Hi all, current English PhD student at UB here, chiming in for the first time on GradCafe (after a year of lurking about throughout my adpplications/admissions process last year). One of my biggest concerns, this time last year, was my less-than-impressive GRE score: a respectable 96 on verbal, counterbalance by an unsurprising 70 on quantitative, and an utterly abysmall 35 on the analytical writing section. Despite this, I was still admittted to UB in the first round and, after committing, was awarded a fellowship on top of my TAship funding/stipend - in spite of the fact that my GRE scores and my cummulative undergrad GPA were both below the minimum level to be considered for funding from CAS/UB. I, of course, don't want to offer unequivocal reassurances - I get the sense that my quantifiable/standardizable acheivments are definitely on the lower end of the spectrum and, despite expected levels of horn-tooting on my part, I know that luck had more than a little to contribute to this outcome.
They mean what they say on their website! I was impressed by the degree to which both the DGA and DGS not only remembered my writing sample, but made a point of discussing specific details when I met with them over the course of recruitment and orientation events. As for my lackluster GPA and test scores - never mentioned.
So, perhaps a little reassurance? There's a great program here, good people, and a lot of openness to idiosyncratic folk.
