JoeySsance

Hey everyone! A quick update from Paris. I'm having an awesome time here! Being around French folks 24/7 coupled with going to various French museums and charming bookstores are all really psyching me up for the French Ph.D, as nerdy as that may sound. Anyway, I won't say who, but a friend of ours on this thread heard back some great news about an acceptance, already ! I don't expect to hear back until at least February, but hey, that's pretty good news, n'est-ce pas? Has anyone else heard back yet? I'll be sure to post here as soon as I do. I hope you're all doing well! Hang in there, mes amis.

Hey everyone. First of all, thank you forsberg for compiling that really useful list. J'espère que vous avez tous passé de bonnes fêtes. If anyone hears back about interviews or quoi que ce soit, post here too and let us know ! As for me, I'm in Paris right now, having a great time ! While it feels great to put my applications behind me and though it seems like decisions are pretty far off (admittedly most schools are probably only starting the review process), some of us may hear back by around February-ish (!) What's on everyone's mind ? Feel free to share whatever you like. I hope there will be more discussion here in the coming weeks. Bien à vous tous. -J

I thought it would be, which is why I played around with the layout to see which word would end up embedded inside the "Q." I like how it ended up being "Ph.D." That juxtaposition happens to say a lot about my academic commitments.

This is pretty cool! Here's mine. It's essentially most of my SOP except for the names of professors, my top choice school's name and a few authors' first names. I even left in some French words, mostly from the titles of books I've used in research and I opted for the colors of the French flag. Voilà!

Hey everyone! So I'm sure most people are finishing up their applications soon and some may even be done by now. *Whew* Just wondering how everyone's doing. Feel free to come back here if the wait is killing you. You are absolutely not alone and will have a nice community of fellow applicants with whom to relate ... /commiserate. En tout cas, je vous souhaite plein de bonheur et de réussite... Oh yeah, and bonnes fêtes à vous tous ! -Joey

I applied to Berkeley's French department and in our case we were required to e-mail the writing sample directly to the department (rather than upload it online with the SOP, etc.). It seems like it varies from department to department. German requires postal mail? That's a bummer... (and I understand your frustration... German and French are both comparatively smaller departments, so you would think it would be a bit more affordable for them to print out writing samples versus other more gigantic departments). But it's not the worst thing that could happen. If you're worried about the deadline, I'm sure that they will consider the postmarked date. I had to mail transcripts and for those the French department said they considered the postmark date. Hang in there!

Hey everyone! I've been wondering this too. For all intents and purposes, I realize that Dr. and Professor are both equivalent. In my SOP, I've been writing "Professor X" and "Professor Y." However, a friend of mine who got into 7/8 programs last year had written "Dr. X" and "Dr. Y"... I'm sure the difference is minimal or even non-existent. "Dr." comes across as a tad bit more formal. I realize that as graduate applicants, a certain amount of formality and professionalism is expected of us, but it's not like "Professor So and So" is necessarily disrespectful or informal. Should I just leave it the way I've been writing it or consider changing from "Prof." to "Dr."? Thank you in advance!

I don't really see it as a "loophole" per se... I see it more as a kind of "strategy"... It would seem to help in case one's official report were to arrive late for whatever reason. But yeah, I'm sure they would expect the official ($23) one at some point...

Awesome! I'd really like to explore some film studies courses. I'm not 100% sure about Comp Lit depts. (though in general they're usually open and interdisciplinary) but from what I've seen regarding "secondary fields," you might really like the opportunities at Berkeley and Harvard! All the French programs I'm considering have Francophonists, so working on Egypt would be possible. You could probably receive advice from French faculty, too... As for OuLiPo, at least two other posters on this thread hope to specialize in their work, so you're in great company. Where are you applying? And hey, how's everyone else doing? It's the home stretch for a lot of us!! Just a few weeks left (about a month max for some schools). I know I'll be happy once everything's in... but then of course there's the accursed waiting... Definitely feel free to post here with questions, to vent or even as you're waiting for time to pass... I hope everyone's doing well! Good luck! Edit: Lol Alyanumbers, I didn't realize your list of schools was in your signature. Those are some great depts.

Haha. Nice strategy! And hey, if I have to go to hell, at least I'll have a high GRE score to my name to console me for all eternity, lol. I'm not getting away with this entirely though because I do have one fellowship program that requires my scores so I will have to pay for one additional report. But better one than two!

Bien sûr ! Welcome ! Feel free to share your research interests. If you're considering some of the same schools as others on this thread, it's likely that you're considering similar faculty as well since there's usually a fair amount of crossover between Comp Lit and French. Which 20th century authors and filmmakers ?

Hey everyone! For the record, it's completely legit to send your report to your undergrad institution if it happens to also be one of your grad school choices. I got confirmation from both sides (ETS and Princeton, i.e. where I went for undergrad). In fact, whether the recipients are designated as "graduate" or "undergraduate" is completely immaterial because, a: they are the exact same reports (i.e. they're not marked any differently), and b: ETS doesn't even verify where you went for undergrad. I found this out from an ETS representative over the phone who said ETS gets TONS of calls from test takers who accidentally listed one of their grad school options before the exam thinking it was the reporting portion and not realizing it was just for selecting one's undergrad institution. She said it was amusing at first but that it quickly got old and frankly they really don't pay attention to this part; they just send the four to five score reports! This turns out to be a bigger loophole than I thought, then, because this means you can designate any school as your undergrad recipient thereby genuinely getting a freebie in the process with complete impunity (and subversively defying ETS's $23 charge for at least one additional report)... Obviously this only works for 5 schools. In any case, I feel no compunction about this because in my case, Princeton is both my alma mater and one of my grad school options. But do keep this in mind, all the rest of you who'd like to save at least $23!! I thought someone might appreciate this advice. Oh, and my GRE went well!! It feels good to be done. Good luck to everyone else!

E. Someone with chutzpah is brazen (unrestrained by propriety) while someone with deference is courteous (abiding by expectations of propriety). Hmm... this is an interesting one. Here's my best shot! Gambit n. An opening remark intending to secure an advantage for the speaker; a chess move early in the game in which the player sacrifices minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position; a ploy or maneuver in a game or conversation. I've scoured youtube to find the final battle scene in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand where Magneto restrains his most powerful allies who want to join the fight with alacrity and reminds them that, "In chess, the pawns go first." Well, I couldn't find the clip but if you remember: "in chess the pawns go first," that's essentially the gist of what gambit means. When the pawns are gone, it raises the stakes of the game a bit (and if one is particularly skilled at chess, they may be in one's favor). GAMBIT : CHESS A. fumble : football B. legerdemain : cards C. finesse : bridge D. gamble : casino E. gesture : charades The poster below me will, with alacrity, define the underlined term in my mnemonic above.

You're welcome and best of luck to you!

Awesome!! I'm so glad you like it. I'm sure you'll find it extremely helpful in raising your Verbal score! Just work through it diligently between now and your next test date. It's actually enjoyable, too, which is rare for vocab prep resources! Good luck!

I haven't taken the GRE yet. I'll be taking it for the first time in about a week. I studied for a few months with the 3500 list. It is VERY tedious to plod through that long thing. The fact that it's in alphabetical order isn't the least bit helpful, either. I would say if you can set aside a good few months for review, like I've been doing, then you could feasible break up the 3500 list into smaller chunks (e.g. a few lists a week). I did that and got pretty far, perhaps through 60% of it but I didn't have the stamina to finish. If you do work with the list, here are some ideas I found helpful: I marked up the words on the list with symbols. I put dots next to words that for me were easy (i.e. words I knew already and used in my normal vocabulary), the "almost equal to" sign next to medium-difficulty words (i.e. words I knew but that had alternate second meanings or new words that I was able to learn and retain quickly but that I wanted to keep practicing so I wouldn't forget them) and asterisks next to words I had never seen before and that were hard to remember. After that, I would put those three columns (easy, medium, and hard) into a spreadsheet and then I would make flashcards for just the medium and hard ones. I also tracked the percentages for each of the columns for each list and I was averaging 70% easy, 20% medium, 10% hard, which means that in the entire 3500 words list, there were only about 350 words I had never seen before and perhaps 1050 worth studying at all (medium + hard) while a whopping 2450 words were of no use to me (all the easy words). Obviously the list is great in that it has some "gems" in it but I found, personally, that it wasn't worth the trouble (in my case). However, the "easy," "medium" and "hard" distinctions are entirely relative. I was actually working abroad over the summer and had been studying for the GRE with some colleagues (study groups are great for practice, by the way). We had a weekly study group where we would do a practice verbal section and a practice math section on our own and then review the answers, focusing on the ones people got wrong. Since I was the only native English speaker and I have a rather expansive vocabulary (since I love to read and I speak several languages, which helps big time) I was breezing through practice verbal sections but some of my non-native speaker friends were having difficulty with words I deemed "easy" for me. It just so happened that I was doing some research at a business school abroad, so I helped my colleagues out with understanding and trying to remember the vocab and they helped me majorly to review the math (economists can be awesome math teachers). I found it very beneficial to study with them and they learned some neat tricks from me for the verbal. It was a mutually beneficial situation. The main reason I'm sharing this anecdote though (aside from encouraging you to try working in study groups) is to point out how subjective the "difficulty" of words on the list can be. I'd say, study the Barron's list if you can devote the time and energy to it, but if not, then maybe scan through some of the individual lists quickly, highlighting only completely unknown words and then just study those closely. You might want to also try the tracking strategy I used to see for yourself whether, in the long run, the 3500 word list will be useful to you or more trouble than it's worth. I hope someone finds this advice helpful! P.S. I've recommended the book called Fiske Word Power in other threads: http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-WordPower-Edward/dp/1402206534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289930608&sr=8-1 Check it out! In my opinion, it's better than both of the Barron's books (i.e. the 3500 word list and the 800 Essential words book) because unlike either of them, it doesn't present the words in alphabetical order but rather grouped in extremely helpful synonym groups under funny chapter headings. It contains 100 chapters with 10 words each, a plethora of great contextualizing sentences, lots of study quizzes, a final exam at the end and some neat thought experiments to test your command of the new vocab. It contains more GRE-likely words than any other book I've studied with (and I've been using several) so, personally, I've found it more worth my time than other books. Definitely consider it among your study resources; you'll be so glad you did! (I'm not a salesperson or anything; just a very satisfied user of that book) I hope you find it as helpful as I have!

I'm so glad you've found my advice and threads helpful! You won't regret buying the Fiske book. It's hands down one of the best vocab prep resources out there! If you have a while before your exam, you should definitely pace your review. Read a few of the chapters (they only contain 10 words each) per week and distribute your review so as to cover all 100 chapters before or by your exam date. If, however, your exam is coming up a bit sooner than that, it can't hurt to jump to specific chapters on which you'd like to concentrate. As for the game, you should come back!!! I'm sure I speak for the other posters who've been playing when I say we'd all appreciate your participation. I had thought about the possibility of two or more posters trying to post at the same time but in the end I didn't think there would be enough traffic for that to be a problem. Definitely try to post again! Think of it as practice in increasing your celerity in addition to sharpening your vocab skills! Hope to see you on that thread sometime!

Hey monotreme! I really like your sentence for quarter. Thanks for participating! I hope you and the rest who have posted so far will keep gracing this thread with your great mnemonics! A. Quarter is characterized by a display of mercy while temerity is characterized by a display of boldness. Don't worry, I think I'm bound to do well. The more awesome words that come up on this thread, perhaps the better! Hapless adj. Deserving or inciting pity; very unlucky, ill-fated "Wh-wh-why d-d-does th-this alw-w-ways hap-hap-hap-ppen to me?" the hapless bully magnet stuttered to himself in the cold, after his mean fellow campers deserted the lake with his clothes. "Wh-why c-c-an't I b-b-be hap-hap-hap-hap-happy ins-t-t-tead of hap-hap-hap-hapless all th-the t-t-t-ime?!" HAPLESS A. heedful B. fractious C. surreptitious D. auspicious E. harrowing The poster below me didn't know (before doing a little research) that beneath the common misconception that enormity means largeness (which has become an accepted meaning), lies a definition that involves evil.

Here's some fun procrastination that might help you build the vocabulary you need to increase your verbal skills: This is an open invitation to any and all who are currently preparing to take/retake the GRE as well as to all those vocab junkies out there!

Those are some great tips, Libro. You should check out the game I started in another thread: Something tells me you'd be pretty good at it. The ball seems to be rolling slowly but surely so far. Check it out! This is an open invitation to everyone who's practicing vocab or who is just a vocab junkie in general!!

I'm glad to see some interest. Great response post by the way! Here's my attempt... This question is chock-full of good GRE vocab. Would there ever be a question this sadistic on the exam? Thanks for the practice, though (and for teaching me some new words)! The answer is, D: Glabrous means having no hair which is the opposite of hirsute, or hairy. This was a new word for me, too! False, I have never helped write or distribute underground newspapers before. And if I had, what makes you think I would publicly admit to it here for the world to see?! Samizdat n. / adj. Underground production of banned or censored literature or similar publications. Dissident #1: Hey, isn't that a copy of the *whispers* banned newspaper you're reading? Dissident #2: Well, it's the the same as that, only a samizdat, uncensored version, shhh... Dissident #1: You'd better be careful! Sam's dad was involved in... distributing samizdat papers and now Sam's dad is dead ! SAMIZDAT : BANNED A. amity : friendly B. bootleg : illicit C. law : abrogated D. love : forbidden E. money : offered The poster below me can, like me, be minatory in the morning if unnecessarily disturbed from her/his sound sleep. Edited to add a practice question!

stone tablet Shameless plug: check out this new GRE vocab review game!

arsenic (and old) lace Shameless plug: check out this new game for GRE vocab review!

Hey everyone! So I've gotten a few PMs from people who liked the vocab mnemonics I posted on other threads, so I thought I might start a new thread strictly for mnemonics and vocab practice. Here's how I'm envisioning the game will work (and I'm totally open to suggestions for modifying it). While it would be of most use to those of us who haven't taken the GRE yet or will be retaking it in the near future, anyone can play! (A good vocabulary is a great asset whether you have to take the GRE or not). This is how the game will work: Poster #1: ...will define and offer a good mnemonic for a tough GRE word. "Tough" is relative, of course, but words with obscure second meanings and infrequently used English words are fair game. When I study vocab, I tend to go back and forth between making slightly longer, story-like mnemonics and short and sweet ones based on word roots or other cool tricks. Just be creative.After offering a mnemonic, the poster will provide a GRE verbal question (e.g. an antonym or an analogy) with multiple choices for more practice. It can either be made up by the poster or modified slightly from a review book or past test.Finally, with a little variation on "the poster below me" game, the poster will make a statement about the next poster using another good GRE word. ...will first answer the practice question from the previous post (providing a good bridge if it's an analogy).Then s/he will clear her/his good name by responding "true" or "false" to the statement made about her/him earlier.And will then use that word to continue the cycle (define it --> offer a good mnemonic for it --> give a practice question --> pick a new word and attribute it in some way to the next poster). I know it sounds pretty intricate, but I'm sure it'll be one of those things where if there's enough interest and the game reaches a critical mass of sorts, it will become second-nature to everyone. By the way, this is a better place than any to flaunt your GRE vocab without feeling like you'll raise people's eyebrows, so if you know some obscure words, come share; we won't judge you (at least not in simple terms!). I'll start. I'm labeling the four parts of the game for reference, i.e. "definition" --> "mnemonic" --> "question" --> "new word," but hopefully later on we won't need the labels. Oh yeah, and I'm throwing in some smileys for fun, because A: Grad Café smileys are awesome and, B: they happen to work well with my example. (Over)use of smileys is entirely optional. DEFINITION -- Assignation n. a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers) MNEMONIC -- The lovers assigned nicknames to each other so their spouses wouldn't suspect that they were planning their secret meetings: Lover #1: "So are we still on for our 'business meeting,' Ms. Capulet?" Lover #2: "Of course, Mr. Montague, anytime and anywhere that is convenient for you." Lover #1: "Alright, 5:30pm in my office. See you there." Unfortunately, the lovers underestimated their spouses' knowledge of Shakespeare (it just so happened that their spouses had Ph.Ds in English). Their little assignation was thwarted when they had unexpected company at their "business meeting." QUESTION -- ASSIGNATION : LOVER :: A. apportionment : aficionado B. designation : passion C. tryst : paramour D. rendezvous : friend E. assignment : student NEW WORD -- TPBM (the poster below me) has a hirsute belly.

Thanks waddle. I've actually been following a pretty hardcore review schedule I designed for the last two weeks leading up to the exam. I'm pretty confident in my preparation up to this point, but as you point out, it can't hurt to brush up a bit. We'll see how it goes...