TheWB

If I say "I'll show you mine if you show me yours", is that creepy? English MA, would love a quick SOP exchange.

When I went to take my GRE general, the woman checking people kept looking back and forth between by passport and me. Facial hair and a bit of balding makes a big difference. Luckily I took the exam in Korea so, although she was clearly considering asking me about the changes, she decided not to.

So there aren't any differential equations in Chaucer. Maaaaan. Thanks all for the advice, working on polishing my SOP now with a nod to the polisci background.

Thanks for the quick response. That you think the poli sci angle could be interesting reassures me a bit, because to me it mainly seemed worrisome. It will be tough for me to take any courses this fall, except perhaps through a community college, as I'm working abroad in a non-English-speaking country, but I'm going to try to enroll in some courses this coming spring, when I'm back home (even if it contributes little to the app, it will make me feel more comfortable going in). Thanks again.

Muses of the forum, lend me some advice. I'm pretty sure I'd like to pursue a PhD in English, but I want to make sure, so I'm looking at (funded) MA programs for 2013. I've taken the GRE general and done well (99th percentile verbal); I'm studying for the subject test, slogging through apps during my free time at work, and trying to get it together for my SoP and writing sample. Here are my issues: 1) I went to an Ivy undergrad and majored in political science. I took one English course, a couple comp lit courses, some literature courses in other languages and some lit-based "studies" classes. I'm worried this isn't a very strong base to be applying to English programs with, perhaps not even English MAs. 2) When I was in undergrad, I felt a certain way about the academy (let's call it a deep working class suspicion of it all) and didn't really engage with professors the way I need to until well into my education. So I have one professor who I know very well who will write me an excellent LoR, one who I know less well who will write me a solid LoR, and then...I don't know, really, a few other professors who I could perhaps beg for an LoR. So my questions: 1) Do you think I stand any chance at a funded MA program (Georgetown, BC, Clark and UConn are tops on my list)? 2) Would I be better off trying for something different, such as a professional program in ESL or Applied Linguistics, and sort of gradually creep my way towards an academic PhD? Thanks in advance, I've been lurking for a year now and you all are great.

I took the GRE Sunday, and my results were one point better than what I got on each of the two PowerPrep tests. To add to what everyone else has said, although one section seemed a bit off (I'm guessing it was the experimental), the questions on the exam were very similar to those on the PP and Kaplan practice exams. The Barron's questions were a bit off, I think, but certainly still useful.