lauras

...Or you can wait until she's about to marry the man of her dreams, and when the priest asks if there are any objections, you can rip off your ugly bridesmaid's costume, revealing your true identity, and read aloud from a collection of signed affidavits from her old professors, stating that they don't recommend her and they never have. (or just call the department).

If we should have learned anything from the past 5 years, it's not to buy a house unless you can afford it. If you're tired of paying rent, consider being a jigalo, but for the love of g*d, do NOT go get an interest-only 5 year arm :!:

Agreed.

I graduated in 1999 and went to law school instead of graduate school. I've worked in my field for 5 years and now that I've paid down my law school debt, I've saved enough to live on ---for about a year without working. What I wonder is, will departments assume that I have huge bushels of money (which I don't) and therefore not offer me any? And worse, will they expect me to pay them upwards of 40k per year for 7 years to get a degree? My worst fear is that I'll be accepted somewhere but it won't include any funding and I'll have to turn it down. Does anyone out there have any insight into how the funding decisions are made? Should I supplement my applications with a statement that gently suggests I would need some kind of funding to complete a 7 year program?

NYU holds off sending you a login id for 3 weeks after you submit your application. Not hard to figure out why

That message is so mean. Basically, it's telling you to get ready and wait -- extra hard. Is there anyone who applied who is not already waiting with all their might?

Just based on the other credentials you list, a low GRE score makes it sound like either you are not a good test taker, OR you were cavalier about preparing for the test because you're smart and probably never had a problem testing before. The last time you took a standardized test was probably as a Junior in High School, so you've probably forgotten how much you practiced for your SATs. It was probably part of your class curiculum, so you didn't even realize you were practicing. I think everyone, both the applicants and the admissions committees, sort of have a mild (and healthy) contempt for standardized testing and consider GREs the least important part of the application. As you say, the rest of your credentials are very very good, publications, good ivy league grades. But a 300 is really low, (sorry, not meaning to be rude). It doesn't reflect on your intelligence, but it does reflect on your preparation of the application materials. Math is kind of like language. You have to practice it or it goes away and a 300 score says, "I didn't even bother to take a practice test and left this for the last minute." I have to agree with some of the other posters here who are saying apply next year. Low scores may not torpedo every chance you have at grad school, but they won't help you any in the most competative spots. Retake next year. Waiting one year is better than settling for a program you don't want for the next 6.

No, I haven't read anything exactly on point. I did google around to see what was up and I came back with several articles in 2001 and 2004 about how during a recession, folks head to grad school. In retrospect, I think we're 8 years into this recession. Of course, people who make rational business decisions wait until they lose their job or run into a wall as far as promotions go and then head to business school or public policy school. I think the numbers Linden cites, less graduate testing over all coupled with an increase in professional school applications, signals that the humanities may have less applicants this year. ...but those of us that want that English Phd, we're going to apply no matter what, because clearly we don't think about what's in our best financial interest. I know if I did, I'd hang on to my sweet job at a large law firm instead of taking the vow of poverty for 7-8 years.

When I was an undergrad. Gold key had some scholarships/stipends that were only available to members. They were small, as in a couple hundred dollars, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

...so when you learn that a classmate has forged her letters of recommendation, should you tell someone? In my opinion, yes.

From: http://www.uslawbooks.com/books/forgery.htm What is the definition of FORGERY? The Black's Law, American College, and Random House dictionaries along with the court citations below define FORGERY as: The making, drawing, or altering a document with the intent to defraud. A signature made without the person knowing of or consenting to it. The law and the courts say: The Modern Penal Code (MPC sec. 224.1) states that a person is guilty of forgery if: a) a actor or person alters any writing of any person, makes, completes, executes, authenticates, issues, or transfers any writing so that it purports to be an act of another who did not authorize the act or to have been at the time or place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case, or to be a copy of an original when no such original existed; or c) utters any writing which he knows to be forged. "Forgery is a crime when it includes the representation of handwriting of another and the act of uttering as true and genuine any forged writing knowing the same to be forged with intent to prejudice, damage, and defraud any person." State v. May 93 Idaho 343, 461 P. 2d 126, 129. "Crime of forgery is committed when one makes or passes a false instrument with the intent to defraud, and the element of loss or detriment is immaterial." People v. McAffey, 182 Cal. App.2d 486, 6 Cal. Rptr. 333,337 "The false making of an instrument, which purports on the face of it to be good and valid for purposes for which it was created, with design to defraud any person or persons." State v. Goranson, 67 Wash.2d 456, 408 P.2d 7,9.

rinneron, It's like childbirth. If you didn't forget the pain, you could never do it a second time. ...not that I've had a baby, but I almost wish I had just given birth instead. It would be over in a few hours or a few days tops. I'm a BC hopeful too! Good luck. Maybe I'll see you in Beantown.

I have to agree with the Minnesotan. It's not being nosy or a tattle-tale to hold people to a standard of conduct. If only bankers and hedgefund managers did this, we would not be on the verge of a depression. If people spoke up sooner, the Governor of Illinois would not have had the chance to attempt to revoke an 8 million dollar grant to Children's Hospital because he didn't get a contribution to his campaign fund. Graduate School is a small community. 8-20 people enter a grad program at a time. If one of them is unscrupulous and unqualified, they will drag down that entire department in terms of intellectual contribution as well as morale. Financial support for the arts and humanities is scarce. Even if this person flunks out in 2 or 3 years, she's taken scarce funds and a place in a faculty she doesn't deserve at the expense of a more qualified, honest and motivated student. ...and of course, it's unfair. I took graduate classes at night just to make contacts with faculty and get referrences. I spent 1800.00 on classes this semester and almost 4,000 dollars and 10 vacation days to go on a spring break trip with my Hellenism class. Of course, I was interested in these things in their own right, but I specifically spent more money to take the class for graduate credit, not the cheaper undergraduate option, just to get face time with the professor. In the process, I became a better applicant, broadened my horizens and maybe I'll be a better class mate to 7-19 other grad students next year, but should I have just forged the letter instead? Academia is a small community and each individual and their values will degrade or envigorate that community in very high concentrations. The girl who forged her letters, she won't be one student in a 200 student lecture who never speaks in class, she'll be 12% of the entire entering graduate class. If she wants her attitudes and actions not to matter, she should join a bigger, more anonymous community and learn to enjoy her cubicle.

The assistant dean at Columbia (Dec 15 deadline) told me yesterday that their school has a 2 week grace period for supplemental materials. Call your school if you're worried. They are usually pretty responsive.

Shared dorms in NEU are such a rip off! Try looking around Jamaica Plain. The 39 bus gets pretty close to NEU, so does the green line. I think JP is your best shot at a bargain. It's a pretty hip alterative neighborhood, but be careful not to rent in Roxbury, which is high crime. I advise you to come early, stay at the Youth Hostel on Hemenway Street and check out the neighborhood. Good Luck, I've been in Boston 9 years and I've really grown to love the city, even if it is an expensive one, there are deals to be found.

I went there for undergraduate school. Santa Barabara is so beautiful, it took me 6 years to graduate If I could do it all over again, I'd graduate in 7!

I'm also a lawyer and got a 5 on the writing section. (71%ile). Worse yet, the question was legal in nature! I'm sure if you don't get a 1 or a 2, it's all good. Your accomplishments, personal statement, etc. carry so much more weight. The standardized tests are just a WTF!? cut-off.

Oh, and don't focus too much on reading that list of books. Read the Norton Anthology of Literature, especially the introductory chapters to each literary period, get a Princeton Review GRE prep, get some spark notes as sad as that may sound and rent a whole bunch of "Merchant Ivory Classics" from Netflix. The only things I read closely was Norton Anthology poetry, and the novels I wanted to read anyway, for my own enjoyment. I did a decent job on the GRE with that method, far better than I would have, if I had gotten lost in the luxury of reading all those books.

I just finished my 9 applications for grad school and I earned my undergraduate degree in 1999 I followed your professor's advice and I've been taking night classes at Harvard's Extension School. You should check your local university, I'm sure they offer something similar. It took me 3 semesters to get a half way decent sample together, but I must say, it helped me to focus my interests, write the personal statement and I had three current letters of recommendation. It sounds like a long time to "wait" but studying at night actually made work more bearable for me the past year and a half. Taking all those standardize tests are also quite time consuming when you're working full time and taking classes. If I were you, I'd map out a 2 year plan for tests, writing samples and recommendations. Realistically, you probably won't be able to start a program until Fall '1,1 at the earliest, if you start planning now. It's worth it to invest the time now. Once you get in to a program and spend 6-7 years working your eyes blind, you want it to be at the best possible school, right? I'll let you know how I did. This year is sort of a dry run for me and I sort of anticipate applying again next year.

It's probably a bit late to post this insight, but I've heard that departments pick a cut off for GREs, some minimum score, and if you pass that cut off, the rest of your application gets reviewed. So, perfect scores on the GRE are not really what's necessary-- that's the good news for most of us. I don't want to start a panic by suggesting what the cut-off might be, because each school does it differently, but I've heard that BC will cut off around 600 and not look too closely at applicants with lower scores than that. On the other hand, some schools, Columbia for example, don't even look at the GRE lit subject test and don't require it for your application.

I submitted 8 applications. I just finished them today. It is incredible how much time they took! I am working full time right now, but still, I really underestimated how time consuming the process is. Thank god a friend volunteered to help me edit all of it. My writing sample, which I thought was 99% fine, took 3 weekends of intense rewrites. Now the freak-out begins and as I payed the fee for schools like Columbia, I had to wonder if I was just wasting my money. Any other east-coasters around? Here are my schools, 1/2 of them are complete longshots. Columbia NYU (I figured I wouldn't move to NYC unless I won the lottery Brown UVA Boston College Tufts Boston University Brandeis

When I took the bar exam, I quit drinking caffeine completely for a month before the test. I also took sleeping pills the night before the test, but left plenty of time for the grogginess to wear off (went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 4am). Being rested and de-caffeinated helps. The bar was 2 days, 7 hours a day. The GRE is not that bad.

Like all schools in Boston, BC, Brandeis and Tufts are generally considered "good" schools (or rather they consider themselves a good school). What is there reputation in the English Lit community? They seem to be "ranked" around the 50s on the USNEWS rankings, whatever those mean and there seems to be a bunch of "public ivys" ranked far better. Does anyone know how the professors or the climate are in these departments? BU is also ranked about the same, in the mid 50s, but I've have heard bad things and encountered such snobbery, especially for a second rate department, that I'm really not going to bother to send them my $70 bucks.

You are fantastic brittdreams! Thanks for the link.

I'm going to apply in Fall 09 for English PhD programs and want to help my application by submitting a paper to a conference. Is there a good on-line resource for finding conferences in my area? Does anyone have any other advice for me? Are conferences a good place to network with potential future professors?