Timshel

Are you sure about those equivalents? The table I looked at put 159V at 590V.

The first round came up around midnight, so I am expecting that ours will, as well.

Hey, I actually have a question about the Emory app. It says that you can send your "GRE student copy" while the department waits for the official version. Now, I may not get my "in the mail" version before this app is due. However, I will have the one that is available online. Could that work? I guess I'm just not sure what they want for this..... Does anyone have any idea?

Mine won't, either. My later date ones will be early for sure, but not the ones that are due December 1st. There is no way.

I was just looking at their program, and I find their First Nations literature stuff fascinating. I feel like I'm looking at this stuff too late, though.

Since posting this, I have done a little research. What about the University of Toronto? I'm assuming that it's a good school, but does anyone know anything about the program specifically?

I know this is VERY late in the game, but I am starting to feel like I've done myself a disservice by not really looking into many Canadian universities. How many of you are applying to some? How does that work with tuition remission and things like that? Do you end up paying extra because you are not a citizen? Also, what schools would be worth looking at? Basically, in other words, blurt out any and all that you know about PhD programs in Canada.

OH MY GOD! YOUR VERBAL SCORE WAS ACTUALLY HIGHER THAN YOUR LOWEST PROJECTED! THERE IS STILL HOPE! I THINK I CAN STOP PANICKING......A LITTLE.....

I wonder if the estimates were given differently to the first group than the second. In other words, I wonder if maybe the first batch were inflated because they weren't comparing them to others yet, but those of us who took it a little later had a range that was in comparison to those who took it previously.

What I'm saying is that the lowest number in the range I was given was too low for me to be competitive, so I was hoping to be a bit higher than that lowest number. However, pretty much every single person on here, when you check the conversion chart, actually got percentages lower than the old scale equivalent range. This means I am most likely, according to what people have posted so far, going to get the lowest percentage or even lower than I was projected.

Man. It looks like everyone's is lower than the lowest number in the estimated rank. This is not good. I can not get lower than the lowest number in my range.....

I'm wondering the same thing. I mean, if the scores are decent, I think I will. However, I'm wondering if I should if the scores are terrible.

CQuin, I am applying to UMass Amherst for the PhD. What did you think of the faculty and program? Any tips or advice?

I couldn't get all my stuff in in time. I'm still working on my sample and SOP. I wish I could have saved the money, but I just couldn't get my stuff done in time. I did go back and forth for a while between the regular and comparative lit and ultimately decided on the traditional program even though most of the classes I want to take are in the comp lit because the classes in the comp lit mostly discuss theory as opposed to lit, and they state that most of their placements are in language departments and other comp lit programs, and that's not really what I'm looking for.

I agree. I think it's better to talk more about what the program is known for what kind of classes they offer, things like that. I, too, have been told that politics and insider information could potentially hurt you in an SOP, but at the same time, you want to talk about their program specifically to show that you did your research and you know why you would be a good fit there.

Ahhh! I don't know how I missed it! Good luck with Miami! They have a great program! I'm sure you'll be a shoe-in!

You are going to get mixed advice on this. I have even had mixed advice from my LORs. I think what I'm going to end up doing is possibly listing in the section about why the school is a good fit what classes and professors that school has that would be interesting or related to my area, but I am not going to specifically say "I look forward to working with A, B, and C" because that could limit you and you don't know who's on the ad comm, either. Departments have a lot of politics.

I'm just curious. What were some of the things you "learned" from last year? I hear a lot of people saying this if they already applied and didn't get in somewhere, but I'd love to hear what some of you learned and are avoiding/doing differently this time around.

I'm surprised that you aren't applying to Miami with your interest in Caribbean lit. They are very well-known for that.

I don't think of any of my schools as safety schools because you never know what they are looking for that year, but favorites for me would probably be Buffalo or Cornell.

I have been told the same thing by my LORs. They all encouraged me to contact people. Also, a friend of mine literally got into UT Austin because he made a connection with one of the ad comm people via email. Our professors encouraged him to try to connect with someone because he had a low gpa, low gre, and not so great letters of recommendation. Now he's at UT Austin....