antikantian

I'm not sure if I have a lot of advice, but I'm currently in my 5th year, taking a break from dissertating on a Saturday afternoon by trying to put together some words of encouragement.

First, don't take the GRE when you have the flu. I did this and my GRE verbal was 500, math only slightly better. My next attempt was in the 99th percentile. This just means, DON'T PUSH THE GRE TO THE LAST MINUTE. You'll never know when that super-virus will hit you.

Make sure you love whatever field you're going into, and don't expect graduate school to be some intellectual paradise - it's not. I went through a year or so where I absolutely hated what I was doing and questioned my choices. If this happens, just stick with it. I've since rediscovered my passion for scholarship, and I feel like my work has improved as a result of this brief hatred of my profession.

Talk to professors about grad school. Don't go into applications completely through your own research without talking to people in the profession. I was completely underprepared during the application process. This is especially true of the humanities. There is a lot of interdisciplinary work going on, so maybe check to see if other departments have interests in your potential research areas. I'm in an analytic philosophy department, but I know literature, political theory, and english all have professors who are interested in topics that are broadly (or narrowly), philosophical.

I'm not sure if I have a lot of advice, but I'm currently in my 5th year, taking a break from dissertating on a Saturday afternoon by trying to put together some words of encouragement.

First, don't take the GRE when you have the flu. I did this and my GRE verbal was 500, math only slightly better. My next attempt was in the 99th percentile. This just means, DON'T PUSH THE GRE TO THE LAST MINUTE. You'll never know when that super-virus will hit you.

Make sure you love whatever field you're going into, and don't expect graduate school to be some intellectual paradise - it's not. I went through a year or so where I absolutely hated what I was doing and questioned my choices. If this happens, just stick with it. I've since rediscovered my passion for scholarship, and I feel like my work has improved as a result of this brief hatred of my profession.

Talk to professors about grad school. Don't go into applications completely through your own research without talking to people in the profession. I was completely underprepared during the application process. This is especially true of the humanities. There is a lot of interdisciplinary work going on, so maybe check to see if other departments have interests in your potential research areas. I'm in an analytic philosophy department, but I know literature, political theory, and english all have professors who are interested in topics that are broadly (or narrowly), philosophical.

I'm not sure if I have a lot of advice, but I'm currently in my 5th year, taking a break from dissertating on a Saturday afternoon by trying to put together some words of encouragement.

First, don't take the GRE when you have the flu. I did this and my GRE verbal was 500, math only slightly better. My next attempt was in the 99th percentile. This just means, DON'T PUSH THE GRE TO THE LAST MINUTE. You'll never know when that super-virus will hit you.

Make sure you love whatever field you're going into, and don't expect graduate school to be some intellectual paradise - it's not. I went through a year or so where I absolutely hated what I was doing and questioned my choices. If this happens, just stick with it. I've since rediscovered my passion for scholarship, and I feel like my work has improved as a result of this brief hatred of my profession.

Talk to professors about grad school. Don't go into applications completely through your own research without talking to people in the profession. I was completely underprepared during the application process. This is especially true of the humanities. There is a lot of interdisciplinary work going on, so maybe check to see if other departments have interests in your potential research areas. I'm in an analytic philosophy department, but I know literature, political theory, and english all have professors who are interested in topics that are broadly (or narrowly), philosophical.

I agree with this. As possible world PhD-seeking Socrates says, "the unexamined application isn't worth sending," but the over-examined one is just as bad for your psychological health. Wow, that was terrible, but I'm sure you get the point. You can't really do anything about your GPA at this juncture, so it's not worth stressing out over. Besides, if other parts of your application are solid, then GPA won't matter as much, probably.

Here are some statements my friends and I made during the application process many moons ago:
"Omg, I got a B in biology my freshman year? It's over."
"No Phi Beta Kappa? That's not gonna look good. It's over."
"I put an area of interest in my SOP that no one cares about. It's over."
"Magna cum laude? How am I going to compete with those summa over-achievers? It's over."
"60th percentile quant? Damn engineers! It's SOOOO over."
"5AWA? I'm in the humanities! I write for a living. It's over."
"Yep, 3.0GPA because I couldn't adjust to college my first two years. Why even bother. It's over."
"500V? FFS, I'm throwing away my money on these applications. It's over."

All of the above people got into grad school. These little things rarely mean that it's over.

I agree with this. As possible world PhD-seeking Socrates says, "the unexamined application isn't worth sending," but the over-examined one is just as bad for your psychological health. Wow, that was terrible, but I'm sure you get the point. You can't really do anything about your GPA at this juncture, so it's not worth stressing out over. Besides, if other parts of your application are solid, then GPA won't matter as much, probably.

Here are some statements my friends and I made during the application process many moons ago:
"Omg, I got a B in biology my freshman year? It's over."
"No Phi Beta Kappa? That's not gonna look good. It's over."
"I put an area of interest in my SOP that no one cares about. It's over."
"Magna cum laude? How am I going to compete with those summa over-achievers? It's over."
"60th percentile quant? Damn engineers! It's SOOOO over."
"5AWA? I'm in the humanities! I write for a living. It's over."
"Yep, 3.0GPA because I couldn't adjust to college my first two years. Why even bother. It's over."
"500V? FFS, I'm throwing away my money on these applications. It's over."

All of the above people got into grad school. These little things rarely mean that it's over.