HaruNoKaze

yes. i want to cry. sometimes I hate myself too. it was just so easy to write about his future plans, his fit, his focus. but the words won't come for me! and i know me better than i know him... i seriously don't know why i can't write it and just be done with it!

It wasn't hard for me, but my HP all in one has a setting where you disable one thing and enable another, and it'll allow you to make a multi-page PDF. my graduate transcript was only one page and i forgot to black out my SSN. FK. i hope they don't notice...b/c they specifically list blacking out the SSN.

Timshel, my SOP is killing me too. I dunno wtf is my problem, I just can't write mine! Sadly, I just wrote one for my friend for a program he's applying to, and he was so happy with it. Now for me, I just stare at a screen... it's like shell shock or something...

I submitted my app last week and got a UT EID later that evening. Logged in, uploaded PDFs of my transcripts, have been mulling over my SOP and writing sample... but my LOR profs haven't submitted their letters. FREAKING OUT b/c I don't know what UT will do if they wait until past the Dec 1st deadline to submit the letters... anyone experiencing this too? any advice from ppl who've applied before and had professors try and submit LOR past the deadline?

I gained over 13 lb in a year, and I was like blah. I started Tae Kwan Do classes to shed some pounds. I get to kick and punch stuff, and it is surprisingly helping with stress.

I visited with both the graduate professors before jumping in; most of the students were third semester students who told me during my first semester if I wanted a better program to transfer out. They eventually did. Also, we've since found out that a lot of the information involving the program was a lie. Like accreditation. Yea. The program isn't accredited. So two of us that are finishing up our MA this spring and looking for doctorate programs are really upset that we were lied to, and it's going to reflect poorly on us even though it isn't our fault. The initial visit was nice, and everyone was friendly. But visiting doesn't amount to much sometimes.

To OP - Glad to see someone out there is enjoying grad school. Our department has professors who don't communicate with each other, students who don't like each other, and there is little respect between professors, students, or anyone really. Most of the students have established lives, but use that as an excuse to turn in work late or try and complain about how they don't have time to read/write. I hate my program, and consider it one of the worst decisions I've made. I look forward to seeing if my doctorate program will provide me with a redeeming experience similar to yours!

I have that problem too; we will do working drafts and read them in class and get feedback, and other students say my ideas are complex and the professors provides positive feed back and gives the gold star. someone else will turn in a craptacular draft that is obviously not graduate level work, but b/c it's good work for THAT student, I get a B and they get an A. Talk about wanting to slit some tires. Final papers don't get feed back from our profs, which is total BS, b/c none of us ever know why we earned the grade we did. In a way grading each student is fair, but for the good students who are graded harshly, it is counter intuitive. Our program is full of students who think doing the work earns them an A, because for the most part, our professors have no back bone and don't want to hurt/offend them. The few really great students made Bs and keep it a secret b/c we are being treated unfairly and know it, but can't do anything about it. I don't tell anyone my grade, they assume I made As b/c of how good my work is that we are forced to share. But my profs grade me harder than anyone else, so they always mange to give Bs. Sounds like all of your graduate peers are being graded fairly though, but I still wouldn't give out my grades.

Squirrel, Let me tell you, first, THANK YOU. I've been dealing with a VERY similar situation for a while now, and everyone I've talked to about it says this kind of stuff shouldn't be happening in grad school. And yes, it is ridiculous and unnecessarily stressful. First off, I'm the youngest person in our grad program. I went to an average state university for my undergrad, but I double majored in English and Philosophy (great with Lit and great with theory). The problem person for me is an older woman (early thirties) who I was friends with, who very similarly, began accusing me of making her look dumb in front of our professors. She went to a large, very prestigious state university but she majored in History. She made all Cs first semester and had to rewrite all her papers. Now, she makes Bs on all her work because the professors don't want to give her Cs because she claims she doesn't have time to juggle her family and rewriting papers plus the regular work assigned. She claims that the professors don't like her, and that's why she gets B's. Her comments in class are usually along the lines of, "I had a experience once when..." or "Well I know in my family we..." instead of being RELEVANT to the text or theory we are talking about in class. Besides the fact she is less than stellar, she got a major attitude when I went to my first conference last spring. She didn't even submit a proposal, and she was acting like it was someone else's fault she wasn't going. I had a presentation in one of our classes the week after the conference, and she began to attack my work by saying it didn't make sense, that my thesis was wrong, and she even began shouting over the professor while the professor was trying to provide me actual constructive criticism. Then, she pulled out something claiming one of the journals I pulled one of my articles from for the presentation wasn't peer reviewed, and DEMANDED to know my grade deduction. The professor was like, "Um no it's peer reviewed." Sure enough, it wasn't, but the professor was like who cares. That student now sits by the professor and when I had a paper to cover earlier this semester, she started mumbling under her breath to where anyone could barely hear it that I was TAKING her ideas, in a paper I wrote at home, I was taking the idea she wrote in her paper. She whined that I was talking about all the things she was talking about, and the professor finally told her "this isn't a competition" while I just sat there and was like "really? is this really still happening?" I had a paper reviewed in class last night, and she said NOTHING constructive criticism wise in class. She did not participate. She sat there looking at her papers and that's it. She made a comment about Halloween and about some Italian movie that had nothing to do with my paper. She's also using the professors article for class discussion in two weeks, because there is nothing under the sun supposedly written on the subject besides our professors article. And, back when I was preparing for the conference in spring, she sent me nasty text messages on my cellphone. I finally, at the end of the summer, told a different professor (our grad advisor) about this situation, and how it was flat out ridiculous. I told her that I knew if I handed my phone over, she would be kicked out of the school. My advisor just sat there wide eyed, and said she knew something was going on, but didn't know it was like that. I told her this was stupid and childish, and she agreed. So, In short, yes, I have a jealous, competitive student who takes everything personally. She's insane and pretends to be hurt by the professors criticism, but then fires back with, "Well I went to big university and we did it like this" even though she didn't even major in English. She tries to manipulate everyone into feeling sorry for her, but she's a complete fake. The grad advisor already knew this, so me telling her the craziness wasn't a surprise. We used to be cool, but since I started to surpass her in grades, conferences, and now in applying for doctorate programs, she's a sore loser. I try to ignore it, I also have to try really hard not to go out of my way to make her look dumb, b/c this problem has built up so much that take pleasure in watching her realize she ISN'T THAT SMART nor is she a HARD WORKER. But that is not the person I want to be, I want to be a nice and kind person, but she makes it very hard. I have to tell myself that I should pity her for not realizing she could work harder to write better papers, or read more to understand. Instead she blames everything on the text being complicated or the theory is too hard. I just have to remind myself that sometimes some people are better at certain things than others, and I'm sure she has some skill or talent outside of this program. But grad school is definitely not what she's suited for, mentally or emotionally. It is very hard to be the better person and remain academically professional.

I completely agree with everything you just said.

I spent the weekend out of town, at the beach. We stayed at an extended family member's beach house, four stories tall, marble counter tops throughout the house, stainless appliances, track lighting, massive bathrooms, balconies all the way around the house, and a view of the ocean that, for a moment, made me forget about applications, rejections, and the stress of grad school. Then I realized I will never be able to own a beach house like this on faculty salary. Sigh. The reality I will probably not get accepted to any of the schools I apply to is really high. And to be honest, sometimes I don't know why I do it. I've been talking to old professors, getting advice and working my butt off to have a strong application. I feel like I'm drowning. I seek solace in knowing that I at least tried to go the path I've always wanted for myself, even if that path isn't the easiest. But here lately, that isn't getting me very far.

I would probably say something like, "Dr. So&So, I'm a current graduate student and am considering applying to X University where you are listed as a current faculty member. I am familiar with your work, and would like to take one of your classes if I have the opportunity. What I've seen online seems though that you haven't taught any classes in a couple of semesters, so I wanted to check and see if you were planning on teaching any classes in Fall 2012. Thanks! Haru" Short, sweet, and nothing the professor needs to feel like you're coming off aggressive or demanding. Besides, how do you know she's not taking some sabbatical while writing her next big work? I had two professors, the same semester, take sabbaticals to finish books. One was the dept chair, the other was a full time tenure faculty member who taught a wide range of required classes. Maybe she had a baby or something; professors often can take generous amounts of maternity leave, especially if they are well known and have clout in the academic community. Departments have to be accommodating. She could be dying to get back to work, and secretly find your email to warm her heart, because she knows students far and wide care about her and her work. It brings a tear to my eye. Obviously I have a wide imagination, and am procrastinating writing my conference paper for the SAMLA...

Yep, which is totally why I'm freaking out.

hmm... very interesting... I am wondering what will happen if I just apply to a program and be like, "look, I missed the registration date for the test, but here is all of my other materials. please consider me and understand I can take the test in April." But I'm not thinking that will work.

Yea the late registration and the normal registration have already passed. The test date doesn't even show up online when I go to the ETS website. Only April 2012 dates are showing up. q_q

I was emailing them about the Asian Culture and Language program, which is totally separate from English Lit. I'm applying for Rhet Comp and ACL, so I'm doing two applications, but apparently both departments will be able to see my writing samples. So I upload one writing sample for Rhet Comp, one for ACL, but b/c they are both available... it's almost like I'm submitting two samples. I hope this will work to my advantage, but I dunno. The samples are going to cover two totally different subjects obviously, but it will give them something else to read if they are really interested. Interesting things you find out when you ask I'm the kind of person who will call anyone, email anyone, because I have nothing to lose. And so far it has worked to my advantage. I called University of Houston to ask for the application date for philosophy MA, 2012, b/c they haven't updated their website, and the graduate adv called me back. He then gave me the application date... and started asking me questions. When I did my BA in Phil, what undergrad I went to, where was I doing my MA now, my last name... and of course after some small talk he said he would be looking for my application this spring. Could he be blowing smoke up my butt? Sure. But at least he gave me some of his time, and I gave him mine. I've had people from Princeton and UT English and ACL dept email me back answering questions in full, complete, wonderfully nice responses. Maybe I've just had good luck with this, I dunno, but I'm in a bad situation with my applications/current MA program, so I really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If, "I think I got an email from that applicant a few months ago, asking about x,y, and z" is going to get me remembered even a tiny bit over someone else, then I don't mind throwing myself out there. Worst case scenario they don't read my email or reply to it.

I did something like this for UT Austin. I emailed one of the professors that was teaching courses I would have loved to study as a graduate student, and asked about her role in the graduate department. The syllabi for the classes in the dept I'm interested in lists all the books assigned, so I asked her about her syllabus specifically and perhaps when she would be teaching these materials again, or what I could expect to see from her in the fall. So I brown-nosed a little bit by saying, "I've read this and really liked it" but pointed out "that novel I've never heard of, so I'd be interested in studying it" She ended up (several email correspondences later) explaining they only have one doctorate student right now due to funding, so I'd be admitted as an MA student with funding at best, without funding more likely. All my faculty, grad and my old undergrad, have all advised me not to list any names in my statement of purpose. Instead they've advised me to say "this is what I'm interested in studying" as to not limit myself or seem like I only want to do one thing. They've told me faculty wants someone who is interested in learning and can be molded, not someone who already thinks they know everything. Lord knows I don't know much.

Hey yall, I tried to register for the Nov 12th test today and realized um I can't. The registration date passed, and I didn't even know it. So advice on how badly this will impact my applications... should I not even apply to programs that require subject tests, b/c I'll just be submitting incomplete apps? Anyone in the same boat as me so we can take vodka shots together... -Haru

for every one who wants a fantastic story to reflect on their lives not being a crappy as mine... my testing site was moved. Yes. You read that. My TESTING SITE was moved. I registered for the test at the site I took the last two, plus my state teacher exams... I showed up and it was closed down with a cute little sign that told me the address of the new site. I did not receive any special instructions via email, nada. Just the same old confirmation email that I get every time, but with a different address. Same testing site number, but different address. Thank God I had someone I could call to figure out where this place was, b/c it was in a part of town I never had been before. I showed up along with everyone else to take the test, we all looked confused. They were out of the little orange ear plugs, and of course all the staff was insanely loud outside, talking and laughing while I tried to take the test. I got a 100 point range on both the verbal and qual, so I might have done better or I might have done exactly the same, or maybe slightly worse. The vocab was not that hard but the RC were wordy. So now that I am done with that and may have only slightly improved my chances of getting in to any of the schools I'm applying to, I can start working on my writing sample and statement of purpose. Wee.

I know I will be ok when my butt is in the chair and I'm staring at the screen. I will find my little zone when I'm there. It's everything leading up to it that scares me. In my dreams last night, there was chemistry on the GRE. I dreamed about electrons and chemical reactions. That has absolutely nothing to do with the actual test, but it's like the worst possible math scenario: chemistry. I laid in bed before I fell asleep and did vocab flashcards until about one, then woke up at like 6:45 in the morning. That's the earliest I've gotten up in a while. I'm never out of bed until after 8am >_< But since I'm up, the sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, it looks like rain off in the distance... for all intents and purposes, today looks promising. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Dear Applicant Who Was Accepted to UT Austin's Asian Cultures and Languages Doctorate Program for Fall 2011, I see on the Results Survey that someone was accepted into the doctorate program last season. If you are reading this, I would really REALLY appreciate any and all advice you could give me about applying to the program this 2012 application season. Congrats on getting accepted to my dream program, Haru

Things are going like a big mess! My GRE is tomorrow at 12:30, and I'm constantly making stupid mistakes on my practice tests. My math is dismal, which is not what it should be b/c I've been studying. I'm falling for all the traps, I just dunno what to do. I had to spend time preparing for a presentation in one of my classes that I really didn't have time to do, but I got it done. I've been emailing my number one choice program back and forth for the past two weeks, and I'm so hopeful tomorrow is going to rock and I'll get GRE scores high enough to compensate for the fact my professors refuse to give me A's. I'm really worried it's not going to happen, and that ultimately I'm not going to get into that program. I went back and found an old paper I'm going to use as a writing sample, but other than that... I haven't started a single application yet... tear... I need to at least try and stand out...

THANK YOU I swear I've been looking at these prep guides and never noticed any correlation between the ovals and squares! However, I'm going to complicated that by asking about the "Select a sentence in which the author..." So in my prep guide, it says "select a sentence..." but in the answer key in the back it also lists two answers for this question. For anyone curious, I'm currently working my way through the Princeton Review Cracking the NEW GRE guide, the question is on page 416, answer on page 439. Does the computer exam give you the option of selecting two sentences for these types of questions?

As I'm sure many others out there are like me, studying for the New GRE, I've come across some issues I'd love to get some feed back from those who have already taken the New GRE. My brain is half scrambled, so forgive me for any typos. I've noticed that some of the verbal questions on the practice tests do not say "select all that apply" or "select the best two answers" and yet the answer key in the back of the book has two answers selected... I'm aware that ALL correct answers must be selected to get any credit for the question, but I'm wondering how I'm supposed to know if I should select multiple answers if the question doesn't ask for it? Should I just start clicking boxes and the day of the test and see which questions let me select multiple answers? Am I missing something?

I agree with you on this statement, the problem is that I'd like to give myself a break; I'm tired of overcoming adversity and my back ground. I've been doing it all my life, and I really just need a break. I've been told by so many people I'm top twenty material, but at the end of the day, I really haven't accomplished anything worth writing home about.