Colorado Technical University

How difficult is it to get accepted into a doctoral program?

I will be finished with my Master's in May (English Literature) and would like to continue my studies and pursue a Doctoral degree. My G.P.A. is average (3.55) but I suck at standardize testing (G.R.E. in particular) I would like to attend USC or the University of Georgia So my question is how hard is it to get accepted into a doctoral program and what should I do to increase my odds at getting accepted? thanks so much!

Public Comments

1. your graduate advisor should help you with this
2. Here is the numbers of students Colleges accept in their Medical programs. Harvard - 4.9% Dartmouth - 7% Many colleges accept close to 10-15% of applicants. A 3.55 is pretty good, but not good enough to get into a Medical Program. Keep in mind that many have over 100% averages. To get into a Doctoral program - They call it Medical ;) - Get Higher Grades - If you don't excel academically, join athletics and extra-curricular activities. - Ace your SAT. - Write a convincing essay to your University. Are you sure you want to attend USC, could you have mistaken it for UGA?
3. In general, Ph.D programs are hard to get into, because in many programs universities only add a very limited number of students each year, and the number of applicants is much greater. In your case, the English Ph.D program at USC tends to accept 10-12 students per year for literature, and 4-5 per year for creative writing. http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/engl/programs/graduate.shtml The University of Georgia requires a top 10% verbal GRE and a GPA of 3.65 or higher in all undergraduate or graduate English coursework. http://park.english.uga.edu/grad/applinfo.html But I would not be discouraged by any of this. If you have gone so far as to get a master's in English and you are applying for Ph.D programs then you are very serious about your studies, and the admissions people will see this. What you want to do, though, is apply to a lot of programs. I am finishing up an MS in math this semester, and I have applied to eight programs to continue my education in the Fall. Now, I was always terrible at standardized test taking, but I found that by starting to study well in advance, I did far better than I ever expected on the GRE general test. Get some GRE study books and work through them methodically. Practice taking a lot of tests.