db2290

I didn't mean to come across as bitter at all, and I completely agree with waddle. My point is that by any standards, the OP is exceptionally well qualified and must know that. He has more or less the perfect academic and professional background. The only other factors which are likely to be of importance are going to be the SOP and references, neither of which we are privy to. My point was that the members of this forum are likely to not be able to say anything of use other than you are an excellent candidate (which you are, and they have done).

I can't tell if some of these posts are jokes or not. I am trying to be helpful but what other insight do you think forum members can give? How can we give better judgement on your application than the director of the program? I don't think you need any ego stroking from anyone here, you are clearly a highly qualified applicant.

I'll give it a read (different field though) - feel free to send it my way via PM.

exactly the same thing happened to me - i'm glad that it didn't mean by application was corrupt or something

I am one of the people who will obsessively tweak stuff until the last minute but wish I had the resolve to do it in advance! I am getting to the stage where I am pointlessly changing words here and there, then changing them back and so on.... Also this way it feels like the length to the application decisions next Spring is slightly less - if I submitted a month or so ago it would give me a month or more of extra waiting!!

I agree with above - if you can make your application look like it wasn't last minute, then you obviously stand a good chance with your academic record. What will be important in your SOP is to demonstrate that polsci was always on the agenda in the great career plan and wasn't just a spontaneous escape from a legal job..

I think the only plan on action here is to email the admission office. It would be rather unfortunate to apply and then have them cull your application because it is under a certain benchmark. However, it is worth emailing - as you graduated 11 years ago, it could very well be the case that the grading system/inflation means it would be acceptable.

First paragraph is tricky! I think there is a balance between engaging the reader and coming up with some hackneyed SOP opener which has been done too many times ("since I was a child....."). If you are going to use an anecdote, I'd make it directly lead on to your research interests in the next paragraph rather than change direction.

I'd be happy to swap PM it to me.

I would advise against this. If you have a 1500 word limit and you give them a 500 word one it won't give a particularly good impression and would beg the question "why has this person written 1000 words less than everyone else?" . Other candidates will have written significantly more about themselves and therefore had the opportunity to flesh out their experiences, personalities and ambitions. I think you could, however, perhaps do 1000-1200, and certainly many admissions pages state that being concise is a good thing. My strategy is to write a full length, 1500 word beast and crop it down for the smaller statements (as painful as it is!)

Yup! Ed.D in Human Development and Education

As a British student applying to US doctoral programs, and having talked to British faculty members in the States, i think I have a fairly good grasp of this. The different approaches generally map onto the cultural differences between the two places. The British are fairly self-effacing and to the point, and the kind of sentimentalised narrative that many US adcoms seem to like ("ever since I was a child, I wanted to study....") comes across as a bit odd. I would definately say this should be avoided and that should give a fairly straightforward account of your interests, objectives for graduate study, and reasons for applying to the course/university. Doctoral statements are even more like this - unlike in the US, they are detailed research proposals for a certain question. But institution websites give a fairly good indication for what they want in this respect.

I have seen some statements with "thank you for your time and consideration" at the end, or something along those lines. What do people make of this? A nice touch? Redundant?

sure I don't mind! PM it my way

i'd be happy to - perhaps a swap? PM it to me

Can you not organise this by phone? If in doubt I think the only real option is to contact the admissions departments directly and see what they require. You wouldn't want to inadvertently not send necessary information.

I agree with Joeyssance - I think, ideally, you would have a reason to have taken time out from studying, and if you could weave this in casually to your statement it would be good.

I second that - ETS have taken far too much money off me already! Check which department will receive your scores in your undergrad institution though. It could be the case that they are sent somewhere slightly different from the standard scores - best to ask the admissions office and double check

It took me exactly 15 days to show up. Until that point it had "absent/not available". I'd just give them a call to double check.

So true - its funny because it's quite easy to 'overlook' words you don't know because you read them in context and can still understand. I have been coming across more and more of the obscure GRE words recently and actually having a flash of recognition!

flash cards worked well for me. And my favourite (I'm not trying to sell anything here) is the smartvocab app on my iphone. I just answered a few questions everytime I was on a train or bus or something

Hi all, What are people's thoughts on declaring what other universities you are applying to? This strikes me as a little odd. I have two ideas about what to do: - By declaring your other choices (inc. top schools) it will show your ambition as a candidate OR - They will think that you are spreading yourself thin and their university is one of many and perhaps not the 'ideal' fit. I'd be interested to see what everyone thought

i don't mind either

I agree with fuzzylogician - it has taken me over 6 months of working and reworking to get it to the finished stage it is now. Admittedly this is with lots of gaps. Sometimes you lose objectivity on the damned thing after a while and need to take a break from it!

I really think that you should retake the test, for the following reasons: - if you are a native English speaker (I am just making the assumption you are), then a 440 Verbal (46 percentile) will look worse - bear in mind lots of the test takers are likely to be international students and therefore if you exclude them your percentile is likely to be lower. - I think scores at that level can be quite easily improved without too much work. Taking a 700 to an 800 is far harder, for example, then taking a 400-600. Before I studied hard for the thing, I got about 500s on Powerprep and afterwards got 760 quant and 680 Verbal. My maths was (still is) poor. I suggest doing practice question after practice question for the quant - you soon come to realise that the questions are basically the same after a while, with different figures. This also helps you with timing in the actual thing. As for verbal, flash cards worked for me (I had an iphone app of GRE words which I used every spare minute). HOWEVER - You obviously have a good application otherwise and you did quite well in the last application season so it's up to you. It would be a shame if an otherwise great application was let down by GRE scores, of all things! Just my two cents