Mal83

While I was an undergrad studying International Studies I didn't really have any idea of how to narrow my interests, I too found, and still do find, that most areas of this vast field are incredibly interesting. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to pursue until I got some professional experience, I figured it out after a lot of contemplation and researching. You have to think beyond the degree to what you see yourself doing in a career and how to become qualified to do it. You have to figure out what is most compelling to you and what programs out there suit your interests best. Exploring various concentrations in order to just study it all is a nice idea, but that's kind of what undergrad is for as well as relevant experiences before pursuing graduate school. If you decide to apply for International Affairs programs, you certainly don't need to have it all etched in stone in your SOP or anything, but you should have some idea of which direction you'd like to go in. Generally, you don't even have to declare a concentration in the first semester, which is good for someone in your position. However you still need to express to the admissions committees that you have career goals in mind which should obviously correlate to what you will devote your time to as a grad student. But the fact is, that you will, sooner rather than later, have to choose a concentration/specialization in order to complete the degree. So MYRNIST is correct in saying that the "I just want to learn a little about everything" is not a productive approach to graduate work in this field because it's simply too vast. Going into this with no direction in mind would actually be the counterproductive thing to do because you might not figure it out in time.

You might be right about Elliott's International Affairs program being more accessible, you can then choose any specialization. Work experience is a must for International Development Studies, at least at the top schools. I'm not so well versed in the law and economics areas, but have you looked into Public Affairs or Public Policy Studies at all? I don't really know if those will suit you but it seems they might have more to do with finances, law, and economics. I believe there is also an international scope to Public Policy Studies as well. Here is a link to Georgetown University's Master of Public Policy admission requirements site: http://gppi.georgetown.edu/academics/mpp/admissions/12492.html Looking at this briefly I got a sense that this is something you might be able to work with, especially in regards to what they consider to be professional experience...there are many schools that offer public policy degrees, I just chose Georgetown because it came to mind the fastest.

Oh the GRE...all over this forum and any website dealing with grad school admissions for here in the US you'll see all kinds of theories about how the scores are weighted, what other accomplishments will offset a bad score, and basically the subjectivity of it all...I've seen people actually call their 1200-1300 scores "mediocre," that's right, mediocre...but it all depends on so many factors. However, the general consensus seems to be that there is a cutoff regardless of whether or not a school says so. Anything below a combined score of a 1000 could have a seriously negative impact on your application. Now, if a program says that there is "no set GRE score requirement" does that mean you still have a chance at being accepted with a 900? I don't know, I imagine that depends on the type and competitiveness of the program. dlb89, your Verbal score isn't bad, I ended up with 570. I really can't say how much the quant section matters for Anthropology but I would venture to say that you'd really benefit from trying to reach 500. I don't know what the new GRE looks like, but I for the old one, I hated every second of studying for the quant section, I felt like I had to relearn 4 years of high school math in a matter of months and it seemed like I had a better handle on it while I was studying, but I ended up at 550. So that put me at 1120 combined. That is not a stellar score by any means, but I figured it was OK enough to not be a deal breaker. My score is a good 100 points below my dream school's average, but I got in off of the waitlist. I don't think my GRE score got me waitlisted. You might want to email the admissions offices at the schools your looking at asking if they have a cutoff or if you haven't done so already look at the average scores for accepted applicants to give yourself an idea of how much you should improve your score. Your other stats are great though, so I would just concentrate on getting that Q score up a bit more...I know it's a pain, but it's part of the process. dimanche, being that you're going for an English program you really want to get your Verbal score up, really anything below a 500 in either section is a bit of a red flag for any program, unless it specifically disregards a section due to irrelevance. I mean the verbal score for a computer science program really doesn't carry much weight. Maybe to make it less daunting you should focus on one area of the verbal section that gave you the most trouble. I hated the reading comprehension exercises so I kind of petered out on those, but I really focused on learning vocabulary, the analogies, and sentence completions. Being that this is your area of study and you did so much better on practice tests, the 440 could have been just a fluke...I don't think you have anything to lose by retaking it. Think of it this way, you'll know what to expect the 2nd time and that takes a lot of pressure out of the equation. I had to retake it also to get the score I mentioned above, the first time I was terrified and it resulted in a score much like those in this thread, but the second time I went in with a different attitude, I knew I studied enough, I knew I was better than that dreadful score and I wasn't going to let this ridiculous test get in my way. So with that I did well enough to make it into my dream school. Well said Safferz!

I too have a real problem with the "look how great I am" thing. So in my SOP I took a much more humble approach, which I feel is the better route to take in a field like ours because at the end of the day it's more about being able to contribute to a worldwide effort rather than say "saving the world" with your vast knowledge and skills. I basically expressed that the experiences that I do have, along with my educational background, have provided me with a solid foundation to move on to grad school and be qualified to contribute to the field. I found it much easier and satisfying to express my passion and admiration for ID rather than how I'd be some kind of asset the program couldn't go on without...Now of course I included my major experiences and an achievement or two, but I felt more inspired talking about how those things, which I expressed were a privilege to participate in, have prepared me to become a member of the ID community in DC than making the whole thing about me and what I did.

I pretty sure The Elliott School offers funding, but that is correct that they don't do spring admissions for the most part. Yeah, I heard there was no funding for that program at George Mason, I didn't expect it so it wasn't a deciding factor for me, but they absolutely do give financial aid, as in student loans, if that's something you'd consider. What I forgot to mention about GA at Mason is that they require proof of foreign language proficiency just for admission, so I'm not sure where you are with foreign language skills, but I imagine that could be a bit of a setback for some people. I wouldn't say that Elliott pales in comparison to SIS, I think if anything they're on par with each other, but again, the impression I've gotten is that Elliott is superior...at least a little There is actually an entire thread in this forum dedicated to American SIS, but it kind of petered out after the results of the Fall 2011 cycle came in a few months ago...but do a search, there's lots of info and opinions in there. Also, people in threads dedicated to comparing SIS and Elliott have said that they were less impressed by SIS after going to the open house, I don't really recall the specific reasons but I will admit that I'm partial to Elliott so my opinion might be a little less objective. But if SIS is appealing to you and fits your goals then it's probably a good option and worth pursuing.

There's no benefit to digging around the internet for information on this woman, but I'll be the first to admit that it's intriguing trying to piece it together, I can't get over how much of it there is. She created a twisted warped version of her circumstances and situation. You can't tell how much of it is real and how much of it is fabrication. It's the stuff you only think happens in creepy stalker movies or CSI type TV shows. This is someone that literally jumped into the deep end and personally eroded a professor's reputation. You google this guy's name and most of the first few pages of results include her name and "he screwed me." That has to have been damaging to him. If anything, this is one of those extreme lessons on how someone with a computer and internet access can make your life much more difficult than it has to be. But really I just got to be an armchair detective for a little while

Anything is possible with this woman, you know for someone who claims that this single professor ruined her professional career, she sure has had a lot of teaching jobs at a lot of schools...what's strange though is that for most of the schools she taught less than 6 months, not sure who common that is, to hop around from school to school...maybe it's normal, but it's very odd that she claims she was "illegally" fired from Houston Community College because of this professor right after getting the job, but yet according to her profile, she actually taught there... http://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiazcohen

It's plagiarism as runonsentence has said, even if you were to call it something else, you are still duping a professor into thinking you did the research, you had the ideas, you had the skills necessary to compose an academic paper, and that by doing so you've successfully completed a requirement for the course. That's called lying, cheating, and academic dishonesty. And I'm not sure what else besides the unethical nature of the pay-for-essay service and how to combat it, there is to talk about revolving this issue. We all know that people cheat, lie, and steal, and all of them will never be stopped, that's a matter of fact, but shouldn't we get into how unethical, wrong, and dishonest this is? It's a valid topic of conversation just like any other and directly relates to education, which is why we all frequent this forum. You tried to get into the business yourself so it's obvious why you wouldn't want to. Your lack of judgment for the accused could be understandable in different circumstances. But we're not talking about stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving family, which I think just about anyone would do. We're talking about a complete and utter lack of respect for higher education, it's a privilege to get an education beyond a high school diploma, no one needs a BA, MA, or phD to make a living and lead a productive life. If there is truthfully a degree of desperation on the part of the student then they should realize that coming clean to the professor and accepting the consequences is the honest and mature way to handle the situation. These people, students and "writers" alike are making a mockery of this privilege and weakening the code of academic honesty and integrity that most of us respect.

GM's Global Affairs program is very new, I believe only 2 years old. It's only a 30 credit program so really you'd be done in a year and a half, that was something attractive to me but when I dove into the curriculum more it just didn't seem thorough enough, not compared to the ID programs at American and George Washington anyway. I feel that GW has more to offer in terms of classes, a rather vast array of them. I had applied to American (ID), GWU (ID), and GM (GA). American is certainly much more established, prestigious, and competitive than George Mason. But a nice feature at Mason is that a 2 week faculty-led study abroad trip is part of the program. It's also cheaper, which is something to consider. GM actually has a solid reputation for it's economics program and it seems like a fine school all around, I was very happy to be admitted there, but for IR related courses of study it's pretty much a given that the DC schools are the most desirable for their reputations, faculties, and connections, which is why I'm headed to GW this fall.

It's The College of NJ...How could she be associated with so many schools? She has really made it her life's work to post snippets of this craziness all over the internet, it really doesn't matter what kind of website, if you can post something, she's posting it. I really feel for that professor, he was dealing with her for years, and probably still is. What I still can't get a handle on is how she was even accepted to U of H at all if a letter of recommendation didn't get submitted, a piece of the application was missing, yet she was admitted. How could that be? She spent years emailing and harassing him for answers, he said in his response to her that he never responded to her requests for a letter in the first place, how in the world do you translate that as "Yes, I'll do it for you."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429151030AA3vN4H Holy Mackerel

Oh Ok, right, she actually posted the name in the results page, I haven't looked at that in a while. I googled her name and came up with more...I was greatly disturbed to discover that she taught or still teaches at the same undergrad institution I attended. She has claimed to be associated with many schools including Yale, Johns Hopkins, Columbia (this one must be true since that's where the professor teaches), U of Houston, and University of London. I don't recognize her and I guess she was there at a later time...thank god. Here she is in all her glory: http://img23.imagesh...8119/cccpyv.jpg I got the link from this thread in which she claimed that the FBI sends men to get involved with her so they can report back to them: http://www.autoadmit...0619&forum_id=2

How did you find this? I had tried to find more info by googling but didn't come up anything, I had no idea what the professor's name is. But WOW...this chick is more twisted than I thought. She posted in the results page not too long also, so she's doing that regularly. She even posted some comment about it on a Red Hot Chili Peppers video on a Russian music site. Absolutely sick. It was fascinating to read the responses from the professor, she was sending him things and harassing his family years later. She claims to know he didn't write the later 5 years after the fact...how the hell did she get accepted to the program in the first place if she was missing a component of the application? She's definitely mentally warped.

PhDPharmacist, I certainly can't judge you, in fact, I know what it's like more than I let on. Aside from the harmless crushes I've had on male teachers, I got really attached to a male superior while I was in the Peace Corps. If I could use only one word to describe the 2 year "relationship" between us, it would be torture. Most likely not for him, but definitely for me. He must have picked up on my feelings to some extent, but probably didn't have the whole picture put together. We had a friendship of sorts I guess, he paid me more attention than the other volunteers under him, we certainly had a more personal relationship than we should have had. What exacerbated the whole thing for me was that I was in a foreign country adjusting to life there away from everything I have ever known and out of nowhere came this awesome person who was just right there for me...I mean it was his job to be, but he and I connected on a personal level immediately and I was smitten right off the bat. So the problems were these: the two of us getting involved would have been unethical and threatening to our jobs, I was never really sure how he actually felt about me, he was a citizen of that country and wasn't even remotely interested in leaving, and the kicker was that I wasn't even sure if he was straight...sigh. I also couldn't understand really what it was about him that got me so hooked, he wasn't what we'd consider very attractive, he was much older, and we were total opposites in terms of lifestyle (he's a social butterfly that needs to be out and about all of the time at bars and clubs and that's just not me). To this day I can't figure it out, maybe it was just that I needed someone like him at that particular point in my life. But the torture part of it was that I craved his attention, we didn't/couldn't see each other often, but when we did it would just make me fall harder for him and then afterward I would go back to my routine feeling let down that nothing happened. I came to really want to be honest with him and just tell him, but I was much too afraid to do that, I came close once but didn't follow through. I also came to think he was sending me mixed signals and I would contemplate and fixate on these things in order to extract some sort of clue to his feelings...I hated myself for allowing this to go on and as much as I loved having him, my superior, as a friend, I really wished I didn't have to deal with it because life was hard enough there. But as time went on and certain things happened or didn't happen, I began to realize that he could not have felt the same way about me, and for my own sanity I started to find relief in that realization. Towards the end of my service I actually began to resent him and my feelings definitely changed into embarrassment and shame that I let myself get so attached. So I didn't try as hard to contact him, I wasn't as overjoyed to be in his presence as before. Our last conversation we had before I left the country was him telling me that he noticed I wasn't as open with him the past few months and he didn't know what happened, I felt the tears well up in my eyes because as emotionally difficult as it had been with him, there was a part of me that still wanted to just blurt it all out...but I just told him that I couldn't really talk about it and my reasons didn't revolve around him (not true obviously), I knew it would be for nothing anyway, I wasn't staying in that country and he wasn't coming with me...I was so happy and overjoyed to be on my way home that almost immediately the impact he had on me faded away. And now, 2 years later I think of him and basically cringe, I'm completely indifferent towards him, we haven't been in touch for a while, there's really nothing to say and all in all I'm glad I kept my mouth shut. He goes to DC every so often for work and being that that's where I will go to school he'd certainly expect to meet up...good god, I can't even imagine what that would be like. So the more you avoid him and consider it impossible the faster you'll get over him, might take a while, but it'll be worth it to finally be free of that attraction.

It's also graduate students, they're literally looking to pay for a dissertation or some other major project. I also never realized the scope of this, but I understand that people cheat in all aspects of life. I've been marveling at the brazen and wanton display of acceptance for this kind of thing on that forum. The site is called "EssayScam.com" and the owner (WritersBeware) or whatever role she plays, is on a personal crusade to expose the fraudulent companies, the ones that claim to be American or UK based but are actually in some non English speaking country that employ anyone who can rattle off a few sentences in English, take the money and run, or don't deliver. That is a noble endeavor, however she and many others that frequent that site are in no way shape or form against the "legit" companies that help students cheat, if they write a good paper for you and deliver it on time, then that means they are worthy of legitimate business status. Anyone who claims a bad experience that she doesn't believe, she rallies to the defense of the company and will also make all kinds of legal threats against you (libel, defamation). These freelance writers are not technically allowed to advertise their services there but they pretty much do and you see request after request from students to get in touch with them. They never really express why they're in need of such services, some are obviously ESL speakers who probably should not be studying in the US, some of them just seem to shopping around, and I've only seen one student profess that he was desperate and made a mistake. WritersBeware throws around the word criminal like it's going out of style to describe the users who she believes are scammers, but there are writers and company reps that post on the site who are spared her harassment because they provide "quality products and customer service." Warped isn't even the word for this.

Someone paying you to clean their house is contributing to a legitimate business, you would be paying me to do a service that doesn't cheat the system in anyway. I clean your house, you pay me, I can pay my bills...in good conscience. There's no ethical dilemma involved there. And as far as selling a cheeseburger to a 700lb person, it's not your job to judge if they should eat it or not, it's not up to you as a McDonald's employee, who has to serve everyone, to "rescue" someone from a heart attack, it's their job, but if they choose to buy it and eat it, the system hasn't been cheated as a result, no moral codes have been broken. But yes, you're right in that there will always be people willing and able to pay for things to be done for them regardless of the ethics involved. The service that these companies and writers are providing are solely for the purpose of helping students cheat in one of the worst ways they can, by handing in work that is not even remotely their own. Anyone who has any respect for education understands the magnitude of that, especially when it comes to an entire thesis or dissertation, sorry, but that's despicable no matter how you slice it. The fact that there are demand and willingness to pay for the service doesn't automatically absolve the provider of wrong doing. Both the writer and student are involved in cheating the educational system by rewarding the student with something that they didn't earn, such as the grad, mark of accomplishment, or even the degree itself for the repeat customer. It's incredible, every so often in that forum there's a revelation..."it's a scam! Do your own work!" Wow, maybe that should have been the agenda from the beginning, but really these particular students have decided to perhaps put in their own effort and earn their own grades only because the service cheated them in return, they got a crappy paper, it wasn't delivered on time, on and on, so buyer's remorse is driving them to academic integrity. It's kind of the same for the writer who does the work but doesn't get paid by the company.

Ok, I'll bite, why not? You're not the only one to develop superficial or even deeper feelings for someone in your class. These are people that share your interests and are intellectual peers. If he's attractive to you in someway then of course your mind is going to wander over his way every so often. I will admit that I have found a few of my male professors attractive (on a few levels) and maybe devoted a little more time thinking about them than I should have, but that generally passed after a while for the most obvious reason of all...I couldn't have them. And I'm not sure if this is a positive or negative, but every so often the crush was motivation for me to be a little better in class. You can't help being attracted to someone, you just have to try and deal with it as best you can, if they're available then maybe acting on it can turn into something great, but if they're not then maybe keeping it a crush from "afar" is best. Not that you shouldn't talk to him or get to know him, I would just remain as platonic as possible. And it's a good thing that you know now that he's not single, there's nothing worse than finding that out after getting really emotionally attached to the idea of this person being an option. But there's certainly nothing wrong with enjoying this person's presence in class.

The forum that I mentioned above is like the Jerry Springer show of the internet and I'm just absolutely positively intrigued at the conduct of these people. Yes, there are also many aspiring "writers" that hope to find a "good" company that will actually pay them for their work. Some of them have expressed outrage at not being paid by these scam sites that are based in the Middle East or Eastern Europe. Those that are already employed and successfully making money are just so proud of what they do, it's unbelievable. And the few that post about good experiences claim that they will "definitely use the company again." So basically they are paying someone else to get the degree for them and they're talking about it like buying a car or something, you have to "place an order for custom work." I can't get over the idea of someone paying for a dissertation, so pathetic, someone actually posted that they're willing to shell out a good $5000 if someone can recommend a good company. Higher education is a privilege and the students that actually seek out this service as well as those that are willing to provide it are diminishing that. Just me, you expected to be paid to cheat for someone who was too lazy to do their own little 3 page homework assignment or too afraid to tell the professor they're having a hard time, not sure how you're OK with that, but that's one of the points of this topic, to discuss how incomprehensible it is.

ha, you got to my response before I edited that dumb smiley face out of there...anyway, I just wanted to reiterate that no one here can say anything about anyone's chances or what goes through the minds of admissions committees with a whole lot of certainty. Those of us who have been through the process will have a lot to say about our own individual experiences, but every cycle and every applicant pool is different than the one before. Many of us learn a lot from being active here and paying attention to the other field specific forums. What I forgot to mention though, and isn't always at the forefront of an applicant's mind, is that you can always email or call the admissions offices of the schools and ask them about the weight given to the various components of the application. They might not be able to get too specific without your entire application in front of them, but they are the ones that can tell you with the most certainty, and that is what they're there for. It seems like some applicants think that they're bothering them or making a pest out of themselves...but that's not the case and they really are an even better source of information. But in addition to, or in lieu of that, most of us are happy to provide our insight and knowledge.

I'm getting my information from a) already having gone through the entire application process and being successfully admitted to The George Washington University with a fairly lower GRE score than their posted average scores for the "typical" accepted applicant b )knowing someone else who has gotten into the Elliott School with even lower scores them me c) researching my schools of interest for the application process and seeing more information and emphasis on the other components required for admission (international/work experience, foreign language ability) d) understanding the difference between a professional degree and a research degree, which comes with at least a vague sense of why particular components of the application carry more weight than the others e) having been an active member on this forum since March and therefore learning a lot about what's important and what's less important to an admissions committee. If you dive into the Government Affairs forum threads you'll see that what I posted is not new in anyway shape or form. My program, International Development for example, relevant experience is required for admission, that means that the more of it you have, the more attractive you are as an applicant. I just don't think that a standardized test holds the same weight as say a few years with the State Department or the Peace Corps. As with IR in general, the more international/work experience you have along with foreign language skills and a relevant undergrad degree, the better able you are to express your professional goals in an SOP, not that you're locked into doing exactly what you've laid out, but if you can't put into words what you want to be qualified to do then that means you need some more experience regardless of your GRE scores. The admissions committees for professional programs want to know that you're ready to dive into the curriculum and become a professional in the field even while you study, that's why they're taking you. I don't think the GRE provides much insight into your potential for success in that regard. I'm not saying that the test is completely disregarded, it's required for a reason and it's a factor, but I'm confident in saying that it's not a huge one. That being said, achieving a fantastic score like yours will certainly contribute to your competitiveness, how much I of course can't say, it depends on the particular applicant pool. And sure, generally, the more competitive the program, the higher the average scores for accepted applicants. The GRE is a major factor for certain programs, that's for sure. If you visit the mathematics forum you'll see the same thing throughout, that a quant score lower than 700 pretty much kills your chances at the top schools, so that's an example of how big a factor it can be. And if you think about it, that's where the quant section on the GRE is a decent indicator of your abilities in that particular field, so it makes sense. My intent wasn't to diminish your achievement in anyway, you should be celebrating it regardless of your field. But I think that whoever told you the GRE has a huge impact on your application to professional programs was a bit off, so I jumped in to provide a little clarification.

It all depends on your priorities, I don't necessarily think of those schools as "safety" schools, they're excellent schools for IR. I meant considering one or a few of those programs instead of placing all of your eggs into a very tiny, exclusive, and competitive basket. The likes of Princeton and Harvard are sort of like winning the lottery, it doesn't matter how good you are, there is a lot of luck that goes into getting an acceptance from either of them because as I've said, if they have a 100 spots but 2000 applicants, it's a crap shoot. And most of those applicants are absolutely qualified. I don't really know how many applicants they generally have, but I'm going off of GW's Fall 2011 admission cycle stats, which were 2100 applicants going for 350 spots in the Elliott School. So being that Harvard, Princeton, and Georgetown are even more competitive, I imagine they have an even lower acceptance rate. But don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discourage you from applying to them, I think you're very competitive, those schools are not within my reach so I can't say much about the application/admission experience with them, just saying that there are quite a few other programs with many different options from which you'd get a world-class education and are by no means safety schools. Now, of course you should not deviate from your interests, settling for a program just to go somewhere isn't really what I was getting at. If the schools you have in mind are the only one at which you can study exactly what you want then I guess that's what you should concentrate on. So as far as priorities go, if you're not willing to go anywhere other than these schools then you'll be satisfied with doing something else for a year while you improve your application should you not get in. If you just want to go to graduate school as soon as possible you will consider one or a few other schools that have a slightly higher rate of acceptance so you have a more reasonable shot of getting in somewhere. But that's up to you. I understand the dream school thing, The Elliott School is my dream school, but I was prepared to go to a safety school before I received notice that I was admitted to Elliott off of the waitlist. My priority is to just go to grad school so yeah I applied to a school I had little doubt that I'd get into despite my dream of going elsewhere, but trust me, I was grateful for that acceptance.

I'd have to disagree that GRE scores have a "huge" impact on your application. The test is actually one of the least important components of the total application package. For a professional degree in International Affairs what matters most are the statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, and international and/or relevant work experience. However, the TOEFL will come into play being that you are an international student, there is a required score I'm sure, but that probably won't be much of an issue for you. Your grades are also probably not something to be worried about. The fact that you are proficient and/or fluent in 3 languages will add to your competitiveness. Your lack of experience might indeed be an issue, it's hard to say for sure because I haven't seen the requirements for admission pages for these programs, but I'd say that there is no reason that you should not apply to these schools, it's certainly not unheard of to be accepted to a professional program without years and years of work experience. But I also think that you should be able to craft a very solid and convincing SOP using the experience that you do have. Scoring very high on the GRE becomes important if you have a deficiency in your application, I feel that if you at least score within the range of accepted applicants then you can be sure that the score will not hold you back. Many successful applicants do not score as high as the averages posted on the school's websites. It depends on the program, for mathematics and the sciences, the quantitative sections carries a lot of weight, for the humanities, the verbal section is more important. But for professional programs the GRE is far less weighty. Again, the most important components are the SOP, LORs, experience, and I would say your course of study as an undergrad. Your degree is a solid foundation for graduate study in this area, so yes I do believe you have a reasonable chance at the schools you mentioned.

Lowish Quant score?? You're 30 points away from a perfect score. Anyway, I'd say you have a great chance with GW, can't speak for the other schools other than that they are obviously even more competitive, but you have quite a bit of experience for your age and your stats are really solid. With these schools that are at the very top of the pack it's really almost like a crap shoot. They have very few spaces and a lot of very highly qualified applicants, so do your best on the applications but just realize that should you not get in it doesn't say anything about you as a potential grad student. Someone around here said something to the effect that a Harvard admissions committee rep told them that if they created another class out of the applicants they rejected it would be just as good as the incoming accepted class. You might want to look into a few other schools like American University, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins SIAS in order to give yourself a better shot. You're definitely very competitive so I would say to apply to the ones you've mentioned, you have nothing to loose other than the fees, just make sure your SOP accurately and clearly expresses your career goals and how a degree from these schools will help you achieve them.

That's exactly what this is, a giant disaster of a car wreck that you cannot stop glaring at...I was just shocked at how these people, even if you take away the bickering, trolling, and insulting sprees, are discussing how to cheat as if it's a totally natural thing to do. They're asking about "good" companies, which ones are bad, they want to know which one is better for this type of paper, as well as expressing outrage and indignation when they've given over hundreds, or in some cases, a good thousand dollars/GBP in return for a poor quality product. They're demanding refunds, they're complaining about the papers because they've been plagiarized, the writing is not on the level they requested, they're not long enough, the grammar is terrible...on and on and on. I just want to scream through the screen.."serves you right!!! do your own work!!." But like I said, I will certainly not be creating an account just to post that for those lunatics. The general justification is that these "papers" are supposed to be used for models and guides for original work, it's against the law to turn in the company's paper as is, but sorry, you don't spend that kind of money unless you're stupid, lazy, or desperate to get something in on time..these people are hoping for a basically good enough project so they can just tweak it to their writing style and get an A. It's like buying a cake at a bakery, taking it home, throwing a few sprinkles on top and then telling everyone at the party that you made it all by yourself with your own recipe. For shame.

This particular thread makes me really grateful that I have never even realized that companies like this existed let alone considered using one...it pretty much descends into complete madness at around page 3. This one alone would make never ever want to even create an account there...yikes! These people should be ashamed of themselves...all of them. http://www.essayscam.org/Forum/9/essay-town-atrocious-service-poor-essay-2371/