cquin

Truer words have ne'er been spoken...

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'm happy to report that my verbal score improved a fair amount (went from roughly 86th percentile to 94th percentile) and my math score stayed just about the same (not really concerned about that since I'm in the humanities ). Now to wait for the dreaded writing score...eek.

Actually, yes, I just received it a couple hours ago.

Tomorrow I will take the GRE for the second time and I'm in full-blown panic mode. I'm convinced that I will actually score lower this time than I did during my first attempt. Is it true that schools will always look at and consider the higher of the two scores? Will it reflect poorly on me if my second set of scores is worse than my first set?

...You mean you eat during this process? I've been subsisting solely off of lattes and Marlboro Lights for the past three weeks.

Do you remember that page that appeared AFTER you hit submit? It said "Print this out and mail it with your supplemental documents, blah blah blah." It asked for the date, your signature, and your program. Yeah, that's the signature page. I really, really don't think it's important, though. ...Then again, who the hell knows with CUNY?

I too forgot that stupid signature page, so I asked someone in the admissions office if I *had* to drop it off and she told me I could "fax it, or e-mail it, or drop it off, or mail it, or whatever" (exact words). But I'm sorry about your experience

Precisely. It will showcase our earnest ardor for their program, if nothing else.

Bdon, I don't mean to usurp your thread, but have you received your RUID yet? (I pronounce that as "RUDE" in my head and it makes me laugh.) What if we don't receive it by tonight's deadline? Does that mean we are allowed to uploaded our supporting documents after the 15th? But then wouldn't it be considered late? Argh, so confused and worried.

Thank you for this, it's acting as a nice springboard! I'm only on app #4 but already I want to cut the bullshit and write "PLEEEASE JUST ACCEPT ME INTO YOUR PROGRAM!!!"

OH MY GOD, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT STUPID 24-72 HOUR WAITING PERIOD. Guess who's staying up all night? My mom tried to dissuade me from applying to a few schools because they're in "boring" cities-- "Lincoln, Nebraska?! No, that's crazy, you can't live there."

My grievance right now is that I cannot motivate myself to work on my SOP for Rutgers--which is due tomorrow. Instead, I've spent the past hour looking at apartment complexes in all of my potential new home cities. Does anyone else do this? Even when I'm not directly working towards grad school, I'm fantasizing about grad school.

On that note, I'm also struggling with UNL's requirement for a teaching statement. I had zero experience teaching as an undergrad, but during my year off, I've been working as a substitute teacher for English classes at all grade levels (literally, all grade levels; one day I had kindergarten, the next, 12th grade). But is this the sort of teaching experience they're looking for? 12th grade English classes bear some similarities to Freshmen Comp classes, certainly, but I wonder how I should phrase it in my statement. Thoughts, anyone?

Yes, this. My biggest issues so far have been with my LOR writers. One of them is having knee surgery on the 17th so she wants to receive all LOR requests by the 16th. Cool, no problem, except about half of my schools require that you submit the application first before the requests for LOR go out. So now I'm scrambling to contact every school and ask if my professor can send her letter directly to the department via e-mail. I'm going to develop trichotillomania before this application season is over.

But yes, they want a hard copy of everything except for LORs and the application form itself. The app needs to be filled out online, and all they really ask there is the basic stuff: name, mailing address, DOB, intended program, recommendation providers' email, etc. Writing sample, SOP, CV, and official transcripts need to sent in one big envelope to the admissions office.

Yeah, CUNY is a pain in the ass. That is all.

WHEW, okay. Yes, my status just changed. Either my profs were all late in submitting their letters, or Duke's email was delayed. Either way, it's okay now.

When I log in to check my application, it lists my recommendation providers and says they have been notified, but does not explicitly state that they've submitted their letters. Is the same for everyone else? Or does the status change once they've submitted?

Day-to-day? You're far more stable than I am. My confidence varies by the hour.

I know in ten minutes or so this exhilaration will start fade and the anxiety will set in... Better enjoy it while it lasts.

DONE. Literally up until the last minute. Feelin' goooood!

Yes. This. Mere hours ago I thought my SOP was THE shit. Now it's just shit.

And wait! ANOTHER stupid question! I googled the shit out of this and could not find a satisfactory answer: how does one format class titles in the SOP? Italics? Quotation marks? Capitalize the first letter? Right now I am unhealthily obsessed with editing my SOP for Duke. Four more hours until the deadline! I need to just submit and let it go...but...I can't.

Thanks for the info! In my case, there is a professor whose work is pertinent to mine, but she is listed on the school's website as a Professor Emeritus. I assumed at first that immediately disqualified her from being at all active in the university, but then I thought, "But she *is* mentioned on the website...if she was completely retired and did not participate in the department at all, why would they even bother mentioning her on the faculty page?" Ah, well. Thanks again.

...What have you done to me? I still have edit my writing sample!!!