Please let me know what I'm doing wrong here?

[Just Jeff]

- I'm an English MA student in New York.

- I wish to apply for the PhD in English.

- I have four letters of recommendation ready

- I am in the process of writing a new sample to coincide with my PhD program interests

- I am studying my tuchus off for this GRE on November 4, 2013

- My personal statement is almost done.

- My CV is ready.

- I have 12 PhD programs that I want to apply to.

- First deadline is December 1, 2013

 

Of course, I don't want to know what my chances are. That's something you can never truly tell. I just want to know the following:

 

1- Should I apply to more PhD programs?

2- Is my application process going well? Should I be doing something different?

3- Should I suck it up and pay the $3000 for Kaplan GRE tutoring?

4- How late is too late to apply?

 

[MsDarjeeling]

1- Should I apply to more PhD programs?

 

I am not familiar with your field, so hopefully others will chime in.  12 seems like a good number to me.

 

2- Is my application process going well? Should I be doing something different?

 

It sounds like you're on track and well organized.  Don't forget to take a break once in awhile =)

 

3- Should I suck it up and pay the $3000 for Kaplan GRE tutoring?

 

No.  There are plenty of free resources, just search the forums here for threads.  Also there are a number of books people on here recommend that can be found at the public library or purchased inexpensively online.

 

4- How late is too late to apply?

 

I would say its smart to get your apps in a couple of weeks early, that way if there are any technical glitches or something isn't received you have time to correct that before the deadline.  If you wait until the day before or day of you're at a greater risk of not getting everything in or dealing with some unexpected hassle like your computer crashing or their system crashing or whatever.

[Just Jeff]

Ms Darjeeling, you're the best. Thank you so much. You know, I was so scared about paying the $3000. It's way too much money!

[Lisa44201]

I'm not in your field either, but from the looks of it, I'd say you're right where you ought to be at this stage of the process.

[juilletmercredi]

1) 12 sounds like plenty.

2) I wouldn't write a brand new writing sample.  I would edit one that you already have, preferably one that at least one professor has looked at, graded, and/or deemed excellent.  It doesn't matter if it's not 100% related to your PhD program interests; it just needs to show scholarly potential.

3) No.  That's way too expensive.  Just buy a $30 prep book or two and work through the problems on your own.  Plus it's too close to November 4 for the prep class to really work.

4) December 2.  Haha.  When programs have deadlines I don't really think it matters when you apply - and for December deadlines the committee won't review stuff until after the break anyway, I would imagine.  FOr rolling admissions you want to apply early because slots fill up as students are admitted, but I would still think that as long as you applied before early January you'd be okay.

[ToomuchLes]

Bullet Cat, I would definitely suggest Magoosh! For $99 dollars you get 6 months of access to their site (not relevant to you I know), there are hundreds of short videos on how to solve problems, 1000 flashcards (you can do them on your computer, smartphone, tablet whatever), and theres a daily month long program for you.

[biotechie]

Wow, you're taking your GRE a little late. I did the same thing... bad choice on my part. Just so you know, it is possible that some of your schools may not get your GRE scores in time for the early deadline. If that is the case, you need to call/ email them to let them know your test-day scores. I would e-mail them now to double-check that they'll still take your application. I had one school tell me that if they didn't have the official scores from ETS before the deadline, they wouldn't process my application at all.

 

You can only send 4 scores (or maybe it is 5?) on test day and the rest can't be sent until your scores are posted. So if it takes two weeks to post your scores and then another two weeks for the scores to get to the destination (not counting handling within the school taking up to a week), it may get there past the December 1 deadline. Usually the scores get there fast enough, but this is the busiest time of the year for ETS, so I wouldn't depend on it.

 

I had all of my applications in 2 weeks early. Some of them won't let you submit letters of rec until you've submitted and turned in the fees. Professors are notoriously difficult to get to submit letters, so the earlier they are able to do so, the better.

[CommPhD20]

Don't shell out for GRE prep unless you're certain that you'll have very low scores. These aren't very important in Literature admissions so long as they aren't alarmingly low. 

 

12 is the maximum I'd suggest, based on my knowledge. Remember, you have to prepare applications for all of these schools. Also, your letter writers have to do this for each school too. Your materials will necessarily be different for each school based on what they ask for and how you fit into that particular program. You're better off applying to 6 with meticulously prepared applications than 12 with very similar applications to each. Just make sure that you really belong in the programs you are applying to, make sure the funding you want is available, location, etc. It should be almost fun to work on each application because of how much you want to study at X school. Anyway, that doesn't mean you should cut it to 6. 12 is fine, but you'll find some folks who would be skeptical that any person really has 12 perfect fits out there.

 

Just make sure on applications that the solicitations for letters go out before paying, otherwise you'll have to finish those apps sooner. You don't want to put your recommenders in a position where they have a 12 hour window to submit the letters.

 

In general, it seems to me that you're in a very good position. Now, it's all down to applying to programs that fit and having those subjective materials in order. If you LoR, SOP, and writing sample are good, I think you'll be a happy camper come April. Easier said than done, of course!

[Adenine_Monarch]

I second the Magoosh suggestion....for a fraction of the price you can study in the comfort of your own home since you don't have much time left (or, if you're really pressed for time - try to get whatever you can out of their one week free trial. I used it to study in the last week leading up to my GRE. It was helpful and worth the money to me even though I didn't spend any. Once I saw the content, I was kinda bummed that I didn't discover it earlier and instead paid $500 for class based prep. It was okay, but I think Magoosh would have been better and cheaper AND more convenient). $3000 is definitely WAAAY too much to spend. Don't get ripped off. I've never heard of a prep course costing this much.