1Q84

SCORES ARE POSTED. I REPEAT SCORES ARE POSTED. I got a 610. I'm going to go sob into a pillow from too much joy.

I'm even more impressed now! I guess because I'm an obsessive tinkerer... I'll change random words day by day because I never think my work is "done." Usually I just end up submitting things in despair because I don't feel like I have time to perfect them. Also, is really no one here applying to USC? I was speaking to jhefflol about it and we both had the same observation that no one has mentioned USC much at all this year.

Reading these in grade 3 really, really got me into English: Maybe I should just use this post as my SOP and be done with it!

Oh no worries. I'm the same way... I just managed to have enough whiskies that day to ignore my GRE profile. On that note, where do you see that it's been sent? I don't see any new notifications in my online GRE page.

Did not need this reminder :/ Nerves just went from 0 to 100. I too would be happy with a 500.

I'm super impressed that you've submitted all of your apps so far. How did you do it? And how are you adding apps in so close to the due dates? Your LOR writers are all right adding another school at this stage? That was one thing stopping me from adding other schools in the past week or so.

People in my life who think like this:

Phew. Glad to know I won't be looked down upon. And to teafortwo971, it may even appear to your benefit. Not that you put the fact that you're taking time off front and center in your application, but I have been told by numerous faculty members from all different schools (as it has been an anxiety of mine) that time off often correlates in their experience with more mature, committed and level-headed students, something that you can use to your advantage. My 2 cents.

Yes, very lucky indeed. I'm a Canadian citizen and it's been a long time since I applied to a Canadian school but I don't recall there being fee waivers there (at least not at my alma mater, U of T). This lack of waiver is probably offset by how dirt-cheap Canadian education is in comparison to American.

I remembered this thread and started googling myself to see what may come up. Luckily just my LinkedIn account!

All you lucky American citizens and your fee waivers! Us internationals get no love

You would want to avoid using any words like "grandiloquent." A good rule of thumb is if you really have to think about how to use a big word, spend that time thinking of a simpler one to use in its stead. The key to SOPs is clarity and precision, not fancy vocabulary. Remember your audience: these are professors who, yes, should understand all these big words, but have to read through possibly hundreds of statements and will very much appreciate something clear and precise over something wordy and flowery.

All the schools I'm applying to except UCR allow letter submissions before payment.

Thank you! I took your advice and contacted the editor and she said she had meant to inform me weeks ago that it had already been sent out to readers. I'm ecstatic!

The UCR statement of purpose is only 3000 characters. I think my brain is about to explode.

(I'm sure this question has been asked before but a search turned up nothing. Apologies!) I submitted a paper on October 31 and didn't even get an email back saying "received." When's a good time to follow up on this? Obviously the professor/editor is very busy during this time but I want to ensure that they received it otherwise I just may never hear back about it ever again. This is a yearly publication, so I think their timeline is quite a bit more stretched than the usual quarterlies. Thanks!

Conversely, this is going to be me by the mailbox around February.

Soooo... how the heck does one do MLA format headings if it's not for a class? I've scoured the handbook and can't find any information on this and have settled with just Name Date in top left hand corner, then the title center align and the usual page number, last name thing. It just looks so bare now.

The answer, as always: it depends. I spoke to one school the other day that said that GRE scores are quite important in terms of what the wider graduate admission committee wants before they send the application to the individual departments. Another school I spoke to said that the GRE scores go directly to the department only and, in his words, they couldn't give two hoots about GRE scores. So, your best bet is to call the graduate admissions department and ask them yourself.

Thank you! Out of curiosity, are these guidelines set out anywhere in the manual or are these mostly unspoken, stylistic choices?

Thanks, Molloy and Wyatt (I ran out of upvotes for today... have a gif?) You guys are right. I might as well roll the dice. It would be dumb for someone looking to get into gender/sexuality not to apply to Berkeley.

Interesting. So if my paper is on Paradise Lost, obviously it would receive parentheticals. But the paper also deals at length with Metamorphoses and some other texts too. What to do then?

I've had MLA drilled into me from a young age so trying to make the leap now to Chicago (as per a journal's guidelines) has been disconcerting. I am using Notes-Bibliography style. I can't seem to understand how to distinguish between moments when I should use an endnote to cite something that I have quoted and when I should use a simple in-text parenthetical. I've seen Chicago-style papers that use both and it also seems like it would be excessive to endnote every single citation I make in the paper. (PS. I have the Chicago guidebook but I couldn't find a simple answer to this question.) Any help is appreciated!