The GRE and afterwards.

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello everybody, it's been about a year since I last posted. But I was able to visit Ole Miss, and I did take the GRE.</p>

<p>I scored <em>just</em> below what UM accepts, so I am taking it again later this month. When it comes to the actual move and whatever is needed for the Letter, what things should be written about? I can vouch for a large amount of volunteer work I have done over the years, I already have my Academic References from different teachers. Is there anything else? Ole Miss' application deadline is in February so I do have time.</p>

<p>I still do have to deal with my dad though. Although he isn't going to stand in my way now, it doesn't stop his racial quips, and he doesn't have much faith in my abilities, he's convinced that I'll be railroaded into a huge student loan and that the counselors and advisers are intentionally misleading me. And that I'll end up in a huge financial mess and ultimately fail.</p>

2

<p>The one point that your dad may be right about is the loans. If you are scoring just below the minimum of what OM accepts then your GRE scores are likely quite modest. If so, the likelihood that you would get into a funded grad program are low. You might get accepted to the grad school for your masters, but that would likely be unfunded, so a good bit of loans. </p>

<p>Are you using a GRE practice book? </p>

<p>BTW…do you have problems with a sense of time? No way has it nearly been a year since you posted. You were posting in the spring and summer. I remember your posts.</p>

3

<p>Well, that is why I’m retaking the GRE, 2 of my scores were actually very competitive and the Math-related quantitiative score was actually pretty low. I got a 150 quantitative and a 3.8 reading. That is why I want to retake it, to make my scores a bit more competitive.</p>

<p>I must have forgot that I posted a little earlier this year, I’ve been caught up in things at home and must have forgotten. But I think it has been nearly a year since I posted an actual thread of some sort. But like I said I have been busy.</p>

<p>At Ole Miss they told me I’d get funding depending on my GRE score (which I’m trying to fix) and what my thesis is, bonus points if it’s Civil War related.</p>

4

<p>I guess the nervousness is normal. Dad may have a point on some things, but like I said, retaking the GRE for a more competitive score would not hurt. And, yes I do have a GRE practice book. I didn’t do too bad the first time, just scored low on one subject. </p>

5

<p>3.8 is not a GRE score… maybe you mean 158 on verbal. Maybe you do have a 3.8 GPA though.</p>

6

<p>38 writing, that is what I was told.</p>

<p>150 verbal, 140 quantitative. That’s why I’m retaking it.</p>

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<p>Writing can’t be a 38 or even a 3.8; you probably mean 3.5 or 4.0 on writing.</p>

8

<p>I’m just reading what my readout says.</p>

<p>Isn’t anything close to a 4.0 pretty good though?</p>

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<p>My dad isn’t convinced at me getting into the college though.</p>

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<p>And I’m being regaled about how financially screwed I am if I go through it. </p>

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<p>If you get funding from Ole Miss–that means you won’t have to take out loans. Funding generally means that your tuition is covered and you get a monthly stipend for work as teaching assistant or research assistant. Have you told your father about the possibility of funding?</p>

<p>Didn’t understand the part about a thesis on a specific subject (i.e., Civil War related). Completing a thesis is generally regarded positively by graduate school admissions committees. </p>

12

<p>It does not necessarily mean full funding. It is possible that they will give some kind of tuition scholarship for strong GRE scores. The question you need to ask yourself is what will this Masters degree give you in terms of reaching your career goals. It is not a good idea to go to graduate school just because you don’t know what you want to do in life yet.</p>

<p>You also need to consider that in graduate school at 3.0 GPA is required to remain in good standing and graduate. Given your GPA of 2.8 it is a distinct possibility that this will be a massive challenge for you, particularly if you have the financial pressure of taking on loans. This is why graduate schools usually have a 3.0 minimum GPA. Exceptions are made for students who do much better in their final two years or have a much stronger major GPA than overall. In your case, since you started in CC, I assume that your stated GPA is that from your final two years at ASU.</p>

<p>The other way to show that you are going to be successful in graduate school is, as others have recommended, you take additional courses at the Junior/Senior level and do well in them. This would be part-time and so you need to find a job in a community where you can enroll with undergraduate post-baccalaureate status and take a few courses. if this is in Oxford, then good, otherwise, you need to be flexible and try to find a job first and then deal with the courses. In previous threads, it has been suggested that you find a job teaching history in a high school. This is a very good suggestion and if you don’t want to get a state teaching certificate, you can look for work in a private school, where the credential is not always required. After a few years of teaching, getting into a Masters program might be a bit easier becuase of your real world experience.</p>

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<p>I’ve been looking into taking additional courses.</p>

<p>Yes, the last two years were ASU.</p>

<p>I have alot of volunteer experience with the schools and libraries here, and good references.</p>

14

<p>Given @mom2collegekids’ comments, I went back and looked at your old posts and I’m kind of concerned.</p>

<p>Based on prior comments, your GPA is likely somewhere between a 2.6 and a 2.75. Your GRE scores are low in both substantive sections. A 150 verbal is in the 44th percentile, and a 140 math is in the 8th percentile. Analytical writing is unclear, but a 3.5 is in the 38th percentile. “Close to” a 4.0 is not that great; I think a 4.0 is the minimum you should aim for a graduate program. It is also unclear to me whether you have taken the prerequisites, as you say you have been told you need to take more upper-level history classes but never really clarified what you meant by that. But I will assume you have, since usually you have to to get a BA in a field.</p>

<p>So my first question is - are you sure that you interpreted Ole Miss’s advice clearly and correctly? Given a C average and low GRE scores, I frankly find it hard to believe that Ole Miss gave you specific feedback that you, specifically, could get funding for your MA in history if you raised your GRE scores. Ole Miss’s MA in history website says that “an applicant should have at least a B average as an undergraduate…and should have achieved an acceptable score on the Graduate Record Examination.”</p>

<p>It also appears that their financial aid is awarded competitively to both doctoral and MA students… In any competition like that, the doctoral students probably win the lion’s share of the awards. But even if they are spread around evenly, I find it hard to believe that the department would tell a student who does not, at present meet the admissions requirements for the program that they could get funding if they simply pulled up their GRE scores.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>Here are some other thoughts:</p>

<p>-Generally speaking, unless you have geographical constraints due to family responsibilities (e.g. spouse’s job, caring for an elderly relative, etc.) you should not select graduate programs primarily on the basis of where you would like to live. Location should be a secondary concern; you should select your programs on the basis of the quality of academics offered there and whether or not your scholarly interests fit the program. Not once have you revealed what your scholarly interests in history are. Do you want to study medieval European history? 19th century African American history? Ancient Chinese history? You need to attend a program that has strengths in your area of interest. To be frank, again, fixating on the University of Mississippi because you once visited the state and liked it is not a good decision.</p>

<p>-Why do you want to get out of Arizona so badly? The University of Arizona has a top 30 program in history, and Arizona State - your alma mater - has a top 15 program in the field. Your current in-state options are not only more affordable than an OOS MA in history; they are also better-reputed. Arizona State offers a fully online MA in history as well as a traditional brick and mortar MA program. UArizona also has an MA program in history, as does Northern Arizona, the other public institution in AZ.</p>

<p>Resident tuition at Arizona is $11,800 a year; it’s only around $11,303 at Arizona State and $9,118 at Northern Arizona. Even if you had to borrow for living expenses, you could probably graduate with $60K of debt - which is pretty low for an entire unfunded MA. University of Mississippi has non-resident tuition of nearly $20,000 for a graduate student taking 9+ credits a semester (standard for a grad program).</p>

<p>(I also want to point out that even if you did get Ole Miss’s biggest award - the assisstantship with an $11,000 stipend - $11,000 isn’t really enough to live on even in Oxford, MS, and you might have to borrow some money to supplement that. Shouldn’t be more than about $5-10K per year, though.)</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>With all that said, it’s also unclear to me why you are currently pursuing an MA in history at all. You say that you love the field, which is great. You briefly mentioned that you have thought about teaching, but you want to “see” during your graduate program whether or not you like it. Do not do this! First of all, even if you wanted to be a teacher, the MA in history is the wrong degree to pursue. You would need an M.Ed in social studies education that focuses on history, one that provides initial licensure and certification in teaching. You also need a plan, because history is oversupplied with teachers in most places, and is a competitive market. School districts don’t want people who are “trying it out”; they want people who are at least initially committed to the task of teaching students.</p>

<p>The MA in history is designed as an academic, not professional, degree. The idea is for students to more deeply learn about scholarship in history. The purpose is not simply for you to learn cool stuff about history, but you are learning at a certain level how to produce scholarship in history - how to conduct historiography and do archival and other kinds of research to produce theory and new knowledge on historical aspects of a particular period of time. Many program require that you have reading knowledge of a foreign language. Ideally, the MA in history is really for preparation for a PhD in history. It’s not a professional degree that prepares you to do something specific. If you really love history and want to continue to read about it, there are other, much less expensive and time-consuming ways to do that while you work full-time.</p>

<p>Furthermore, I’m concerned about this:</p>

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<p>This, plus some other things you’ve said, makes me think that you are trying to use graduate school as a replacement for a disappointing undergraduate experience. Do not do this! Graduate school is VERY different from undergrad - the social life is completely different. I would describe my department as seemingly tight-knit, as well, but professionally tight-knit. We don’t go to football games and drinking parties together; we share our materials and make sure to email each other when opportunities come up. That’s what tight-knit means in graduate school.</p>

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<p>Well, you make a good point. Like I said I’m retaking the GRE.</p>

<p>I have no issue with a professional environment. But on everything else, it’s a bit of a long story, I said it on one thread previously. I’m no legacy, I never had any sort of college experience, or scholarships, my parents married at 17 and my pop is very strident about me never going to Ole Miss because of there being blacks that happen to live in that state.</p>

<p>As you can imagine. Is it so bad for me to want what I want for once? My idealism is pretty much gone at this point in my life.</p>

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<p>I guess what I am trying to say. What most here on this forum talk about, kids my age. About trust funds, scoring, high ranking schools. Scholarships, or just having opportunities for a proactive, if not, ideal college experience. Is completely foreign to me.</p>

<p>I had a near nervous breakdown when I was 20 because I lived with my dementia afflicted grandmother, while simultaneously taking CC classes AFTER the College had given and then taken my Associates Degree from me. All the while the recession was in full swing, my dad screamed at me because he didn’t want me having anything to do with history and he continues to berate my choice of colleges for the worst of reasons.</p>

<p>So, yeah okay, I have my BA and I just may be an inadequate screwup.</p>

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<p>No one’s saying you’re an inadequate screw up but a graduate program in history requires some pre-requisites. Don’t retake the GRE until you consistently score above 160 on practice tests.To be funded, you’d need a 165, although Ole Miss may fund MA candidates at 160; you need to have a good number of history classes, not just a handful; the minimal analytical score you need is 5.5, not 4; you need to bring your GPA to 3.3-4. An unfunded MA is not worth anything - yet your father’s not right, you CAN do something with it and the presence of African Americans in Mississippi is irrelevant to what you do. Do NOT get into debt for your MA - get to the level where you can be funded. Simply don’t focus on Ole Miss in particular, rather focus on all the schools you can get into once you’ve had your pre-requisites completed.
Plan to apply Winter 2015-2016 - give yourself a year, and in the meanwhile move out to where you’ve found a job. No one’s requiring you to live with your racist father. :slight_smile: This will help you breathe a little.</p>

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<p>I have been trying to breathe as it is. As I stated earlier, this has been going on before college.</p>

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<p>As other have said, graduate school won’t give you the undergraduate college experience. it is a very different environment and you should not jump into it unless you are really ready and have a goal.</p>

<p>it is certainly unfortunate that you had a very difficult road through high school and college and that your father is not supportive of what you want to do. however, you are an adult now, with a college degree and you should be proud of having achieved that. You are also in a position to make your own decisions and be independent of your father. i urge you to do that and just ignore what he says about where you should go or what you should do. Once you have established yourself in whatever career you choose, then see if you can restore your relationship on your terms if you so choose.</p>

<p>It is also clear that you are determined to apply to university of Mississippi for graduate school. The fact is that you will have a hard time getting into a graduate program for reasons of your GPA and you need to have a back up plan in case you are not accepted. Make sure you have something in mind and don’t wait around for the result of your application. if you want ot move to Oxford, do so. look for a job there and see where it takes you.</p>

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<p>I don’t have much of a backup plan.</p>