Friday, November 06, 2009

Dag nab it.

I just took a moment to total up the costs for my PhD applications this year. Kinda ridiculous...

Transcripts: 171.00
GRE Score reports: 180.00
Application fees: 655.00
For a grand total of...1006.00

Good thing I already set aside the money for this, otherwise I might be freaking out at this point. What makes this a tough pill to swallow is that nothing is guaranteed, and like last year I could spend money on apps (although last year I only applied to 3 places) and not get in anywhere.

For a variety of reasons, I pray pray PRAY that doesn't happen this time.

7 comments:

m. connor sullivan said...

ugh. don't you wish schools would keep certain transcripts and scores?! or did you retake the GRE?

Hilary said...

Well, they actually DO keep transcripts and scores but I don't trust them-especially because I got married in the last year and even though my name is hyphenated, my previous file would be under a different name and I feel like that would be extra red tape. But mostly it's a "just in case and I don't trust them really to still have it" type of situation. And no, I didn't retake the GRE. Since I spent the summer before last studying vocab all summer, and I didn't this summer, I didn't think it would help my score. And it really wasn't that bad anyway (I think 700 on verbal and 720 on math and 6 on writing, so not too bad all in all) so I just am going with what I have. One less thing to do.

m. connor sullivan said...

no, that's a great score! hope it all works out this time around. such a pain...

Hilary said...

Such a pain is right...not to mention the hell it wreaks on your confidence and the second guessing of every last sentence or punctuation mark. At least I have stuff to keep me busy once all of the apps are in...and I have a meeting in a couple of weeks with profs at a school that may surprisingly (to me) end up being my first choice, if I can get in.

m. connor sullivan said...

last year (for BU's science/religion program) I thought my statement was the best thing I ever wrote. I was so proud of it. didn't woo them, though.

you never know what they want. I met with people at Brown during my year working in Boston, and I thought it went great. of course, they only accepted 1 person in my field, so it was tough no matter what, but still. my visit to Columbia was pretty good, too.

Mom said...

Keep busy after they're all submitted so you don't have to focus on that everyday. Just think, you can start the "oh my God, what am I going to do with my family" conversation in your head. That should keep you occupied! :)

Virginia said...

I'm crossing my fingers for you. I hope it works out this year.