rems42

Thanks for the reply's! I think the fact that grad school is such a crapshoot is, by far, the most irritating thing about it. I've heard plenty of stories of people who get into Harvard after failing a year in undergrad and then I hear stories of students who have been nothing but perfect and still get rejected from "safely" schools. Le sigh. My overall undergrad GPA was a 3.2 (with even a few F's here and there -- it took me awhile to take school seriously), but the final two years I have a GPA of 3.7 and my major GPA -- despite the F's -- is still a 3.89. I'm just petrified now that my partying during freshmen year which resulted in an F in Geology won't totally screw me over. I'm planning on taking both the GRE General and GRE Subject tests which should help my chances of getting past the first cut. I have heard that being a good fit for a program is one of the most important aspects of the application, but my problem is that I think there's too many programs out there in which I could be a good fit and none of them are perfect... Here's a good question: How "good" a fit is a "good" fit? As in, should I match a department/professor exactly or it is more a generalized fit as in their library has archives of the manuscripts I need..? Any thoughts?

Hi all! I'll graduate with an MA in British literature from a small, middle of no-where university this spring (Spring '12). My main interests include James Joyce studies and critical theory focusing on cities, post-structuralism and digital theory... BUT I'm beginning to get very nervous about PhD apps because I'm not sure what my chances are for getting into the program that I want. I'm currently looking at Cornell, but I'm afraid that I'm wasting my time (and theirs) by even applying. My undergrad transcript is pathetic -- last two years look good -- but my MA transcript (fingers crossed) should be a 4.0. I'm about to take the GRE general and GRE subject this fall, and I've already been accepted to two conferences regarding my field and was able to attend one of them. I feel as though I look like a pretty good applicant on paper, and I know what I want to study, but I'm worried that my undergrad university will hold me back. What do you guys think? I know that everyone always want to say, "go ahead and apply! It couldn't hurt!" but would I be setting myself up for disappointment if I think too highly of myself????? Be honest please!