celph

Mine were the same. Until I told them "Listen idiots, grad school lasts 6-7 years". It's a petty problem really, very easy to solve.

I am an international student so take what I will say with a grain of salt. I'm studying for the GRE (have been studying for a couple of months, not systematically but generally going through the trouble of looking up words I don't know). I gave freerice a try and I was moving around levels 40-44. Having said that, the words that appear in freerice I think are far weirder than what you encounter in GRE. Off the top of my head: "telamon". I study classics so I figured it out, but I'm pretty sure that at least 90% of the people who live in the English speaking world do not know what it means and in fact have never heard/read it, and it's highly unlikely that you'll find that in a GRE exercise. Same goes with words like "menhir", or "taiga". They can't ask you what the opposite of "taiga" is. Worst case scenario: taiga will come up in a text about forests, but when they're in a text more often than not you can figure words out even if you don't know what exactly they mean. I scored 660 in a Barrons GRE verbal test I took. Not dissapointed, but I'd like to score a 700+. Also, "chanterelle". What the hell is that about. I cook, so I know what it is, but words like that don't constitute the familiarity with a language, but more like your general and encyclopedic knowledge. My advice: Use freerice for fun, GRE tests for properly studying.

Hello, Being an international student, I'd like to read a couple of writing samples from top senior undergraduate students from the US -the kind of thing you'd use when you apply for graduate school. I have no idea what I'm up against, what the quality of such an essay is expected to be like. Obviously I'll just give it my best shot either way, but it's always good to have something you can compare to. So, if anybody who applied and had at least some success would agree to share their writing samples with me, or if you know some other way to find such essays, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

I think you know that GRE doesn't really matter much except if it's really bad, but if you wanna be on the safe side I'd say about 600+ and quantitative 500+ for an Ivy.

I'd like to ask a question on that. So I have this professor who really appreciates my work and my talents and I'm sure he'll write me an excellent LOR. At the same time, I messed up in some courses. So your idea sounds particularly interesting. However, I can't think of any reason why somebody would mess up that would be sort of... excusable. I mean, unless you had a heart transplant or suffered from amnesia or something, everything else seems to me not to be a good enough excuse. So, what's your idea of an excuse (or shall I say "reason for which you didn't perform up to par") which doesn't sound like an excuse?

Just walk up to them when school starts and ask them questions about random, random stuff they had posted on their blog.

Fuck facebook.

Go back to Canada (that sounds more like a request than an advice)! No, but seriously If that is true, then what's keeping you in the UK? It's not all about where you have your degree from.

Or, he read your article, got mad, and hasn't replied yet because he's been busy trying to find a way to ruin your career and kill the ones you love. Relax. And if he even as much as implies you should have mentioned his work, just make up an excuse. "I thought we were supposed to be provocative!"

Hello, I have a question. When applying for graduate school, obviously they need your transcripts from the undergraduate institution you attended. Now, if you don't want to wait for a year doing nothing, you usually send in the information on the courses you've taken so far, and it is assumed that you will finish the rest in time. But, what if you don't, and your university refuses to give you a degree? You're basically screwed, I assume? Thanks in advance

I appreciate the gesture; I'm glad that I now have a few alternatives.

Hey, thank you very much. They do guarantee funding for the MA! It's just what I wanted, a plan B. Thanks again.

Hello, Which are some good classics departments in private universities, outside the Ivy league, that offer funding to international students for an MA degree? I'm looking for something good but not prestigious to serve as my "safety school". Thanks in advance.