What's with the stats request?

[PaperChaser]

Friends in the field... yes !! That's what this site has become to me. Somewhere to share anxieties and experiences, not to mention dreams and interests. After all, I live in a country where my field is basically non-existent, none of my friends care about English lit, and none of them even read as much as I do (even in Hebrew). So the minute I discovered this place, I was like... wahoo!!!

When I first joined, and saw all those magnificent states (3.8 and above GPA, 800V GRE), I nearly choked. My dad is on the adcom and is a tenured prof at brown (though not at English, not even in the humanities), and he's very number oriented, (which is why I did the general GRE again), and as I read things on this forum, I slowly realized that numbers had very little to do with acceptance to the ENGLISH PhD (stressing English, since I don't know what it's about it other fields). With us, my age might be an advantage rather than a deterrent, my GPA is from 9 years ago (pre GPA inflation), and the better scores I have in the GRE now show that I have the ability to sit down and study (the subject is important to me, specifically, since it's been so long since I've been in school and in the field). So yeah, with all the information we keep getting that the dry, hard, stats aren't as important for English, I keep wondering why ppl ask for them. I suppose insecurity. God knows I have my share of that as well.

I also learned what to stress on my next SOP (for next year, that is), and am hoping that friends made here can help - reviewing the SOP and writing sample, emotional support (doing this again next year will be harrowing, I'm sure).

Agreed. If you're a "perfect fit" other than some pesky numbers....someone on the committee will see that and pull for you. Sometimes your numbers are about as indicative of your prospects for success as your shoe size is of your worthiness as a human being.

[callmelilyb]

I just wanted to throw in some of my own perspective on the "stats" issue...

Personally I've never asked for stats, but I have posted my own on the forum and am also guilty of looking for them on the forum (as well as placing too much emphasis on them).

For me, posting my stats and searching for stats came not from a sense of "bragging" or "competition" but rather from an authentic sense of insecurity and inferiority. Like others on this forum, I come from a no-name undergraduate program where 99% of the people in English become k-12th grade teachers. Hardly anyone from my school applies to places that I was hoping to apply and the "numbers" were able to provide some sense of comfort that I could in fact "hang it" with some of the kids from Ivies. I can't read the writing samples or SOP's from other people so I had no real way of gauging my "eligibility" for applying to somewhere like Columbia without checking the numbers. So while numbers can be a source of anxiety for some of you, I do believe they are a source of validation or comfort for others.

However I have to agree that at the beginning of the process I was wildly misinformed about the purpose and significance of numbers in this process. Fortunately, this forum, and my interactions with the wide range of people from different backgrounds and with different applicant profiles have taught me that numbers really serve as nothing more than a bare minimum baseline qualification for most programs. And the programs who only care about numbers aren't the places I want to be anyway. When I see programs that have taken people with a 600 Verbal, it makes me think highly of that program.

I also appreciate the camraderie on this board: more imporant than collecting stats, I have been able to connect with a group of people who have pulled through for me in ways that some of my closest friends (and husband) have been unable to in this process. People on this forum helped me discount the importance of a mediocre subject test score that nearly resulted in my calling off applications this cycle (and I've already been accepted with full funding at one of my top choices!), not to mention the people who have taken the time to read over my SOP drafts, offer advice and information on programs, etc. While I've found myself caught up in the "Stats" vortex I've also tried to be a source of support, information, encouragement, etc. I feel like I have already begun to engage in and be a part of academia by interacting with and making connections to others on this forum.

And yes, the stats requests and other messages on the results page are obnoxious.