, and what the last two years were. If the last two were good, which you imply were, that with your MA GPA should be good. Of course taking the GRE and the subject test are also important, at least from what I can tell as something to at least weed people out, if not the best indicator of who will succeed in grad school and not. But I wish you the best on them! And keep us updated us on how you do.... At this point the best I can say is that there is no reason why you should not apply if you think you are a good fit for the program. If you put the best application you can together, you are not wasting either your time or theirs. At the least, they won't mind taking an application fee. ;-) So don't worry about them and their time. Just try your best to show why you belong there. It's just hard when you are reducing yourself to a pile of papers.

I have had a few friends who in rather less stressful situations, but also serious, were able to prove that they were financially independent from their parents, and were therefore able to get more aid from the government to help pay for school. You should look into possibly doing that for yourself. I would suggest going to the financial aid office, and see what needs to get done for that. Otherwise, is there anyone else you can stay with when the school doesn't allow you to be there? Many times I know that they allow people to stay during the holidays, and if you take classes in the summer it would be easy to stay there then, But of course, at this point the main concern is money, to help pay, if your parents don't help. How expensive is the school that you are at? Part of your problem right now, is that the school year is about to start as well, so getting a change in your financial aid at this point would be really hard. At best, the easiest solution right now would be to get a loan to cover their share. If you go to a school where it is less expensive then to others, it might be possible to do that for just a year, until you get yourself independent from your parents. There might also be jobs on campus that could help reduce your bill without taking up more time then you can handle. One job that I took was to be a Resident Assistant. I then didn't have to pay for room or board, which took care of a good portion of my bill. With that and aid, I was paying only $600 total a semester for school, rent, food and utilities.

night gowns

The SoP is hard, I am having a hard time going back and reworking it, but at least I got a first draft done. Right now I have lack of motivation in contacting professors in the first place. Every time I think about it, I think I am not ready to get in touch with them. But soon I am going to have to get over that. Application time is almost upon us, or at least I feel like that is the case. My first deadline isn't until Dec. 1st, but with school work and research, and all of that, I don't think I will have much time in the fall as it is.

I think that the Kaplan and Princeton Review are good if you need to be helped along the way. They are also good and scheduling you a time to take a practice test on a regular basis, with testing-like conditions, with similar tests, and feedback after wards. But like I said before, if you can afford it, but adding that, if you need that sort of thing, and so on. They are good at forcing you to pay attention, if just because you payed for it.

Does anyone have any experience with these? A lot of the programs that I am interested in have these, and I am very interested in them for what I want to do. I have gotten bare bones information from the schools themselves, and from what I can tell they are similar in structure to TA and RA positions, similar pay, and the like. But I am wondering if anyone else is looking at them, or have gotten them and can share their experiences of what was actually involved with the work in the museum/collections that they worked with.

I think that knowing that you don't want to teach a good thing really. It means that you have thought about it and know what you do and do not know what to do with it. That and I think that at this point in time, it would be really hard to get a teaching job in English at the college level. Not that I don't think that it's important, more people need it really, but there are only so many positions available and with a bad economy and all..... I am curious as to what you do want to do with it. Getting a Ph.D. in English can't be cheap to get. And as a note, being in an English doctorate program, you still might be asked to teach classes, to help you pay your way through (Although I might be wrong, English PhDs help me out here). So that might be something to look into, if you're really not that into teaching. This is not to discourage you from doing it. But I don't think that they would necessarily keep you out because you don't want to teach once you get it.

I am very much with the netflix crowd here. I've been watching through The West Wing, Futurama, Mythbusters and the like on that. But I tend to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on the comedy central website, to keep myself up to date on some news, and still watch specials and some news when I go visit my parents and can 'borrow' their cable for a little while. ;-)

Thank you guys for sharing! I'm also having to retake it, and I'll be taking it in September. It's nice to know more about what to expect when I take it. You're right that it is a crap shoot with the verbal, but it also was with the old version. I am rather glad they got rid of the antonyms part, but it still matters a lot with test with what words you get. There might be an exam out there with words you are stronger with then the one you get. Oh well....