darjeelingtea16

One of my students was writing about Julius Caesar and wrote: "Then Brutus got all up in Caesar's face and shanked him. Caesar was all like 'et tu, Brute?' which pretty much means PARTY FOUL." Might be one of the best things I've read, ever. haha

Also, I hope you all know about this lovely site: http://shitmystudentswrite.tumblr.com/

One of my students was writing about Julius Caesar and wrote: "Then Brutus got all up in Caesar's face and shanked him. Caesar was all like 'et tu, Brute?' which pretty much means PARTY FOUL." Might be one of the best things I've read, ever. haha

Also, I hope you all know about this lovely site: http://shitmystudentswrite.tumblr.com/

To add to this list:
Fordham: http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/graduate__profession/arts__sciences/gsas_programs__degre/program_statistics/english_language_and_21367.asp
Notre Dame (who is actually pretty awesome about this): http://graduateschool.nd.edu/departments-and-programs/ph-d-programs/

I'm starting to freak out now. Emory starts sending out interviews what? Next weekish? Which means shit just got real.
This is year 2 of trying to get in for me, and I thought maybe since I was more prepared than last year (I think), that I'd be less anxious. Nope. Anxiety levels are way up.

I was fortunate with the writing sample. It's a chapter from my MA thesis that my professors seemed to really like so I didn't have to tweak it too much. Well, ok, honestly, everything needs tweaking, but I figured it'd be fine. Hopefully. :/



You'll get there! I've been working on this for over a year now. My suggestion would be to find profs/colleagues to read your SOP. I know everyone recommends that but seriously, it makes the process go by much, much faster.



It feels both awesome and awful to have them done. My number one choice this year is Notre Dame, and I agonized over submitting it. Took me two hours of obsessively checking and rechecking all of my information and writing and hovering over the submit button...



Ugh, it's always hard to let a piece of writing go without thinking what else you could've done with it to make it better. Pre-submission, I talked to a few of the departments I've just applied to (yay past tense!) and they very kindly urged me to just submit and let go. Easier said than done.

As for the video games, yeah Assassin's Creed: Revelations came out this past Tuesday, and technically that was my personal deadline, partly due to the game release (Ah, don't judge me haha), partly due to the reasons I mentioned in my first post, and partly due to a friend coming to visit for a couple weeks.



Judging by my experiences last year submitting on the deadline and what I've found out this year, it seems like it'd be best to try really hard to at least get in your apps 1-2 weeks before the actual deadline. Something about getting more attention in some departments...



For what it's worth, the revised GRE seems much less difficult. I took the old GRE twice, and scored abysmally. I took the revised GRE in Sept, and got 90% on the verbal. So here's hoping you get awesome scores! That godawful SOP took me the longest to finish. I kept revising it and moving things around and adding things and taking things away and I'm not 100% satisfied with it--don't think I ever will be--but I think I'm pleased enough with it.


SPEAKING OF SOPs, I recently contacted a department and was told something about personal anecdotes in SoPs. I don't know if it'll be helpful to anyone, but I was told that many unsuccessful SoPs focused way too much on the personal anecdotes and not enough on the actual research they want to do. Only include a personal anecdote if it's relevant, and interweave it with the reasons why you want to do the research you want to do. It was suggested that the linking of your personal anecdote to your research should be clearly outlined in the first paragraph of your SoP. Also, even if the school has no page length requirements for the SoP, keep it to 2 pages, single spaced. Again, don't know if any of that is helpful, but just passing it on.

I second everything everyone else has said. Practicing is key--for Verbal, I found this intellivocab app for my iPhone particularly helpful (I think there's a Kaplan one as well). Intellivocab has flashcard sort of things, but also quizzes (all on your phone).

If it makes you feel remotely better, I've taken this godawful exam 3 times.

1st time: 540V, 390Q (old GRE)
2nd time: 590V, 450Q (old GRE)
3rd time (last week!): 690-790V, 550-650Q (revised GRE)

It's a pain to have to, but sometimes it really does help to take it again after you kind of already know what to expect. Also, I can't imagine it would hurt you if you take it again and improve your scores. I think it'd look pretty good actually!

Aww I love this thread!

This is Buddha, aka the Chaquito Puppito, Buddha-Pest, Povre Bete, and/or Comrade Budka. We have no idea what the hell kind of mix he is, but I think he's pretty adorable.




And because he's pretty cute when he sleeps....



He gets all irked when I'm on the computer too long and attacks me.

Aww I love this thread!

This is Buddha, aka the Chaquito Puppito, Buddha-Pest, Povre Bete, and/or Comrade Budka. We have no idea what the hell kind of mix he is, but I think he's pretty adorable.




And because he's pretty cute when he sleeps....



He gets all irked when I'm on the computer too long and attacks me.

Aww I love this thread!

This is Buddha, aka the Chaquito Puppito, Buddha-Pest, Povre Bete, and/or Comrade Budka. We have no idea what the hell kind of mix he is, but I think he's pretty adorable.




And because he's pretty cute when he sleeps....



He gets all irked when I'm on the computer too long and attacks me.

Aww I love this thread!

This is Buddha, aka the Chaquito Puppito, Buddha-Pest, Povre Bete, and/or Comrade Budka. We have no idea what the hell kind of mix he is, but I think he's pretty adorable.




And because he's pretty cute when he sleeps....



He gets all irked when I'm on the computer too long and attacks me.

Here's my Lucifer and Sarge <3

Aww I love this thread!

This is Buddha, aka the Chaquito Puppito, Buddha-Pest, Povre Bete, and/or Comrade Budka. We have no idea what the hell kind of mix he is, but I think he's pretty adorable.




And because he's pretty cute when he sleeps....



He gets all irked when I'm on the computer too long and attacks me.