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Wow! I got rejected from all schools where I applied. Cried for a couple of days feeling like a loser -- this is the hardest thing about rejections, then I set down and pulled out catalogs of schools where I applied. I applied to 4 different schools that have International Affairs programs. And it was really amazing: the more I read the more I was getting a feeling that my personal goals and interests have nothing to do with IA, except of, probably, the SAIS because it has a strong economics and finance programs. Then I opened the Internet and read about MBA. Here we are. I like it much better. Now I need to figure out how not get some more rejections from there. Apparently something was very wrong with my applications. The question is what was it? My GRE math was 670 that is above average and should be fine, my verbal was 370 but TOEFL 273 and I really hoped that a good TOEFL will make it for the bad GRE verbal. I had good essays. But apparently something was very wrong and it is going to be a challenge to figure that one out.

Carly, Congratulations and thank you for the warm words of support. Did you get an answer from Georgetown - MSFS? I tought they give an answer of admissions on the 1st of April.

thank you, Elisa!:)

Got an answer from SAIS, Johns Hopkins. Really wanted to get to that school. It was not only my #1 choice but also my dream :( Hope you are doing better than I am!

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television has destroyed communication among friends and family. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. Television is one of the greatest achievements of society in the past 100 years. TV has become not only a part of entertainment and recreation of almost every person but it also gives people much information and knowledge about surrounding life. I believe that television positively influences relationships among friends and families, and it improves communication among people. One reason for my belief is that from the very beginning of the development of TV, it gathered families together. When the first TV Sets were sold, they were very expensive. Families usually had only one TV, and some families could not afford to buy even one TV. Families were getting together to watch those single TV Sets. Families that did not have TV visited their friends. This was making people’s life more interesting and exciting. TV became not only a huge part of entertainment, but it also united people together. Nevertheless that in our contemporary life TV has become inexpensive and many families have more than one TV Set, people still get together late at night after work to talk to each other and watch TV. Another reason for my belief is that TV programs are one of the most favorite subjects of discussion. For example, when people get together the most common topic of many conversations is about movies, TV shows and actors. Men like talking about sports that they watched last night; children love talking about their favorite cartoons. Finally, TV has become a great power that influences our society. Some people might say that TV has much negative influence on society because it shows many bad sides of our life. However, I do not agree with this opinion because TV has mostly shows and programs that promote love. Almost all great movies are about love to friends, parents, children, and about the importance of family. For all these reasons, I believe that television improves communications among friends and families. TV not only unites people together, but it also teaches people love and the importance of a family.

It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why? There are many things that one can understand through personal experience, but I believe that books give the greatest knowledge. Books educate people. The knowledge that one gets from reading is deeper and greater than the knowledge gained from personal experience. The knowledge gained from reading books not only makes one’s life more interesting and exciting, but it also can change one’s life. Undoubtedly, books are the most important source of knowledge. One reason for my belief is that books contain the knowledge and experience of many people. Great achievements, results of experiments, sciences, etc. are all included in books. The knowledge gained from one’s life experience is valuable, but the sum of knowledge of many people is much more important. For example, if one wants to get an education, he or she has to read books that reflect the knowledge of many people. If one wants to learn about a foreign country, the easiest way to find information is by reading about that country. Books not only have information that educates people, but many books also are written to entertain people. This plays a very important role in people’s recreation. The most important aspect about books is that they can teach us many different subjects: from physics and math to how to build a house or a space shuttle to relationships among people. Another reason for my belief is that books contain much information about the past. Everybody makes mistakes, but reading about other peoples’ mistakes might help to avoid those mistakes. For example, studying history might help to avoid many mistakes made in the past. As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” It is impossible to learn about history through personal experience, but it is possible to learn about history from reading books. For example, reading about wars might help to prevent similar wars in the future. However, there are some things that one cannot learn from reading books and can understand only by experiencing those things. For example, the feeling of love. No matter how much one reads about love, this feeling is not possible to understand unless one experiences it. Aristotle once said, “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.” In order to truly be educated, people must gain knowledge from both books and from personal experiences. For all of the reasons mentioned above, I believe that the best source for obtaining knowledge is from reading books. Books contain a great amount of knowledge, because they reflect the experiences and ideas of many people. However, sometimes in order to understand some aspects of our life, one has to experience them.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Universities should give the same amount of money to their students’ sport activities as they give to their university libraries. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. The choice between whether schools should give the same amount of money to sport activities as to libraries is a difficult one. On the one hand, if schools give more money to sport activities, this promotes the development of sport. Sports make people healthier and give people much energy. Consequently, students will have better results in studying. On the other hand, if schools sponsor libraries, libraries buy better books. In addition, this will make libraries able to update their books and other facilities more frequently. However, in the final analysis, I believe that universities have to find an equilibrium between sponsoring both sport activities and libraries. The development of libraries is very important. First, libraries contain books. Books are one of the most common means for obtaining information. It is very important that libraries are able to purchase the amount of books that will satisfy the needs of all students. Furthermore, many books are very expensive and they are important for students because these books give students much information. Second, libraries have computer halls where students are able to study and use the Internet to look up information. Buying modern computers helps students in getting the latest knowledge from computer technology. Sport activities bring out the best in students. They make students more active and healthy. Sports bring students together and make their life more interesting and exciting. Sports help to prevent such bad habits as smoking and drinking. When universities sponsor sport activities, this promotes the development of many positive qualities in students and improves studying. It is very important for universities to find an equilibrium between sponsoring libraries and sport activities, because both are important and promote better studying results from students.

It has recently been announced that a new restaurant may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? The choice between whether I would support building a new restaurant or if I would oppose this plan is a difficult one. One the one hand, if it would be a fast food restaurant, I would be against it. On the other hand, if the restaurant would sell healthy food or if it would be an expensive restaurant, I would support the plan of building a restaurant. The reason why I would be against a fast food restaurant is because I worry about the health of my children. Many fast food restaurants sell some healthy food, like salads, but the majority of food that they sell is very unhealthy. I believe that adults can choose between whether to eat a salad or a burger with fries and cookies. Children, however, do not realize how some foods can be harmful for their health. Children follow their instincts and they choose the food that tastes better. When my children are at home, I can control what they eat. When they are at school or with friends, I can not control what they eat. Therefore, I would be against the building of a fast food restaurant in my neighborhood. I would support the building of any other restaurant. I would even support a restaurant that sells unhealthy food if this food were expensive. One reason why I would support this is because a new restaurant would give our residents more jobs and, therefore, unemployment would decrease. Another reason is that people would have a bigger choice of places where to go out. In addition, this would give people a better choice and more variety of food. Finally, the competition among restaurants will increase and, therefore, prices will go down. Maybe, the competition will also improve quality of food and service of our local restaurants. For all these reasons, I would oppose the building of a fast food restaurant, and I would support the building of any other restaurant. Without more information about what kind of restaurant will be built, I can neither endorse nor oppose this plan.

Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with teachers. Others think that it is always better to have a teacher. Which do you prefer? The choice between whether I would prefer to study with a teacher or on my own is a difficult one. On the one hand, when studying alone I can study those questions that I am not able to study with a teacher. On the other hand, teachers have experience and knowledge about how I should study. Teachers can control the process of studying and push me to study in order to achieve better results. However, in the final analysis, I always try to find an equilibrium between studying with a teacher and studying on my own. I believe that teachers are very beneficial for students. Teachers not only have the experience of studying, but they also know what information students must read in order to understand subjects. When teachers teach a class of students they unite students together and motivate them to study. Teachers not only give lectures to students, but they also assign homework that promotes understanding of the lecture. Teachers’ experience is very beneficial for students and promotes better results of education. Sometimes I need to concentrate on the assignment and then I have to do it alone. This helps me to understand some subjects better than if I would study those subjects with a teacher. For example, I studied philosophy only by reading books and I never attended lectures. Philosophy was not one of the main subjects for my profession, and it was just a hobby. However, if I would have to study the philosophy as a part of my course, I would achieve better results if studying with a teacher. I got much knowledge from reading books and looking information up on the Internet. I believe that sometimes studying on my own helps me to achieve better results than when studying with a teacher because I am not able to attend classes for the all subjects that I want to study. For all these reasons, I try to find an equilibrium between studying on my own and studying with a teacher. I believe that studying with a teacher is very effective and promotes better results. However, there are some subjects that I am not able to study with a teacher, and then studying on my own is more beneficial for me.

How do movies and television influence people’s behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer. Television is one of the greatest inventions of the last century. Television has become a part of our life and movie’s heroes our examples of people whom we would like to be. Television and movies influences society in many different ways. First, television educates people. Television contains much information that is easier to absorb than, for example, when reading. For instance, TV has many scientific programs and programs that help people to study different subjects. For example, there are many programs for learning foreign languages. TV shows us life in other places of the Earth and latest news and events of different places. TV often is more effective in educating people than anything else, because people can not only hear information but also see this information. Aristotle once said, “The educated differ from the uneducated as the living from the dead.” Maybe if Aristotle lived now he made even more discoveries because of the information that TV gives to people. Television promotes many good qualities in people. For example, the majority of movies are about love to friends, parents and children. When I watch “Titanic” this brings out the best in me; this makes me feel that love is most important than anything else. Television influences us since we are children. Many shows teach people to be kind and fair to others. For example, many children want to be as strong as a “Superman” and help to others. Television reduces stress and help people to relax. For instance, going to movies is one of the most popular ways of entertainment. Watching TV helps people to forget about their problems. To illustrate, many people watch TV after a long day of work. Positive emotions give this people energy for the following working day. However, there are many shows that have a negative influence on our society. I believe that people have to censorship those shows in order to prevent their bad influence. For example, pornography is banned in many countries. Television has become not only a part of entertainment of the contemporary society but television also educates people and gives them much information about surrounding life. Television promotes in people love and appreciation to family and relationships among friends.

What are some important qualities of a good supervisor (boss)? Use specific details and examples to explain why these qualities are important. A good supervisor must have many qualities in order to be successful. I believe that the most important qualities of a good supervisor are ability to make decisions, education, and appearance. The ability to make decisions is very important for a boss or supervisor because the success of the company depends on these people’s decisions. For instance, one becomes a boss or supervisor because management believes that he or she is better than other employees. People trust this person and they listen to commands of this person. Often, when making decisions, a boss or supervisor is not able to ask somebody else what they should do, and they have to rely only on their own judgment. Moreover, supervisors have to solve problems of other employees. Correct decisions will make any business or company successful. Wrong decisions might put a company or business into turmoil and even cause bankruptcy. Education is very important because it is a base for making right decisions. Aristotle once said, “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.” I agree with Aristotle, and I think there is a great difference between an educated boss and an uneducated boss. Education is the most important factor of any successful business, and a boss or supervisor must be educated in order to achieve this success. How a boss or supervisor looks is very important, because people’s first impressions come from how people look. To illustrate, if a boss wears clean clothes, people might assume that he or she is very accurate. Some companies have special clothes that symbolize those companies. If one wears dirty clothes, people might disrespect this person. Then, if this person is in the position of a boss or a supervisor, employees will not listen to what he or she tells them to do. Often some garments show other people that one is a supervisor or a boss. For example, this might be white shirt or a suit. For all these reasons, I believe that the most important qualities of a good boss or supervisor are the ability to make decisions, education and appearance.

Thank you, guys! Good luck!!

Hi, Manuzinha! Thanx! :) If you will not get 250 this time, just retake a test, of course, if your deadline let you to do so. This was my second time when I was taking TOEFL. First time I took it at the end of August. My score was 247 and I got 4 on my essay. Before that test I worked on all parts of the test except of writing. I wrote just a couple essays and I thought that these essays are easy and I will be fine. Nope. When I got my score I started working on my writing skills. I was writing a lot for GRE and then for TOEFL. These essays are so boring!!!

Ahlam, you will get a good score. It just takes some time. Yevgeny, thank you for your help with my essays!!! Please, write me if you get to your dream school.

I also had the same problem with earphones. I was holding them all the time or otherwise they would hurt my ears! Then, when I was typing an essay the table was too high and it was extremely uncomfortable. So, I put the keyboard on my lap. I think people in the test center laughed at me and thought that I am “some weirdo”.