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blackshirt

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Everything posted by blackshirt

  1. I'm in a similar boat concerning stats--strong GPA & recs, iffy vocab and thus highly volatile practice GRE scores. The score always depends on whether or not I luck out and get words I know. The solution: just memorize a lot of words. It's been improving my verbal score enough to where I won't be embarrassed of it (I hope!) when I actually take it. I'm pretty sure most prep courses give you vocab lists, so you should have access to some words already. At the end of the day, this will be the edge you need. That said, based on everything I've gleaned from the Art History department websites and the many threads I've read relating to the GRE here on gradcafe, I'd say that the 3 main ways adcoms use our GRE scores are: For screening by the graduate school itself (not the department!). They're generally looking for at least a 1200 composite, so if you're doing well on quant that's a nice plus.As minimum cutoffs for the initial round of the department's eliminations (again, probably somewhere around 600 or 650 for more competitive programs)As indicators of potential for receiving fellowships (above 700 seems to put you in the running for the fancy money). So, since all the programs I'm applying to guarantee full funding with acceptance (they're all PhDs), I'm less worried about going for an 800 and more worried about staying above 650, which I think you can achieve with some vocab study as well. Of course, I don't know as much about the MA situation. Just get your verbal score up as high as you can, get the test over with, and focus on those SoPs and the writing sample! Those will definitely matter more. Good luck!
  2. Ok, I have to defend the guy. 1. He was great in Howl! 2. I just read this article, which somebody posted above. To clear things up a bit, the article says he'll be pursuing a doctorate in English & Film Studies. This doesn't mean he's running off to another program as many of us assumed--since I'm currently applying to the same program, allow me to explain: When you apply to Film Studies at Yale, you have to choose a second department from which you will receive a joint Ph.D. I am applying to Film & Art History, but given his academic background, it makes sense that he'd apply to Film & English. One generally applies through the department one is strongest in, so for him that would be English, once again given his academic background. I'm sure he was accepted because of the freshness and originality of his ideas and/or approach, not simply because he's famous. The adcoms were clearly thinking about the richness of classroom discussion and his potential contributions to the field--they have too much invested in their departments to simply let him in for fame's sake. As for the graduate school itself, they may have been willing to take slightly lower composite GRE scores in exchange for the publicity, but hey--that's the nature of graduate schools everywhere. They have to think about their numbers, their rankings, their fame, etc. 3. I've definitely fallen asleep in classes not related to my field. Didn't we all have to fulfill distribution requirements at the beginning of undergrad? I'm pretty sure my Earth & Planetary Science course was the most boring experience I've ever had. Now, it's equally possible that those photos of him were taken during his Milton class, but I've definitely taken some boring film classes before, and I have definitely fallen asleep. Nobody's perfect. And if you're like me--I worked two jobs and ran 2 clubs during undergrad, while also double-majoring--you didn't get a lot of sleep. As a result, boring, soporific lectures tended to induce accidental naptime. I wouldn't judge his ability to pursue graduate study based on these types of occurrences. 4. As others have suggested, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's not funded. I also wouldn't be surprised if Yale told him he had to minimize or completely stop his Hollywood work during his studies, just as the rest of us have to stay out of regular jobs. He's probably finished the filming portion of everything he's been working on (Eat Pray Love, 127 Hours, The Iceman, etc.), and now he's putting acting on pause while he does his residency requirements (which I believe are 2-3 years for most programs). I wouldn't be surprised if he fudged the period of dissertation research with a little acting, but since he's paying for his own education, I don't see how it's all that bad--many people spend upwards of 10 years completing their diss, so he wouldn't be alone. 5. Even if he doesn't end up producing scholarly papers or teaching somewhere, I don't think this makes him somehow less worthy. With the job market as cutthroat as it is, I don't think we need him as a competitor, anyway. And, as I believe someone else mentioned, not everyone with Ph.D. after their name publishes or teaches all that much, and that's okay. Alrighty, I've said my piece.
  3. Most of the applications I've seen so far have a section where you tell them about courses you're currently taking, and some include a form to send them once the grades for your current courses are available. Thus, you should send transcripts now that don't include your current courses, and send the rest later. Many (if not all?) schools also require a final official transcript later on that confirms your receipt of a BA/BS once you're accepted but before you can officially enroll.
  4. In regards to your second question, I too got a good LSAT score and wish to show it off if at all possible (I'm applying to cultural studies type PhDs), but I'm not sending score reports anywhere; I figure that's a little over the top. I'm just typing the info into the apps that have a slot for it....I see you're applying to Yale, and that's the only app I've encountered with an "other standardized tests" slot thus far, so I'd go ahead and type in in there.
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