A little throwback...

This picture pretty much sums up my sentiment of last semester entirely. I took this picture the day my GRE study book arrived from Amazon. As I've mentioned, we were all petrified of not getting into graduate school, and for some of the people in our program, that nightmare unfortunately became a reality. 

"I'll order a GRE study book early." "I'll spend a little bit of time everyday studying for the GRE." "I'll be prepared." "I won't wait until the last minute to cram for the test." "I won't wait until the last minute to TAKE the test." Little did I know, waiting until the last semester before applications were do WAS waiting until the last second. Silly, silly Haley. All of these things I told myself at the beginning of the semester, but the followthrough was lacking because I can assure you…THAT didn't happen. One of my biggest worries was paying for the darn thing. It is one expensive test. I've been able to pay for most everything on my own through my scholarships, grants, and student loans, but a large expense like that is not easy to just drop nearly $300 on when you're a college student. That isn't to say that my mom didn't help me because she's definitely bailed me out plenty of times, but it wasn't something she was able to do all of the time because she is a single mother of three children and I truly respect that.

Needless to say, I was able to pay for it in the end and signed up for it pretty close to the date I needed in order to get my scores back and sent by my graduate schools' deadlines as possible. Stressful, right? I looked at the book every once in a blue moon, and I attended a workshop one Sunday for a couple hours that was put on by the Multicultural Center (which by the way is fabulous on our campus). About a week before my testing date, my anxiety multiplied tenfold. When they say "hindsight is 20/20," they aren't lying! Oh how I wished I had spent the entire semester studying instead of waiting until the last minute. Not only the entire semester, but perhaps the last couple years! 

I decided to not get bogged down in the "could have, should have, would have" of the situation and make the most out of what time I had left. I flew through that book, highlighting everything I thought I possibly could need to know. I took practice test after practice test, and come test day I was exhausted, and barely had any stamina left to even take the test. I felt like I knew nothing of what would be on there. I did a lot of praying that last week before the test to say the least. I should mention that timed, standardized tests aren't my strong suit. In fact, I don't think they are hardly anyone's strong suit. 

All of this to say that if you're reading this, and your schools may require a GRE score or you're planning on taking it…make sure you do the exact opposite of what I did. ;)

Love,

Haley