I'm applying to get a Master's in Fine Arts this fall.
For stupid, bureaucratic reasons, I have to have GRE scores for about half the programs I'm applying to. I have to take a math test for the first time in 6 years on things I haven't seen, considered, or applied, in as many as 10 years. There aren't things that are necessarily beyond me; for instance, you could say "formula of a line" to me and I'd draw a blank. However as soon as I reviewed that section of the math study guide and saw "y=mx+b," I was completely at home.
Much of the math I am able to piece together with review but I'm at a disadvantage compared to those who have done it in the past 2-4 years.
Math has nothing to do with what I'll pursue my master's in.
I'm studying because I want to blow my application out of the water in every way I can; I want the best I can on paper for every element because if I don't get funding, I won't be able to get this degree that I dearly want. I know that the GRE score is just a way for an application committee to cross me off a list without feeling bad about it when they need to narrow down their candidates. That's all it is. It has nothing to do with my ability, value, how I'll do in the program, or really anything at all.
My friend who got her MFA told me she guessed her way thru the math portion and probably got, "like, a 300." She told me not to worry. That I should do the same. She did it, and she got funding, I really shouldn't worry so much.
But the thing is?
I can't not.
That's the problem with stupid admissions shit like this.
Got an e-mail this morning, from the head of West Point Admissions for the Northeast region of the US. "nowaypablo, Very good SAT scores and AP scores, and I'll be receiving your four SAT2 scores in October. I’d still like to see you take the ACT with Writing." WOMAN WAT. YOU JUST LISTED SIX DIFFERENT BULLSHIT EXAMS AND YOU WANT ME TO TAKE ANOTHER ONE??? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
The real problem here is that that institution has policies that are developed off of a single test (ACT with Writing), and they probably have not even researched the SAT at all or how they compare with ACT scores. Honestly, what needs to be done is that people need to come up with a way to relate SAT and ACT scores to each other that is highly researched and universally accepted, because the amount of effort required for an institution to figure out both of them, especially if they are an underfunded school, is quite hard sometimes. The informal comparison charts of ACT to SAT scores are a little bit too simplistic. This problem creates undergrads that have to take an ACT to apply to school #1 and an SAT to apply to school #2, which is just stupid.
My friend who just got her MFA (and who received full/majority funding for the degree to boot) told me she didn't study and in fact guessed her way through the entire math section. She thinks she got a 300. I am leaning towards taking the GRE sooner now, seeing how the scores are, not worrying and loving the bomb, and just focusing on other stuff. The writing sample, and of course as erin said the SOP (which by the way, they are going to suck, each college wants a different length and just slightly different prompts, damn them!) are really going to be the make-or-break elements of my application. That, and I'm gonna have bomb-ass letters of recommendation, I'm pretty sure.
I'll write you one, but it'll just be the lyrics to a great song and a dirty picture. Does quirky still go over well in MFA programs?
I sure hope so, as I expect admissions packets will drive me about as nutty as submissions have already done over the past three years and ever-increasing volumes of cover letters that I've sent out. Nutty? What do I mean, you wonder? Today I sent off a submission to a lit mag that said, "Tell us a little about your poems, and you, in your cover letter." So I said: "As for me, I confess I can confess nothing without breaching my lawyer/client confidentiality privilege. But I assure you, poems are not considered admissable as evidence in court, nor can they be used as proof of premediation or motive. The nonfiction genre is a sub-category, of course, of prose and prose only. Categorically speaking, poetry does not allow for or acknowledge 'facts' or 'truth.' Case law has established a firm precendent for the dismissal of poetry as inconstant, unrealiable, and basically unintelligible. Since there is no evidence, there cannot have been any crime. I am confident the charges will be thrown out with contempt by any reasonable judge, and luckily, the unreasonable ones are especially anti-verse. One claims that iambic pentameter causes her to break out in hives. That's all I'm at liberty to say at the moment, but my legal team and I are confident in a favorable outcome." LOLOL like what even Except it's kind of like, I have to do something slightly interesting to keep myself from just sucking all the ink out of a printer cartidge and throwing shredded poems in the air like confetti and calling every editor who's rejected me ever on their home line to cry. (Or just to keep myself going.)
Yeah . . . well, at least you didn't study for the LSATs before deciding that you don't want to become a lawyer. I studied my ass off for the GREs too and you know what? Instead of getting in the 50th percentile for math, I got into the 52nd percentile. I'm headed back to school this fall too and I am shocked that I got funding. What I am even more shocked about is that I asked for more funding just to see what would happen and they said that they couldn't give me more than the maximum (someone awarded me the maximum amount of funding?!). If you apply to programs that really want someone with your experiences and skills already and you clearly communicate how you will be an asset to their program, they just might believe you. Especially if you have good letters of rec.
That letter was a great read. I have one more year of college and as of late I've been struggling with the questions he poses. "What have you done? What have you made? Who do you know? Why are you interesting?" I know the degree is what will get recruiters to take the time to look at my application, but I want more substance than that.
I went through the grad school application process last year. Trust me when I say that no one will give a shit about your GRE scores as long as they are above some minimum threshold. Spend your time on the important things like the statement of purpose. Revise the hell out of your SOP until it's perfect!!
I'm the same. If I really want something , I will always spend an unreasonable amount of time on whatever it is they want from me. Spent an entire afternoon perfecting just the layout of the 3-page report that got me here to San Diego. I don't know if it's worth it at all but it has gotten me very far so far. But 'hey, it can't hurt my chances' has cost me more time than I care to admit.
Well it sounds like you think you'd find it easier to gain employment with a degree. However there are probably a few options for you depending on where you are; some schools around here teach compressed courses that only run for 5-6 weeks. I always found those a lot easier to succeed in as I wasn't given enough time to really jack off. Instead I was always immersed. Or maybe you could explore ways to avoid paying so much money for a degree, like maybe just get an associate's from the local community college, or seeing if your employer (assuming you have one) might help with tuition payments. I'm not saying it's ideal, but I will say that I am the flip side of your coin: I got hired in a mid-level back office position at the age of 20. I didn't have a single peer who wasn't a decade or more older than me, and many coworkers had worked their way up to the job over the course of decades-long careers. They hired me and 2 other fresh college grads, and the job ad specifically targeted "recent college graduates" for the position. From what I understand yeah, they were making a move to "professionalize" or whatever the place and wanted more degrees. They probably also figured a person with a new degree was pretty likely able to execute the job, but for significantly less than all those lifers. I never found out, but I'd hazard a guess my salary at that place was half or less of each of my "lifer" coworkers. I don't know if there is an assumption of being dumber, as you say, but I would say that in corporate America people really care about degrees, certificates, and stacking letters after their name. I think it's very much in the culture to care about whether a candidate has a degree , even to the point where that care can blind a hiring manager to good candidates because of the perceived 'hole' on a resume. The funny thing is that to be honest it's not like people talk about their degrees at work much so I wouldn't be able to tell you, day-to-day, if a lot of my coworkers got one or not. I think I know the status of about 5 of them out of 30ish.
"I'm studying because I want to blow my application out of the water in every way I can..." I think you probably nailed why certain programs want a GRE. It's that extra step to see you're committed to the endeavor. I was in your position about three years ago, and finished my Master's last spring. What I picked up from being in graduate school: It isn't about measurement (i.e. grades). It's about acquiring depth in a subject that an average college graduate doesn't think about on a professional or academic level. It's way more about pushing yourself than pleasing professors.
That's surprising to me. I thought a GRE was required of pretty much all institutions for graduate level work, regardless of the program being involved with. That being said, I just recently took the GRE and I have to tell you, it's not your average standardized test (I hate nearly all of them), the GRE is friggin' brilliant. I LOVED taking that test, even though it took about 4 hours to complete and I was exhausted afterwards. I haven't done a single thing math related in 7-ish years. It doesn't matter at all. If you know basic algebra, that's really all you need to know. I think there might be some simple geometry things, too, but that's not the point of the GRE which is why I love it so much. The SAT/ACT tests knowledge. The GRE tests reasoning ability. It's nothing like what you will expect out of a test, and it's probably why they require it for graduate schools because no other standardized test does that. The writing portion tests your ability to not just write clearly (one third of the points, probably), but your ability to identify facts, misinformation, and the ability to debunk incorrect facts and misinformation. The quantitative part doesn't test your knowledge of algebraic facts, but your ability to piece together solutions of something given information on your own. In fact, I don't think I recall other than a simple y=mx+b example them ever even giving you any algebra or x/y variables directly at all. It was all very unique word problems that involved very basic concepts tied together to see if you had more than an understanding of the base concepts and could improvise to piece together and reason your way through a complex task. When you are getting a Master's in something, you aren't really (theoretically) getting the same type of degree as a Bachelor's. A bachelor's indicates knowledge about a topic, a Master's indicates proficiency and the ability to discuss and lead on a topic. So the ability to reason, debunk and prove facts, etc, is a necessary goal in a graduate degree. I honestly don't think that you can really even study for the GRE. After taking one practice exam (they have a Java software package on their site for it, I recommend doing one of those) I realized this, and didn't study. I ended up not completely finishing the exam (I spaced out on the last part... it's LONG) and still got ~316 revised score. While math might not be what your field is in, your ability to formulate a poignant argument and to improvise creative solutions to things is pretty much a universal thing for a graduate degree.For stupid, bureaucratic reasons, I have to have GRE scores for about half the programs I'm applying to.