Hunter College it is then.

Some of you might remember that I was rather unsuccessful in securing a place for graduate school last year. Moving out of the Tri-State area is pretty much out of the question for me (personal reasons). This leaves me with only a handful of viable schools to apply to. The ambitious student that I am, I aimed high and applied to only well known universities. I had my eyes set for either UPenn, Stony Brook or Rutgers but unfortunately none of these universities were interested in me. It didn't help that I only applied for PhD programs (in hindsight, I really should have looked into a few Masters program). I realized now that you have higher chances of being accepted to a Masters program compared to most PhD program. Unless, of course, you have a 3.99 GPA or a perfect 4.0 GPA. That, I do not have unfortunately.

"You live and learn" they say, and true to that, this year's graduate school application process is far less stressful than the year before. I knew I should look into both PhD and Masters program again but since those three universities rejected me last year, I opted not to apply to them again. If they don't want you last year ... they probably still don't this year.

I also had pretty shitty GRE scores. I totally abhor standardized tests. I don't know why but I find it really hard to do well in those kinda tests. I took the GRE twice with almost the same results. I was livid. I firmly believe that those scores do not justify me as a student and in refuse to pay hundreds to take yet another stupid GRE exam that I will probably bomb again (Am I the only who thinks that GRE is a get rich scheme?) Anyway, instead of taking yet another GRE exam, I worked around my GRE scores. I looked into schools that's not too rigid with GRE score requirements but instead weigh in on all the achievements you've got as an undergraduate.

Once I got all those criteria straightened out, the only school in the Tri-State area viable for me to even apply to is Hunter College. So, I applied to their Animal Behavior and Conservation (ABC) program. While this is no Anthropology/Primatology program, it is the closest program I found that is still relevant to my interest. I am stoked that one of the faculty, Dr. Diana Reiss, studies self-recognition and theory of mind in animals.

So I got the official letter a few days ago from Hunter's Graduate Admission Office. I've been officially admitted as an MA student for Spring 2011. Huzzah! I can't wait to get back to class after almost 2 years in hiatus. Though I really don't know what to expect being a graduate student in a Psychology department. I have had pretty bad experience with Psychology professors, both at LaGuardia Community College and Queens College ... here's hoping that Hunter is different.