toasterazzi

I think it *should* be fine based on how soon I got my scores back (about 10 days), but I suppose it's possible it might take a little longer if they're busier in November.

You don't have to wait on anyone else. They didn't even have us all starting at the same time in my center. Basically, whoever got done with their paperwork and had their picture taken was able to start, and other people filled in on the other computers as they got all their stuff done.

There's a one minute break built in between the sections, but you can choose to skip it if you want to. Nah. My center wouldn't even let anyone in the building on their own. I had to wait at the door for the supervisor to retrieve me, and only test takers were allowed in. My fiance hung out at the library and roamed around the campus while I took the test.

Haha yeah I wasn't amused by it, but I understood they needed proof of identity or whatever. Yeah we had the same thing at my testing center in Indiana.

I think some of this stuff probably varies by testing center. Like my center let me where my hoodie and my hat, but I couldn't put the hood up. And my location had lockers available to store things like phones, drinks, etc. The only thing I had to show the guy was my ID, and he gave me the paperwork I needed to fill out before taking my picture and setting me up to take the test. He did mention the no watches thing though, which was fine for me because I don't wear watches anyway. There was a clock in the room where I took my test though.

They email you when the scores are ready and being sent, and I think the website says it's usually like 10-14 days after taking the test. I think I got the email after about 10 days. I would probably want a few weeks of cushion time in between taking the test and any possible deadlines just in case something wacky happened. I haven't emailed any yet, but I think we're all super awkward Hello! Mine are coming along slowly. Good times, heh.

Thanks! And I'll definitely be sending you good vibes. I'm really bad at standardized test prep. I was the same way when I took the SAT back in the day. I gathered a bunch of materials, but in the end, I didn't spend a lot of time with many of them. I did read through some of the vocab lists, particularly the root/prefix/suffix ones, in the days leading up to my test. And I downloaded a couple GRE apps on my phone to practice. I didn't memorize a set amount though. I'd say that one of the most enjoyable/beneficial resources that to me personally was the Princeton Review Vocab Minute Podcast. It's a series of 100 or so very short songs about different vocabulary words. They were pretty catchy tunes, and they definitely helped me with remembering some of the words. As for the words on the test, I don't know if this was just my experience, but the words that were actually on the test seemed to be much easier and much more recognizable overall than most of the words that I've seen on the typical GRE word lists. There were only maybe a handful, if that many, that I was totally unfamiliar with.

Just got my official GRE scores last night. I already felt pretty solid about the verbal score, and it turns out I scored a 5 on the writing. This pleases me greatly . We won't talk about the math score...lol...

I start by introducing myself and some of my background. Then I have the students do an icebreaker that gets them to introduce themselves and tells me a bit about who they are. As they introduce themselves, I take attendance on the class picture roster. Then I go through the syllabus pretty thoroughly. At the end, I let them know what they need for the next class, and I send them on their way. Typically, that will take us to about 5-10 mins before the end of class, and I'm fine with letting them leave at that point. As for icebreakers, there's plenty of options that you can find on the internet. The one I've been using for the last couple semesters is one called Marooned. In addition to telling the class all the basic info (Name, major, hometown, etc.), they also have to tell us three people (dead or alive, real or fictional) that they'd want to be stranded on and island with and why. Each section I teach has 25 students (typically all freshmen) and this has gone over pretty well with them.

I think it went fairly well. I felt like the verbal section was easier overall than I expecting, and I did better on it than I did on the one practice test I took. The math was about what I expected *shrugs* lol.

Yeah I'm not super worried about it. It's just my overall hatred of standardized tests that makes me annoyed lol.

ETS just sent me an email to remind me that I'm taking the GRE on Saturday

Lol what??? That's such a weird response.

Most of the programs I've looked at don't have hard and fast GPA rules. Of the ones I've seen that list a required minimum GPA, it's typically like 3.0 or 3.5. Some of them also list their programs' average GPA, and those typically tend to be 3.5 or higher from what I've seen. I don't know how serious the GPA is when compared to all the other stuff though.

I've attacked this process from several different angles including looking at basically every college that offers a PhD in English, looking at the professors' interests and publications, looking at the course offering, looking at the rankings, exploring the locations and their costs of living and so on. My list has fluctuated numerous times over the last six months or so, and I've scrapped it and started over more than once. I'm at a solid seven schools right now that I think I'm going to stick with. They're all in locations that appeal to me reasonably well, and they all have at least a couple profs and course offerings that appeal to my interests. And while a couple are more toward the upper echelon of the rankings, I also have a few that would be further down on those lists. I've thought a lot about whether or not I should apply to more schools, and there are a few more that could possibly work, but this is a pretty expensive process. My funds are already going to be stretched super thin this fall/winter with what I already have, and I just don't want to add anything more to that pile.

I agree with this. My MA English program nets me about $8000 a year, and many of the PhD programs I've looked offer stipends around the $12-15,000 range, which definitely can be difficult to live on, especially in a bigger city.

As someone who has a strong interest in YA lit, I always keep my eyes open for any mention of classes or profs who are interested in YA lit or children's lit. I've seen some here and there, and I hope to see more in the future. It definitely does seem like the interest is growing though.

I've seen a couple early action/admission/decision listings in my scouring of grad school websites, but I didn't pay much attention to them. I know that back when I was applying to undergrad in 2004, it meant that you could get in and commit before everybody else. I don't know if it works the same way for grad school though.

So I finally got around to doing a GRE practice test yesterday. I didn't do as terribly as I expected on the math, so yay for that lol. I figure I have a decent idea of what I need to work on now. I haven't really been working on mine much yet. I have a few in mind that will probably work w/ the varying page limit requirements. And there's always the possibility that something I write for my classes this fall might work as well.

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In my theory class last semester, we used two books. The one that I found to be most useful for giving me a baseline understanding was Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson (http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Today-User-Friendly-Guide/dp/0415974100/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1374440506&sr=8-11&keywords=literary+theory). It does a pretty good job of explaining most of the theories in a way that makes a good deal of sense as well as showing how the theories would be applied to texts.

Honestly, I'd say just go to the store and play around with them. I've found that iOS is the best fit for me, so I've stuck with iphones for the last 3 years. That being said, I still play with my friends' phones and other phones at the ATT store from time to time to see if anything interests me from any of the other lines. So far, nothing has drawn me away from the iPhone though. That being said, the only one I'd say to just skip altogether is Blackberry. I know, I know, some people still love them, but they really just aren't where they need to be in my opinion. But everything else has viable options I'd say. You just have to find out what feels right to you.

I started drinking coffee in high school because my theater director built a small cafe next to our theater so we could earn some extra money for shows. I've tried almost everything on a typical cafe menu at least once. I only drank it occasionally from then throughout most of college. When I started student teaching near the end of undergrad, I started to make instant coffee at home as a pick me up, but I didn't really get into daily coffee drinking until I started grad school last year. I've found that it really helps me start my day, and the fact that my dept. has free coffee throughout the day is an added bonus. Plus, I bought a Keurig last year, and it's made it even easier for me to get rolling in the mornings.

My list is hanging out at 13 right now, but I think one or two might get taken off after some further investigation.

At this point, I think I've looked at a couple hundred schools, if not more. I'd say I could probably come up with at least thirty that would work for what I want to do. I've narrowed it down to twelve (and I'm thinking about narrowing down to ten) based on some specifics and my gut. But if I had more expendable cash, I'd probably add a few more to the list.