So I'm going to a graduate visitation this week, I don't know if I mentioned this in any earlier posts. I'm also taking the GRE general on October 20th, which is coming up faster than I thought.
In comments for another post, Vito says that the GRE General is not worth my time, which I know he's right, and I should study for the GRE Math Subject, which I've heard from several people anyways.
My only dilemma with this is, at some institutions the GRE General is one of the measures they use as (1) a cut-off and (2) for fellowships. Who wants money for graduate school? Everyone wants money for graduate school (ok, to be logically correct, of those that want to attend graduate school, those people want money for graduate school. Those that do not want to go to graduate school probably could give a rats a** about it). So, to be competitive on all accounts that I have control over right now, I need to do as well on the GRE General as possible. I think I'm pushing the subject test back to the December test date. Most of the programs I'm applying for have deadlines in February anyways. I can worry more about the test around finals anyways, I don't want to take them back to back and feel like I did horribly on the Subject test because I was concentrating too hard on the General.
So yeah, besides worrying about my personal statement, whether or not a school is going to read my letters of recommendation, planning a wedding (yes, I'm still crazy enough to think that I can do this at the same time), I'm going to be taking these horrible tests and worrying about how I did on them until I get all the rejection/acceptance letters back.
For those of you who read my blog that are in the professorate, or just are in graduate school or have gone or something related to graduate school, did you worry this much about things? I know that I worry too much about most things, heck, this is definately one of them. But I want to be a professor and to do that, I have to have a Ph.D. (professor on the University-level, I think I could be ok with a Master's and doing Community College for a while, but I don't think I could do that for long term).
Yesterday, I talked to a representative from the University of Arizona and she told us that at the interviews they decided which candidates could "think critically" about situations and do research well. I think I'm one of those people, and I'm not completely lazy, but what if I never get to that point in the application process? What if no one interviews me? I'll be dreadfully sad, that's for sure.
So yeah, I'm worried about my visitation to Maryland (UMD - College Park) because it is the school I want to go to. But that's normal, I think, to be nervous I mean. I hope to meet someone who can help guide me in the process and that I could talk to about Maryland and their program, hopefully from the student point of view. Professors are nice, but they aren't going to tell you bad things about the program, if there are any, they might sugarcoat and what not. Although in math there isn't the problem of people being insincere. Math folks, at least the ones I've met, are really nice jovial people. That is another reason to go into mathematics, the people are super nice ;).
I don't know why I worry anymore. It's almost over and after I send out the applications, it'll be completely over and I won't have to worry about anything. I just hope I have a chance and don't get cut immediately. If I don't get cut, I think I'll have a reasonable chance of getting in and finishing and following my dream.
So yeah, will post more soon. I'm taking a laptop with me and will be checking out some sights.
In other news, I'm finally not in the red (financially) and have paid off my cell phone, so I have service again. I'm super glad about that. :D. I also paid off every other bill I got this week, actually minus one. I'll send that one off today. So, finances are looking better.
Wish me luck.
- Vanes.
1 comment:
I didn't worry at all about the GRE -- either part. I don't think taht I'd even seen a sample GRE before I took it; I figured standardized tests are standardized tests. I took both parts on the same day. My general scores were, as Vito said, very close to my SAT scores. My subject score was in the 70-somethingth percentile (I want to say 860, but that was 10 years ago, so don't trust my memory).
I've helped people sort applications for various things (not for graduate admissions, though), and letters of recommendation were probably the most important thing we looked at. We only looked at the standardized test scores (and grades aside from math/science) if they were surprisingly low. Recommendations from professors who taught "hard" classes (like real analysis) and/or who knew the student well were the most helpful.
I didn't visit any schools until AFTER they'd accepted me.
On wedding planning, I can't help you: I planned my own wedding in 1 week + 2 followups. It's not like there's that much to do.
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