bfat

Pretty much all departments agree that the AW score is completely worthless. As long as it's not, like, a 2 or 2.5, you are fine. These are formulaic essays that are graded by a computer, so there's essentially no value in them. I'm assuming anything in the humanities or comp. lit requires a writing sample, so no committe will even look at the GRE essay part. Your other scores are great! Don't retake!

TediousTaskHolder-- I also live in Maryland and I'm attending a state school for my MA. If you're looking at UMCP (I think that's the only one in-state that offers an MLS, right?) you can work for any state university and receive full tuition-remission at any other state school. If you work part-time, your tuition remission is pro-rated, but that still means a pretty good discount. I didn't know that the remission could apply to all state schools until I got a job at one--so my MA will essentially be paid for by work (this may mean you need to get a crappy job as an admin assistant or something, but it's totally worth it if they pay for school). Just a suggestion that may be worth looking into.

Here's how I understand the essential difference: Issue Essay: Here you are creating an argument, structuring it around a thesis in the same way you would in any paper you write in school: intro paragraph describing the issue and establishing a strong thesis at the end, several supporting paragraphs, preferably one for each main proof of your argument, and a concluding paragraph, summing up and restating your thesis. Argument essay: Here you are analyzing an argument, evaluating how it is structured and any/all logical flaws in its premises and conclusions. The format for this would be something like: An intro paragraph describing the argument and ending in a sort of "thesis" where you sate that the argument is flawed because of X, Y, and Z. Next, describe the problems with X, Y, and Z in three supporting paragraphs. And finally, end with a conclusion summing up and restating the main reasons the argument is flawed--be sure to look at what the question actually asks for, such as consequences to the flaws in logic, etc. These should be sprinkled in the supporting paragraphs and referenced again in the conclusion. From all that I've read about the essays, this is what ETS seems to want. I just took the test last Saturday and followed this format, so we'll see how I do.

Okay, so I took the GRE last Saturday and I completely tanked it. I'm hypoglycemic, and I didn't realize that there would be more than 2 hours without a break... so I had a blood sugar crash at the beginning of the first verbal section (the only thing that really matters for me), which, if you've never had one, is like the worst feeling ever--could hardly read or focus my eyes, shaking, cold sweats, TOTAL MISERY. I ran out of time and completely bombed the section. So my verbal score, while not terrible (I got a snack right after, and came back to rock the second half of the test, but at that point the damage was done), was certainly not good enough for the English programs I'm looking into for next year. The thing is, I got married last month, but I haven't legally changed my name yet--I'm waiting for my tax stuff to go through (don't want to confuse the IRS). My question is, if I retake the GRE under my new name, will the score reports be separate, as in, kind of negating that first not-so-great score? Cause that would be awesome. Does anyone have experience with this?

I visited Ithaca (and Cornell) this summer, and I have a friend in the English program there. Ithaca is, indeed, "beautiful." It's also very small, but there was plenty to do (awesome restaurants, plenty of culture, etc.). The people in the town were very friendly, and the cost of living is low. I haven't been there in the winter, but I hear it can be depressing (very very cold, no sun, etc.). However, it was a lovely 82-degrees-ish for the week I was there, while it was a sweltering 104 in Baltimore the same week, so there's that. I met a few students, and they were also very friendly, but it was difficult to guage the department, since regular classes weren't in session. From what I can tell, though, it's a traditionally structured department, but with a bit more "wiggle room" for newer ideas and interpretations than some of the other ivies. Hope this helps.

Two of the worst adaptations I've ever seen were The Prince of Tides and The Time Traveler's Wife, which are two of my favorite books. They were absolutely butchered.

Yes. In fact, anything and everything by Coelho. Ugh.

Hahaha! I wrote a fun paper last summer on Shamela and all the Pamela-bashing of the mid 18th C. It was fun to legitimately go into all the reasons why Richardson sucks (at least according to Fielding).

Ugh, I was going to take it in April so I wouldn't have to worry about it next fall, but now I think I'm going to put it off until October--I'm swamped with work this semester, and I haven't had time to study at all yet. But then October will be so close to when I'm submitting the applications... Man, I hate ETS so much. Why can't they offer the damned subject test in, like, August or September too? April, October, and November (which is too late for many programs)?!? Who came up with this?

melissarose, Your scores are great, and totally acceptable for those programs, especially for a history PhD. For humanities-type programs, your other application materials will be so much more important than the GRE score, which will probably only be used for the initial "cutoff" round, and your scores will certainly pass that. I wouldn't even waste time/money trying to take them again. The GRE just isn't that important, compared to your writing sample and SOP. Just my advice--I hate to see anyone give ETS more money than necessary.

Actually, no. In this case, "me" is a predicate nominative, which holds the same grammatical "weight" or position as the subject. Since you can't say "Me is it," me is wrong; it should be "I." But this sounds really fruity and lame.

Yeah. Most word processors will create the em dash automatically from the two hyphens, but most internet text input/output isn't that smart yet. There's actually an en dash as well, that's different from the hyphen, for inclusive lists (like "pages 23-47"), but as far as I know only printers really use this. Too much of a pain to figure out how to do it for everyday use.

lol, I love the dash! Cant. Stop. Using it! (It can be really helpful, as long as it's used correctly--meaning a proper "m" dash, none of that misused-hyphen nonsense.)

I'm working on my preliminary thesis outline/drafts/proposal, but thankfully not dealing with the application madness yet (next fall). I hope to finish at about the time I'll be starting applications, but I don't know how realistic that is. Luckily there's no time constraint--I could continue to work on it until next spring. Of course I'd like to finish early... but procrastination and I go back a loooong way. My thesis is on modern and postmodern posthumanist fictions, and the theoretical division (or lack thereof) between "trans-" and "post-" humanism in works by Ishiguro, Atwood, and a few non-literary texts (films, TV shows, etc.). I'll also probably try to throw some genre theory in there. I'm pretty excited about it.

You know, I actually did this for a while after undergrad, before going back to school. It's really a terrible job, even if you research and write very quickly. I worked for a nasty company (the woman who ran it was pure evil) that paid basically nothing (less than 40% of what they charged the client went to the writer, who did all the work). Hours and hours of research and writing about crap you don't care about for basically no money. Plus there was the ethical dilemma--there were many topics I simply wouldn't write about (no personal statements or essays, graduate assignments, or papers about ethics or religion). Eventually I quit because I felt guilty and it wasn't worth it. It's an interesting article, but I'm not sure I buy everything the author says--the amount he/she claims to put out would require almost ceasless writing (one of the commentors breaks it down to 1,000 words per hour, all day, every working day of the year), which doesn't leave any time for research or notes. I don't care if you're the Doogie Howser of paper-writing, you still need to spend at least some time researching (not to mention keeping up with all that correspondence). Even without research, it only comes out to around $13/hour, which is less than garbage-collectors make. Not worth it.

My sweet collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figures? (Comes with BONUS display table!)

He may classify as a "music god," I'm not sure, but Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkle are some of my absolute favorites. Phenomenal music and lyrics. And I've always loved Adam Duritz's early stuff (Counting Crows). "Rain King" has some of the most beautiful lyrics... "Lay me down in a field of flame and heather, Render up my body into the burning heart of God in the belly of a black-winged bird." So pretty.

I loved the diagram showing the airport's floorplan. And the nearby "Dostoyevsky Hotel."

Yeah, the booze I can live without (I guess...) but the coffee thing has been really hard. I keep cheating by getting a hot chocolate and then adding like 1/4 cup of coffee.

While vocab is very important for the text completions, etc., I found that the hardest part is trying to decode and "dumb down" my response to the reading comprehension questions. I had the same problem with the SATs in high school (I'm in a humanities MA program right now, so I know it's not my actual reading comprehension that's the problem). For a lot of the reading comp questions, I'd look at the answer choices and say "All of these sound completely idiotic," and then have to eliminate until I got to the least-stupid-sounding answer, and I was still wrong a good percentage of the time. I found that the Princeton Review helped me to decode the dumbass answers on the test pretty well. Not 100% of the time, but at least better than I'd been doing. Good luck!

We were encouraged to take courses in different disciplines, but as far as I know, your advisor/mentor had to be within the program. But that was as an undergrad, so it could definitely be different for grad students. Good luck!

I've decided to stop fretting over this. My BA is in film, not english, so I went back for an MA that would provide more of a broad base to build an English degree off of (Humanities--so there's some history and philosophy in there as well, which I think, ultimately, will be more beneficial than purely English courses). I'm happy with my decision, and I feel better prepared because of it. If schools are so picky and snooty about an applicant's pedigree and background, they can suck it. I don't wanna go there anyway. (At least, that's what I'm telling myself this week.)

The email just sounds like a "we have received your application" email, not a "thanks for your interest, but..." email. Probably just trying to give people a little more info throughout the process, which is nice. I went to the Gallatin program for the first part of my undergrad--it was really great, wonderful teachers, small classes, with a curriculum based on the Great Books. It was also pretty competetive, from what I remember (10 years ago when I applied). I'm sure their graduate program is great too--probably a great prep for a PhD. In the early 2000s, I know they didn't have much funding (I had to leave because of funding--they tried to keep me, but had no $$), but that all could have changed, especially for grad programs.

Because of health conditions right now, I cannot drink either alcohol OR CAFFEINE!!!! ... I don't think I will survive the semester, lol. In this case, my lack of alcohol might hurt me...

Yes, I can definitely relate. I don't get outright criticism or doubts, but when things get stressful, and when I talk about how difficult the application process is/will be (I'm in an MA now but preparing for PhD applications next fall), I get a lot of "Well, if it's that tough, maybe you shouldn't do it," when, really, what I want/need is encouragement. I also feel like I'm getting a bit of underhanded discouragement from some professors. They've all told me that I will do well in any program I get into and that I'm a great student, blah blah blah... but they also seem to imply that I won't be accepted to most of the schools I want to go to... ugh.