advice for attempting ivy league...

[rems42]

Hi all!

I'll graduate with an MA in British literature from a small, middle of no-where university this spring (Spring '12). My main interests include James Joyce studies and critical theory focusing on cities, post-structuralism and digital theory... BUT I'm beginning to get very nervous about PhD apps because I'm not sure what my chances are for getting into the program that I want.

I'm currently looking at Cornell, but I'm afraid that I'm wasting my time (and theirs) by even applying. My undergrad transcript is pathetic -- last two years look good -- but my MA transcript (fingers crossed) should be a 4.0. I'm about to take the GRE general and GRE subject this fall, and I've already been accepted to two conferences regarding my field and was able to attend one of them. I feel as though I look like a pretty good applicant on paper, and I know what I want to study, but I'm worried that my undergrad university will hold me back.

What do you guys think? I know that everyone always want to say, "go ahead and apply! It couldn't hurt!" but would I be setting myself up for disappointment if I think too highly of myself?????

Be honest please!

[Kitkat]

So here is how I see it right now. Having gotten into an MA program, and done well in it, it should help make up for doing bad in undergrad. But I have heard of some cases where people have not gotten into a PhD program because of his/her record in undergrad despite this. You are focused in what you want to do, which is great, and getting experience in conference is also great.

What I am wondering is what your overall undergrad GPA was, and what the last two years were. If the last two were good, which you imply were, that with your MA GPA should be good.

Of course taking the GRE and the subject test are also important, at least from what I can tell as something to at least weed people out, if not the best indicator of who will succeed in grad school and not. But I wish you the best on them! And keep us updated us on how you do....

At this point the best I can say is that there is no reason why you should not apply if you think you are a good fit for the program. If you put the best application you can together, you are not wasting either your time or theirs. At the least, they won't mind taking an application fee. ;-) So don't worry about them and their time. Just try your best to show why you belong there. It's just hard when you are reducing yourself to a pile of papers.

[runonsentence]

The admissions process is a crapshoot, and if you hear one piece of advice over and over again on this board, it is that fit is the most important component of your application—and it's true. If you've researched the heck out of Cornell and think it looks like the ideal culture with the ideal research focuses for you, then you may have a shot.

There are plenty of stories around here of people with imperfect GPAs, or of people from run-of-the-mill state schools who got into their reach schools. I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but you really won't know unless you try.

You should always have at least one or two reach schools in your application pool anyway.

[rems42]

Thanks for the reply's! I think the fact that grad school is such a crapshoot is, by far, the most irritating thing about it. I've heard plenty of stories of people who get into Harvard after failing a year in undergrad and then I hear stories of students who have been nothing but perfect and still get rejected from "safely" schools. Le sigh.

My overall undergrad GPA was a 3.2 (with even a few F's here and there -- it took me awhile to take school seriously), but the final two years I have a GPA of 3.7 and my major GPA -- despite the F's -- is still a 3.89. I'm just petrified now that my partying during freshmen year which resulted in an F in Geology won't totally screw me over.

I'm planning on taking both the GRE General and GRE Subject tests which should help my chances of getting past the first cut.

I have heard that being a good fit for a program is one of the most important aspects of the application, but my problem is that I think there's too many programs out there in which I could be a good fit and none of them are perfect...

Here's a good question: How "good" a fit is a "good" fit? As in, should I match a department/professor exactly or it is more a generalized fit as in their library has archives of the manuscripts I need..?

Any thoughts?

[Kitkat]

I don't think that those F's should be a huge issue. Sure, it would have been better if you never had them at all, but hindsight is always 20/20. You changed, you improved. It's better then going in the other direction, and getting those grades your junior year or something. I really don't see it as a reason why you should not apply to Cornell. Just make sure that you make everything that is under your control as good as you possibly can, and go from there. Like you said, even people who seem perfect get rejected, and people with less then stellar stuff get accepted. I think that you are closer to the perfect, although not quite there. You have some mistakes, which shows that you are human.

Fit is what matters, and if you think that you have that and can show it in your application, do as much as you possibly can to play that part up.