toby42

Saw the same thing the other day - and am seriously considering sending it if rejected!

I've thought about this a lot. In fact, in all my ruminating (I work alone at my job, so there's plenty of time for it), I've written two letters to myself - one if I get accepted, one if I don't. The 'accepted' one reminds me to not fear and that if God is leading me there, He will give me the strength and will preserve me through it. But the denial one reminds me that it is a good thing I was not accepted. God knows what the final outcomes would be and whether the experience would possibly be detrimental to me and to my family. So if I'm not accepted I will: 1) Pray and praise God for His mercy and guidance. 2) Go ride my dirtbike. I haven't ridden much in the last year since I've been focused on preparing for grad school and finishing school with excellence. I'll go tear it up for a while and probably look at racing a bit this summer. 3) It's a real debate on whether I'll apply to another program (currently applied to two). Applications for my 'backup school' are accepted until May or June, so I put it off until I find out from my main two so I don't waste the app fee. 4) ...But I'm not sure if I'll continue on right away. Over the last few months, I've come to the place where I will be perfectly content if I don't get accepted. First, I have full faith that God knows what's best for me a little more than I do. But if rejected, I have really considered the idea of just resting, stopping, and raising my boys with my full and complete attention, continuing to work my average job and performing scholarly research and work on my own. I could really use the time to continue all of the reading I want/need to do and continue the textual projects that I'm currently working on. Plus, I've got a couple really good starts on a couple books I'd like to finish. Just stopping and being content where I'm at would give me a great opportunity to do all these things I'd like to do. And if rejected, perhaps that's God's intent. If rejected, I will see it as a blessed redirection, nothing else.

Thanks... I sort of figured that if no on here had ever talked about it, then it certainly wasn't anything worth trumpeting about. Thanks for the help... and if I don't get into the school of my choice, I might have to take a look at God's Bible School.

Has anyone heard of this honor society? I searched the forums and found no matches. I've been accepted into this honor society (of the 'Association for Biblical Higher Education') and was wondering if it's worth contacting schools and informing them of this 'honor' and having it added to my CV. I know acceptance/denial time is coming up any second, but didn't know if it might help decisions. I'm only a lowly undergrad, so am largely unfamiliar with all of the well-known honor societies and what-not. Thanks.

"Buuuuttt... Isn't that a Catholic School?" (ND) or Them: "So what are you going for?" Me: "Because I don't have anything better to do."

For my NT and Greek prof, I gave him a card and a leaf from a 1623 Greek New Testament, framed. For my OT/Hebrew prof, I heard him once say how he wanted a certain elusive book but it was way too expensive and rare. So I got it for him. Ebay - $10. In short, shoot for something personal and different. I was planning on a Starbucks gift card or something, but figured something with a little character and personal touch would be better. And didn't spend much more than I would've on a gift card.

Done, thank you. Is there a way to delete this thread?

I have just 'finished' my SoP for the MA in Early Christian Studies for Notre Dame. I'm sure it could undergo a few more tweaks and thought I'd ask if someone who'd been there (not ND, necessarily, but an accepted grad) might offer to proofread it for me and offer me any advice they might have. Thank you.

I didn't know whether I should post this here, in a section with a religious focus, or in the SoP section. I thought I'd start here and then move it over there if so advised. I have just 'finished' my SoP for the MA in Early Christian Studies for Notre Dame. I'm sure it could undergo a few more tweaks and thought I'd ask if someone who'd been there (not ND, necessarily, but an accepted grad) might offer to proofread it for me and offer me any advice they might have. Thank you, Aaron.

I'm sure you're going to get much good advice on this - and better than what I'm about to say - but in reading this I was reminded of what one of my professors pointed out in my own endeavors. I have begun a few graduate-level projects on my own and for my own purposes and he said that this was one of my strongest points... it showed my ability to perform independent research and showed that I was already engaged in what they would expect of me later. So on your part, I think your age is a plus in that it shows that you are a hard-worker and are incredibly self-motivate - a must for graduate school. This may not settle the argument, but it definitely is one more think to mark in the 'Pro' category.

Ah yes; you are right. The sending occurrs after you see the results. You can still see and not send. My bad.

*High five*

But don't you have to agree to accept the scores before you can actually see what they were? But even aside from this, once you retake, there is an option to send your 'most recent' or 'all previous' scores. So if you take, fail, and retake, you can choose to send your second score w/o sending the first. That's how I understood it anyway.

I don't know about ANDSI, but on my practice tests, I got a 161 twice - on one I got 31/40 right and the other was 32/40. I also got a 162 with 32/40. My 165s were 33/40 and 35/40. I kept copious notes of my results for each test, so if you want more information, I can get it for you. Hope that helps.

That's really good stuff, amlobo. No surprise; your advice usually is. Would you mind sending me your opening sentences as an example? I'm sure we're going for different programs, but it's all about the 'format and formula'... I'd like to see how what you said above manifested itself.

Good point... and one that brings to mind one tip that I learned nowhere else other than my own personality. I discovered that I was actually naturally and honestly interested in the passages I was reading! I was taking notes on some of these for my own future reading! I learned about Jackson Pollock's method of painting and even relayed that information in a pertinent conversation the other day! So even if you're not interested - I was just b/c it's my nature - make yourself become interested. Also, the human mind is funny - we can actually trick ourselves and convince ourselves that we do enjoy something. I did this with doing the dishes at home. I convinced myself that I like doing them b/c I get some time to just be by myself and think for a while or look out the window at a beautiful day. So even if you're not like me and naturally interested in things that you don't know about, you can pull a fast one on yourself and tell yourself that you are, in fact, interested in the passage. When you do this, all of this new information is fascinating and you get it stuck in your brain and can relay it in a cogent manner. Oh, and yet another tip: reading comprehension is actually sometimes (if not always) augmented by a fast, cursory reading rather than an in-depth one. When I read, I often times find myself reading an important sentence two or three times to make sure I comprehend it and get it 'locked and loaded' into my brain. But there's been many times where - no matter the material - a quick, cursory reading gives me a very important broad overview of the passage. Make sure you do that, too. I'd say to start with a very quick cursory reading. Then either go for a more detailed reading or simply look at the question and revisit the passage. Ok... that's all for now. Really.

Yes!! Exactly! Here's what I hate: when I see the right answers and it seems like it was totally obvious to everyone but me! I picked one that I think is still arguable and 85% of people chose the RIGHT answer. Ugh. You offer some good tips on getting through this. I have two to add... The first is to remember the SCOPE of the passage and to FORCE yourself to stay within those boundaries. It's pretty much guaranteed that if an answer depends on - or brings in - outside information, it is incorrect. Stay within the scope of the passage. Once you narrow it down to one or two, this is usually the tipping point that can make you lean in one direction. My second tip is not too scientific, but it seems to work. And that is to gravitate toward the more scholarly sounding answers. Avoid extremes like "all" or "every time". Avoid 'emotional' answers. Give a good look at answers that use GRE vocabulary (serruptitious, salacious, etc). And really... trust your gut. The answer usually sounds right.

Application Deadline is January 15th. I was planning on submitting my application and all other materials in late October. Is that too soon? Should I wait until after Christmas break? What is the optimal time to apply?

Anyone have some good, inventive (but not glib) ways to open? Any recommendations? Should I start out 'inventive' or simple and formulaic? I'm asking for both the salutation and the first sentence or two. As for the salutation, I'm sure I don't want to start, "To Whom it May Concern." That's dull and old hat. What about, "To the Admissions Committee at X"? How far should I push the 'inventiveness'? "To my future colleagues"? Then to open, what do you think? Simple and to the point? "My name is Aaron X, and I am writing to request your consideration for admission to the X program." Or a little more personable, but still on point: "I hope this letter finds you well today [or something like that]. My name is Aaron X and I am writing to you today to court your consideration for the X program." Or more 'poetic' and inspiring? "My father once said..." "Renee Descartes was a man who..." or whatever. I've read articles that disagree on the 'floweriness' of the SoI. "Leave Dr. Seuss Out of It" was a great one, but then countered by another article that pointed out that this is your only chance to stand out among 500 other applicants. Sooooo... whadya think? Any good ideas or references that contain ideas? Thanks.

For Vocab, I highly recommend you download a vocab app on some device if you have the capability. I studied word lists for a while - and wrote them onto separate paper; a great memorization trick - but when downloaded a couple GRE vocab apps, my Vocab increased dramatically. Of the ones available, I recommend the ones from superflashcard.com (I think that's what they were called). Very effective. Since 'conquering' vocab, Reading Comp has been my next challenge as well. I have no real good advice here other than recommending Kaplan's book in this regard. They have a TON of good advice - more than I can relay here. There's also good advice online, but Kaplan's is pretty good. Also, there are better ways of doing this than buying the new $40 book (which I did; wanna buy my copy!?). Buy some old ones for cheaper at your local Goodwill or other thrift store - or on eBay/Amazon/etc. Old advice is just as good as 'new' advice, imo. Oh, I do have ONE tip that helped me in my recent practice test that Kaplan or Princeton Review didn't cover. I had a particularly hard time understanding a passage about brain functions and development, so after reading it (and realizing I didn't understand a THING), I drew it out on paper. I drew a brain, sectioned it off, and drew lines to an area where I wrote what the area was called, what its purpose was, and how it developed. After it was all said and done, I got all three questions right. So take notes on the passage (probably during a second reading) and draw pictures if necessary. Whatever it takes to help you in the way that you learn. Hope that helps!

I've been studying the current essay topics for a few weeks now but just thought of something - when do the new topics come out for the next round of tests? I would hate to study all these topics and have them go to a new set of questions in, say, the beginning of September. That would stink. Anyone know when they release the new essay topics?

What I was thinking about seeing if we could do is post some sort of poll that will allow us to compare our final GRE scores with how close they were to the practice tests. I don't know how that would work - maybe diff. poll options for, say, "Kaplan 1-5 points off," "6-10 points", "Princeton 1-5 off"... things like that. One of the problems is that not everyone takes ALL of the different practice tests, so this way it would - after a few people chimed in - offer a pretty good overview. But regardless of how it's done, I think it's a great idea.

Well I don't know if a 154 is acceptable or not. I'm not part of an admissions committee... but the essay scores appear to be in your favor. I would think that going into Creative Writing, that might be the best indicator. If your Verbal was average, but your Essays were excellent, that might make a difference. They'd probably pay as much (if not more) attention to your Essay scores as to the Verbal exam score. In the program I hope to go into (Theology), they say they're looking for a 4.5 - 6.0, so you're kinda in the middle of that; which isn't bad. Does the school you hope to go to give any indicator as to what they'd like to see? Or have you investigated that far yet? But again, if makes you feel any better, your scrore would be what the school I'm hoping to go to (an 'Ivy League') is looking for.

3) I just saw that this was revived from 2010, when it WAS 45/30 min. Fail.

1) The updated GRE has both essay questions at only 30 minutes each. No longer 45 and 30. Bummer. 2) It is NOT about word count, it's about structure and ability to write a cogent, organized essay. The reason people prop up length is because it's a common factor in high scores... but that's only because logical, well written, organized essays end up being longer. Above all, make sure you have a coherent Intro that states your thesis and structure, 2-3 body paragraphs exploring what you said you would in your opening, and then a concluding paragraph summing it all up in a nice, tidy package. There's more good, in-depth advice out there, but this is the very basics. If you want to boil it down to something, it's not about length, it's about structure.