RANT: In terms of applications, what we wish schools did better.

[clinamen]

17 minutes ago, renea said:

See I was thinking the opposite: that they want to keep the gre cutoff quiet on the offchance that an otherwise exceptional candidate might apply in which they would make an exception (I'm thinking in the case of a person with an amazing cv and gpa but with like a 155V gre score when they usually accept only 160V up). While I think this reason is optimistic (nice and noble), I also feel that it misleads the other applicants who applied thinking their gre score wouldn't matter. So I guess, I'm thinking that admissions committees want to keep their options open in case they don't get as many stellar candidates one year or they want more variety of applicants (or so that they can decide whether or not to consider candidate's gre scores). Think about it, why would an admissions committee want less options?

 

Of course, once again I am just speculating. 

Yeah, UMN lists somewhere that they want 164 V, but I was admitted with a 161. BC also tends to take people with top scores according to the results page and I have been accepted there as well. I have stated this on a few threads now but I really don’t think the GRE is as much of a gatekeeping tactic as we think. In other words, I don’t think programs throw out applications purely because of less than stellar GRE scores. But I am, of course, only speaking from personal experience. Just hoping to save someone the GRE score anxieties I suffered before I recieved good news  

[ayasofaya]

10 hours ago, turtleducks said:

The extra cynical part of me thinks schools intentionally keep info like GRE cutoffs on the dl so they don't scare away applicants that they can reject to lower their acceptance rates. It's a lot harder to say stuff like "We receive hundreds of applications every year but can only enroll 5" if you don't get a hundred applications that you can just immediately throw on the "no" pile because they didn't get a 169/169/5.5. 

This isn't cynical, this is 100% realistic. It's a combination of this and casting a wide enough net to raise the chances of getting that one unicorn with low GRE scores and amazing everything else. Can't let that guy slip through the cracks, right?

[khigh]

I wish they would post decisions as soon as they have them and not make you wait a business day. I need to know now!

My status changed to Decision Made and I'm having a freak out moment at work.

• Decision Made - Your decision is posted and your letter will be available within one business day.    You will receive an email from our office when your letter is ready to view.  (You will access your letter through your application dashboard.)

  

[la_mod]

3 minutes ago, khigh said:

I wish they would post decisions as soon as they have them and not make you wait a business day. I need to know now!

My status changed to Decision Made and I'm having a freak out moment at work.

• Decision Made - Your decision is posted and your letter will be available within one business day.    You will receive an email from our office when your letter is ready to view.  (You will access your letter through your application dashboard.)

  

What school?

[khigh]

4 minutes ago, la_mod said:

What school?

UMN- Twin Cities, but I applied to the history program. Y'all are just fun, so some of the history people are posting here too. 

[Yanaka]

43 minutes ago, khigh said:

I wish they would post decisions as soon as they have them and not make you wait a business day. I need to know now!

My status changed to Decision Made and I'm having a freak out moment at work.

• Decision Made - Your decision is posted and your letter will be available within one business day.    You will receive an email from our office when your letter is ready to view.  (You will access your letter through your application dashboard.)

  

That's heartless!!!!! Hang in there...

[mk-8]

46 minutes ago, khigh said:

UMN- Twin Cities, but I applied to the history program. Y'all are just fun, so some of the history people are posting here too. 

I was a history major (and then Spanish and then finally English), so you're all welcome here (I'm deciding for the ENTIRE forum). 

[khigh]

4 minutes ago, mk-8 said:

I was a history major (and then Spanish and then finally English), so you're all welcome here (I'm deciding for the ENTIRE forum). 

I went social studies ed (then observed a high school class and said...no thank you) then poli sci and then finally settled on history with minors in foreign languages and poli sci. We're all humanities here.

[la_mod]

1 hour ago, khigh said:

UMN- Twin Cities, but I applied to the history program. Y'all are just fun, so some of the history people are posting here too. 

Welcome! Also, I see that you have it in your signature. Being on mobile, I must have missed it. Hopefully you get some good news soon!

 

[khigh]

You know what's funny? I was rejected from the U today, so I started re-looking at Dutch Research Masters (2 year) degrees not even 15 minutes ago. They have a program in the Netherlands called Studielink that allows you to do your whole application at once and matches you with the best program fit based on the criteria you select. How is this not a thing in the US?

[FreakyFoucault]

4 minutes ago, khigh said:

How is this not a thing in the US?

Probably because it makes too much sense. 

[Yanaka]

6 minutes ago, khigh said:

You know what's funny? I was rejected from the U today, so I started re-looking at Dutch Research Masters (2 year) degrees not even 15 minutes ago. They have a program in the Netherlands called Studielink that allows you to do your whole application at once and matches you with the best program fit based on the criteria you select. How is this not a thing in the US?

They are starting a similar system in France, too. Well at the Sorbonne. You apply and they decide where you best fit. It's great, but it also sort of deprives you from choosing, I think. Your application is so cold and the judgment so subjective, their decision doesn't mean it's the right one... And I guess it also gives them a reason to reject you from (public) education.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Yanaka

[khigh]

2 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

They are starting a similar system in France, too. Well at the Sorbonne. You apply and they decide where you best fit. It's great, but it also sort of deprives you from choosing, I think. Your application is so cold and the judgment so subjective, their decision doesn't mean it's the right one... And I guess it also gives them a reason to reject you from (public) education.

This one allows you to pick specific schools to consider. Mine will be based on whether or not they take US financial aide/loans if I decide to apply. The whole application is 60euro.

[Yanaka]

3 minutes ago, khigh said:

This one allows you to pick specific schools to consider. Mine will be based on whether or not they take US financial aide/loans if I decide to apply. The whole application is 60euro.

Oh I'm pretty sure the Dutch system is better than the French one  

[khigh]

4 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

Oh I'm pretty sure the Dutch system is better than the French one  

I love the Dutch. They are more concise than the French and less bureaucratic than the Germans. They also streamline citizenship for people that go to universities there and get degrees in "something Dutch" (history, literature, culture, language, etc) because they don't have enough people, even Dutchies, that want to continue the culture. The government thinks they are becoming too English. 

[jrockford27]

14 hours ago, khigh said:

 the U 

You MUST be from Minnesota.

I'm also a grad of "The U" and I was totally shut out my first round of applications.  I spent a couple of months floating around Northeast doing a lot of karaoke, and then got back to business.  Ended up someplace I really like. 

As an aside, one of my letter writers was J.B. Shank from the history department, and one of my favorite classes was Daily Life in Early Modern Europe with Carla Philips, also in that dept.  Should have done a history minor heh.

Edited February 3, 2018 by jrockford27

[khigh]

2 minutes ago, jrockford27 said:

You MUST be from Minnesota.

I'm also a grad of "The U" and I was totally shut out my first round of applications.  I spent a couple of months floating around Northeast doing a lot of karaoke, and then got back to business.  Ended up someplace I really like.

I live in Minne, but I'm from Oklahoma, so I mix my y'alls with my dontcha knows, ya know? I can say "ain't that just fer cute." I love it here, so I'm going to polish my app and try again next cycle. The worst thing in the world would be to get discouraged and end up some place like Sconi.

[jadeisokay]

bumping an old thread, but the GRE. SUCKS. my fee waiver so very generously covered 50% of it, but 50% still makes the test 100 bucks. and there were technical difficulties. i lost a paragraph of the essay and two/three minutes due to the server crashing. thanks, gre!

poor website design and poor wording on said websites are absolutely maddening. if it takes me more than three or four clicks to get to graduate funding, or at least a preliminary explanation of the funding, i get a little nervous. 

[M(allthevowels)H]

On 6/12/2018 at 9:09 PM, jadeisokay said:

bumping an old thread, but the GRE. SUCKS. my fee waiver so very generously covered 50% of it, but 50% still makes the test 100 bucks. and there were technical difficulties. i lost a paragraph of the essay and two/three minutes due to the server crashing. thanks, gre!

poor website design and poor wording on said websites are absolutely maddening. if it takes me more than three or four clicks to get to graduate funding, or at least a preliminary explanation of the funding, i get a little nervous. 

I will never not upvote "The GRE is trash posts."

I went to take the GRE with a friend of mine. The computers on his side all had a couple minute power outage. At the end, he scored ten who points lower than me in the quantitative even though HE WAS THE ONE WHO TUTORED ME ON THE QUANTITATIVE SECTION. Anyway, the GRE is awful and actually just reflects stress levels while taking the test rather than actual knowledge. The end. 

[Indecisive Poet]

Not sure if Stanford was still requiring GRE scores for 2018 applications, but just FYI to anyone interested that they are no longer (beginning in the 2019 cycle) requiring scores for either the subject test OR the general GRE. Almost makes up for that $125 application fee...

[WildeThing]

They definitely did last year. Hey also required physical copies which is a pain. Could you source this?

edit: nevemind, just saw the website. That’s great, hope other big schools follow suit.

Edited July 15, 2018 by WildeThing

[Indecisive Poet]

6 hours ago, WildeThing said:

They definitely did last year. Hey also required physical copies which is a pain. Could you source this?

edit: nevemind, just saw the website. That’s great, hope other big schools follow suit.

Me too! I was really surprised to see this because I haven't come across other programs that don't require either GRE to be taken yet and Stanford is a huge one.

For anyone else interested, here is the link to the admissions page ("The GRE general exam and subject exam are no longer required for admission to the English PhD program.") It looks like they haven't had a chance to update their FAQ page yet, which still says both GREs are required.

[FreakyFoucault]

18 hours ago, indecisivepoet said:

Not sure if Stanford was still requiring GRE scores for 2018 applications, but just FYI to anyone interested that they are no longer (beginning in the 2019 cycle) requiring scores for either the subject test OR the general GRE. Almost makes up for that $125 application fee...

Wow, that's incredible! I hope this becomes a major nail in what is unfortunately a very large coffin! #proud

[Indecisive Poet]

You made a great choice, @FreakyFoucault! I'm hoping more major programs will follow suit before my 2020 cycle...

[victoriansimpkins]

On 7/15/2018 at 2:10 AM, indecisivepoet said:

Me too! I was really surprised to see this because I haven't come across other programs that don't require either GRE to be taken yet and Stanford is a huge one.

For anyone else interested, here is the link to the admissions page ("The GRE general exam and subject exam are no longer required for admission to the English PhD program.") It looks like they haven't had a chance to update their FAQ page yet, which still says both GREs are required.

I know that U New Mexico, Washington State U and Nebraska-Lincoln don't require the GRE at all now! It helps that UNM is my *dream* program and my so-so GRE score won't stand in the way of my research and work.