vainamoinen

congrats on rochester. that seems like a great school and i've heard it's a great city.

i scored 680 (91%), but i was really mad, because i was shooting for above 700. also, right after i walked out of the room, on the drive home, i realized the answers to four questions that i left blank. AAAAARGH! i know i shouldn't be let down, but unlike most people applying, and most people on this and other forums, i have a sub-par GPA. also, unlike many applicants, i do not have an MA, nor do i have any type of post-undergrad experience. so, really, a high GRE was something i was hoping to use to compensate for these other failings.

$10 seems like nothing compared to all the other fees that will be added up. now we'll sit and bite our nails until february, then march, then april...

as everything is winding down and there is only about a month left for applications, i'd just like to wish a final good luck to everyone! good luck on the GREs if you've yet to take them! I hope everyone here scores above 95th percentile on every test! I hope everyone here gets the best recommendations possible! I hope everyone feels confident about their SOP and writing sample! mail those packets out with confidence! complete those online applications with your chest puffed up! good luck everyone! I hope all of you get into your school of choice! and when you're done with everything, just think---two months to relax, finally! drinks are on me!

i'd add that most top tier schools, even if they don't have a specific theory ph.d scheme (like, say, duke, irvine, etc) are approving of a theory as applied across time periods. if you are applying to any schools below the top tier, though, be wary, as many of them will want you to stay within a certain time period.

Of course i haven't got in anywhere, but here's what i'm planning on doing. For those schools where specifics would be appropriate, i'm going to be specific, for those where specifics would hurt me, i won't be specific. Cornell and, say, purdue, for instance, both have excellent medieval programs with professors who are also interested in old norse as well as ties to other medieval areas (such as medieval studies departments, german depts, philosophy departments, etc)-- for these schools i will be very specific, mentioning not only my intended plan, but also professors whose work i am interested in, etc. (cornell has the largest old norse collection in the usa, etc). Others schools, such as, say Maryland, have very weak medieval programs (as in, nonexistent), so i will mention my passion for medieval only in passing, only insofar as it relates to my passion to English as a whole. Your problem seems similar except that i would guess (perhaps erroneously) that almost every school has a women's studies dept (that means, of course, many more applicants wanting to focus on women's studies). For those schools that do have such a dept, or such a focus, i would be specific as possible. Also, there are also those schools (such as duke) that pride themselves on their being interdisciplinary, and those (such as idaho and west virginia) that prefer to remain wholly English. The way i look at it is that if 45 applicants mention a passion for women's studies, what will make your application different from theirs? The more specific you get, the more individual you become---and if your interest happen to coincide with a professors, so much the better. For me, sometimes just saying "medieval studies" automatically puts me into a specific area-- very few schools get more specific than that. For women's studies, on the other hand, i would think that many schools get much more specific-- are you interested in women's studies or gender studies (butler, etc)? cyborg studies? etc. blahblah. You know all the specifics, find out what the school's professors' likes are and see if they coincide with your own. For me, i'm not so much hoping that these professors say, "Oh, good his interests match my own," as they will have a frame of reference to work from. The more specific i get, even if they don't like what i'm interested in, they can at least know why, and they can know that i know what i'm talking about. Then again, some professors just want somebody to mold (whether they'll admit it or not). Who knows, though---maybe i won't even get in anywhere.

id like to offer some advice, some of which i think is offered elsewhere on this site: (1) go through the test several times. my first pass through the test was in 30 minutes or less. doing this, answering just those questions that pop out, gives you a feel for the test, what types of questions you have left to answer. in my case, the questions on the the real test were of a much different type than i had encountered on the practice tests--passing through quickly allowed me to spot this difference early and adjust my approach accordingly; also, doing this helps you not to get bogged down. this method allowed me to be aware of those long questions at the end, my awareness allowing me to take my time on the second and third and other times around. in all, i think i looked over the test some four to six times, and i only felt rushed in the beginning (but that was only because it took a few minutes for my anxiety to give way to concentration). (2) be prepared for a small desk. my desk was big enough to hold the bubble sheet-- that's it. by far, it was smaller than any desk i encountered in college (i took the test at another school, as i wanted no distractions of seeing people i knew). as i am left-handed, i would also mention to make sure you have requested the correct handed seating, as being forced to use right-handed seating (which some proctors might be strict about, my proctor was pretty strict (which is a good thing, i want my proctors to be strict)) can be discomfiting. so, because of the smallness of the desk, when i took the test i had to hold onto my spare pencils with one hand (because otherwise, they kept rolling toward the edge) and balance the booklet and write the answers with the other hand. as i was constantly flipping back and forth through the booklet, this was quite a task. (3) wear comfortable clothing. perhaps, if you care about the people you know seeing you in "comfortable clothing" (which--- whatever), you might do as i did and take the test at a school other than your own.

GOOD LUCK! just wanted to say good luck to everyone taking the test this fall (im taking mine tomorrow!) i scored 500s on my REA tests 620 on my Princeton test 680 on my pdf ETS 700 on my mailed ETS i hope everyone scores above 700! GOOD LUCK!

my anxiety level is rising expnentially each passing hour. my gpa is average (3.5), my gre not as bad (730v)-- taking the subject nov4. my main interests are old english and old norse, so im applying to schools that do well in such things--the only two of which that exceed my gpa being cornell and duke--- though it could certainly be said (by me especially, given said anxiety) that my gpa is too low for most any school. my top two choices (other than cornell) are purdue and notre dame (both of which happen to have excellent medieval programs). other than that, it's the usual laundry list of "second tier" schools: illinois, oregon, etc. what i can say is that ill be happy getting into any of the schools that i will be applying to, even those considered third or fourth tier. i began studying for the gre subject at the beginning of june, looking at the usual sites (including this one): the best: http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/alison/hapaxlegomena/index.html the second best (which i didn't find until early september): http://www.duke.edu/%7Etmw15/index.html and others, including reed's site. i've bought the rea and princeton books and have done not-so-well on the rea tests--- will take the princeton test soon (the real test being ohso close now). needless to say, i'm beyond nervous-- yet i am determined. my professors respect me. my paper is well-honed. my sop is burgeoning. i hope i get in somewhere!