IvyHope

Wow TeeDub, that's excellent info. I am applying to the HGSE doctoral program, so thanks for the heads up!

Ouch, shake it off. Rumor has it that Columbia students are among the most unhappy anyway. ;-) At least you have interviews to some great schools. Focus on that!

Yep. One department contacted me to let me know they were missing a transcript, which turned out to be a good thing because all the transcripts were sent in one envelope. They then revealed they had a transcript on file for me for a school I never attended. I'm just saying, the admissions folks don't sit around reading files for applicants before the deadline. Everyone gets the same shot- it doesn't matter if you apply in October or December, your file isn't read until after the deadline. UNLESS they have rolling admissions, which (from what you've told me) I'd guess your departments are not. Rolling admissions are more common in MA programs. You're going to be FINE. You'll get into at least one, if not all of your programs. You'll have funding. But goodness, you are going to give yourself gray hair and a heart attack with all this worry!!!

Yes, people are hearing things. They are all in Microbiology or whatever! The sciences do things differently- they interview their applicants for one thing. You shouldn't even begin to think about this until you start seeing education results and psychology results pop up on the boards.

NO. Do not contact them. They are likely to get annoyed with you. YES, people get funding and acceptance at the deadline. Departments do not start reading through applications until after the deadline, unless they have a rolling admission policy. At my department, ad comm has been waiting to get the files from the graduate secretary for about a week now. Of course it takes them time to sort through all the paperwork and create a file for each applicant. I keep trying to tell you this: YOU WILL NOT HEAR BACK FROM THEM BEFORE MID-FEB AT THE EARLIEST. It is very likely they haven't even begun looking through files yet. Keep in mind, this is not their only responsibility...they have courses to prep and semesters to begin (either this week or next). If you begin badgering them, you will get a reputation for being irritating and that might harm your admission chances. Just let them do their thing!

Yes! Don't listen to these people!! They are not experts NOR are they on any ad comms! You can't get accepted if you don't apply!

Ha! I'm currently in school, teach at said school, and work part time for government agency. I also have until March to prepare a paper that was accepted at our big convention in April. I also should be spending time looking for potential funding for the next few years, should I not be accepted anywhere. Yet, I STILL spend time on here everyday!

Ok, first of all, don't listen to anyone who tells you "grad school isn't for you." That's bullshit, grad school is for anyone who wants it. There are plenty of egos on here who like to beat up on people- it must make them feel better or something. Let the school you are applying to decide if their program is for you- not some nerd on here who is feeling insecure about their application. Secondly, yes I think getting two bad scores is worse than canceling. Now, I took the test twice, and managed to get the exact same score both times, with 2.5 years in between. The test is fabulously stable that way. It might be better to have only taken the test ONE time and gotten a low score. However, for what it's worth, I did not have a good GRE score (not a bad one either) and my GPA was abysmal because of some partying I did when I was first out of high school :wink: but I still managed to get into a top 10 program in my field, because my grades showed an upward trend and because I was interesting enough on the other parts of my application. If anyone dare say grad school isn't for me, they would be sorry they did. I HATE people who think they are remarkable enough to tell someone else they shouldn't pursue their dreams. Not all of us had a privileged upbringing and were able to achieve a 4.0/1500 as a result. Some of us have more challenging circumstances to deal with ;-) I wish you luck in your applications. ALSO, I forgot to mention this: I found Kaplan's prep program to be a horrible waste of money. The first time I took the GRE, I took Powerscore's prep program (the weekend one) and found it very helpful. They had a reputable instructor who had scored in the 99th percentile on the GRE and was a good teacher. Kaplan provided a math instructor from the local community college. I was very disappointed.

As someone also currently in and applying in the field of education, I think your scores look fine. The GRE is not the most important part of your application (most respectable education programs realize the GRE only measures your performance on those items on that day). Aside from that, I think your scores are high for education anyhow.

Touche. I hope you get a result soon, so you don't burst!

Most grad programs only require a 3.0, and beyond that, most grad programs only look at the last 2 years of undergrad.

t_ruth, they really aren't going to have decisions for at least another month, most likely another 6 weeks. I can tell you this from experience but also, you'll see that no education decisions show up under the "results" for the past 2 years before the end of February, most often March. Try to RELAX.

No news is good news, right?

I don't think anyone has anything to be ashamed about if they are not accepted anywhere. Not in an admission cycle like this one... I think it's going to be a tough year for everyone.

For what it's worth, I did not find out via any letter, but through the admissions website the first time I did this. It was as simple as logging on and seeing "admitted" instead of "pending" or whatever. No long romantic letter to weed through. The letter came a few weeks later.

In my current department, they are dealing with mountains of applications, tons more than normal. On top of that, one of the faculty left last year and the school did not replace them due to budget, so there are actually fewer advisors able to take on new students. In addition, a few of our TAs were cut for next year. FYI, I'm at a huge R1. I really don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but just offering a little perspective to prepare you...

I mean, I've been a grad student for 2.5 years now, and managed to maintain a relationship with a lawyer. He works some weeks up to 90 hours, so his schedule is at times much more hectic than mine. We manage to spend 5-6 evenings per week together. Some evenings are spent working in coffee shops, but we have fun too. I have no weekends. Every day is a work day, with the occasional sleeping in on Sat/Sun. The most stressful times for the married peers I've known in the program happened during dissertation phase, but that's not so bad. Coursework isn't going to take that much time. I'm a full time grad student, complete with teaching assistantship, with an additional part time internship. I make it work with a full time corporate lawyer. I think it's manageable.

Dear Dr. XYZ My name is blah blah. I am a student at ABC (or currently employed at) and I am considering applying to programs for next year. I am interested in researching the effects of turtle mating habits on the blah blah blah, and have come across several of your pieces in my reading. I am writing to ask if you are accepting new students next year because I think our interests are a good match. (Insert a few questions about their work). It hope to one day become a researcher (or whatever your goals are). Please let me know if you are accepting students, and if I sound like a good prospective match. I look forward to hearing from you, Thanks again, Name here.

No, you should not ask them if they would be interested in supervising your interest. Do a little research and make sure you know the prospective faculty and their interests. Then decide which of those matches your own interests, and write your email from there.

Billy1, What is your intent when you contact them? Are you trying to initiate a conversation that may result in their asking you to visit? I am in a social science, and I did contact prospective faculty before applying. However, you can also contact them after you apply, before you are given a decision, in my opinion. You can always contact them after you are accepted.

jpark, I just had a long discussion with a few of the faculty in my current department about this. There are many great applicants that they are considering right now, but one of our faculty is on sabbatical, and that reduces the number of slots they have open. They have to think about how the cookie is going to crumble in a few years; they have to make sure all of their students aren't going to be in dissertation phase at the same time. So in my program, they may have room for someone coming into the doctoral program without a master's, because that student will likely take 2-3 years longer to reach dissertation stage than someone who is admitted with a master's. And of course, that pesky funding issue. And for what it's worth, I'm in an Ed Policy school, which is what you seem to be interested in.

You had to pay extra money to get your AW scores that never came in the first place? That's a big bummer...

And, "for the record," I did not call you a name because I disagreed with your advice. As you can clearly see, I mentioned previously that I actually agreed with your advice. I called you an appropriate name because of the tone you took with me, which was completely derogatory and insulting. And don't worry, I'm not expecting an apology.

You consider yourself warned that just because you're a moderator doesn't give you the right to speak to the rest of us like we're idiots. I'll "consider this a warning," but you still deserved it.

Thanks for the advice, ass. I'll do what is right, and don't need some arrogant person who thinks they have all the answers to guide me. I am sure you are right in theory, but all wrong in presentation.