CQE

Senior in undergrad. One more semester to go...!

Anyone know how many applicants the Prevention Science program typically has as well as how many of those applicants are accepted, on average?

Submitted! Thank da lawd. BTW, just to clarify, everyone has four different things on their "application checklist", right? One slot for each of the three recommendation letters and one slot for their GRE score? I guess a slot for the TOEFL would exist for International applicants, but I'm a US resident, fwiw. Thanks in advance!

Just converted it to a PDF and it looks perfect! Thanks!

Also, I submitted my resume (MS Word doc) just a moment ago and the formatting went all to hell once I preview it using Harvard's site. So...will they see the correctly formatted version or the skewed version I previewed on their site?

Is the deadline to submit actually 3 am EST on 1/5 so that those from the West Coast have 'til midnight? I'm CST, fwiw.

Perhaps this is a dumb question, but where do you pay your app fee via credit/debit card? Is it after you've signed your signature and are 100% ready to submit the app? I'm not seeing it anywhere, obviously.

My SoP is 1,500 on the dot according to MS Word. Not sure how many of you use Google Docs, but, if you do, be aware that it usually comes up a bit short in regards to word count. MS Word is most accurate.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my SoP for Harvard, but would be glad to swap with a couple of others before submitting my application. Any takers?

Applying to Harvard and BC. Already accepted into Penn. All Master's programs in education. Penn & BC are for teaching elementary and secondary, respectively. Harvard's program is for "prevention science", which is counseling, essentially.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=penn+gse+deadlines http://lmgtfy.com/?q=penn+gse+application+instructions

GRE Score (Revised): 154 V, 154 Q, 4.5 AWA (weak point) GPA: 3.93 Overall, 4.0 Major (strong point) Work Experience: N/A - I'm currently a senior. However, I do have significant experience working with urban youth over the past four years at both the elementary and high school levels. Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): Public (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Research Experience: N/A. I'm a business major that realized that education was my "calling" relatively late into my college career. So, it's fortunate in the sense that I'm going to be doing something I love, but unfortunate in that I don't have the resume that I could've had. Applying for PhD or Masters: Masters, 2013 Program: Prevention Science What Other Schools Are You Applying To: Boston College (MAT/MST in History and English both), UPenn (Accepted) I realize Harvard is a reach for me at this point time, but I figured I'd give it a shot considering I won't be applying for a doctorate for several years down the line. I'm confident in my SoP and LORs, so who knows. I'm hoping that those will make the difference in terms of me getting in, as I'm quite aware that I'm a subpar to mediocre (at best) applicant.

I wouldn't mind. I'm applying to the Prevention Science program, though, FWIW.

Excellent news! Congrats! It's pretty much down to BC and Penn for me. I keep flopping back and forth between the two. One day I'm leaning towards Penn, the next I'm favoring BC. I won't really know until I take a visit to both schools/cities. Hopefully I'll be able to do so in January, but I might have to wait 'til March.

Thanks! Good luck going forward. Provide an update when that time comes.

I'm sure you're fine. Looking at your sig, you have a very impressive resume. I feel inferior, to be honest. I applied to their Teacher Education Program. I forgot to note that I received a scholarship of $13,500, which is the most they award an applicant according to an email I was sent from the woman I've been in contact with at Penn. She actually notified me personally before I saw the online acceptance letter. That was what surprised me more than anything. I felt I was a decent candidate that had a solid chance of getting in, but to receive what's supposedly their highest scholarship award blew me away. I know I have a very strong GPA, but I didn't feel like the rest of my application was anything to write home about. My statement of purpose must've played a huge part, and perhaps my LORs were better than I anticipated. Who knows. Still very surprised.

For those that are interested in knowing their chances, I got into Penn on Tuesday. I applied on Halloween night. So, it took about 3.5 business days and 5 total days for me to receive a decision. My BC application is almost ready to be sent off, but they told me on the phone that I probably wouldn't receive word until March or so. Kinda lame, but oh well, lol.

BTW, I read the email from the Honors building at my university, so I've yet to pull that Mia Hamm I mentioned a few months ago. However, I will be pulling it as soon as I get home tonight!

Just figured I'd give an update... ....I got into Penn today! I was told via email today after submitting my application on Halloween night at around midnight. The email also stated that I received a scholarship of $13,500, which, according to the email, is the highest scholarship an applicant can receive for my program. I don't say that to brag in the slightest; I'm more so interested in if that's just a statement to flatter the applicant and that, in reality, many applicants receive this award amount? The email also stated that my SoP was strongly in line with my values, goals, and experiences, so it looks like what edgirl was saying was of utmost importance in terms of my acceptance and scholarship award. Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

Thing is, I wasn't dominating my PTs the two weeks prior to the real thing. I was scoring in the 150s. So it's not as if I severly underperformed based off of how I was doing in those two weeks before my actual test date. Additionally, I wouldn't say I was "nervous" or "stressed" while taking the test. I'm not going to say I wasn't a little nervous or anxious at times a couple hours prior to the real thing because I did indeed experience a little anxiety. However, I was pretty calm both before and during the test, for the most part - especially DURING the test. I've never been one to get stressed during tests, so I know that's not the issue with me. The issue with me was that I didn't know WTF I was doing the first couple weeks of my study regimen and, considering I only studied for 4-5 weeks, that bit me in the end, even though I "figured it out" ("it" being how to study) near the end of my preparation.

Here's what I said a few days ago about studying for QR: In sum, I definitely recommend Magoosh. Spend a day or two by focusing entirely on one "type" of QR problem. Magoosh has lesson videos that help establish a foundation in all areas of QR, and they also have video explanations for each of the 493 QR problems they provide to you. Therefore, watch all of the videos on, say, "exponents" (or "roots", or "coordinate geometry", etc.) first. From there, go to the practice page and check only the "exponents" box so you can work on only exponential problems. After you've done all of those and watched/reviewed your answers by way of the video or text explanations, go on to the next problem "type", whether it be roots, arithmetic, geometry, etc. Once you've established a strong base in all areas of QR, I then suggest taking time-practice tests and thorougly reviewing your answers (both right/wrong) afterwards. You may then fine you still are weak in a particular area or two, so try and isolate that weakness and focus on it through repetition. Do another 20, 30, or even 50 problems of that type by using another resource. If you use this method, please let me know how much you improve either by PM or posting in this thread.

Thanks for the kind words, pp. It's encouraging to hear that coming from one who's been accepted (and is attending) UPenn. I'm going to contact the UPenn lady again in regards to my GRE score after my AWA scores appear next Monday. I'll ask if I should re-take for both admissions and aid purposes. I'll probably retake it regardless, though. Dammit! If I do about 50 GRE vocab. words a week until winter break, I'll have done about 1,000 words. Once winter break starts, I can amp up the amount of words I do per day/week so that I can do another 1-2,000 before retaking it at the end of break, which is sometime in early January. My reading comprehension is not a problem, so I should be able to break 160 if I can do better on the vocabularly questions. I'll be content with my QR score if it remains at 154 or slightly increases since it's already above average. Now that I know how to prepare for it, however, I should be able to get into the upper 150s at the least. BTW, do you happen to know what's the minimum/threshold GRE score for aid purposes? Thanks!

Well, I did score a 154/154 on Kaplan's free online PT. I was around that area on the Powerprep II test as well (on the lower-end of the ranges, which is what I expected). And actually, I was shocked when I saw 154/154 after the test. I really felt I had a chance at 160/160 because the material - the math at least - seemed easier than my PTs. I was literally stunned my math wasn't higher. It seemed cake in comparison to Magoosh and my other tests. It was probably most comparable to Kaplan's math, IMO.

I'm hoping my eyes deceived me and I actually scored a 164/164. LOL

154/154. 308 total. Still awaiting my AWA score, but I'm guessing a 5+ based off of the sample essays I've read.