G.R.E.

The reason why I chose to pursue my masters degree in criminology was two-fold. First and foremost, I felt my employment status at the time did not reflect what I truly wanted to do in life or what I was capable of doing. Working security for a nightclub that had no room for promotion and a commissioned sales job reliant on quotas, led me to a very unhealthy lifestyle in which I gradually became depressed, exhausted and without a social life. The second reason for coming was I found myself always talking about ‘Australia this’ and ‘Australia that’ with friends and such. I wanted to continue with my education and felt not only could I go back to Australia and obtain my masters degree in Criminology but because universities in Australia did not require Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores as do US universities for postgraduates.

I have always hated standardised testing and while many of my friends slaved away hours a day studying for the SATs for college in 2003 and taking the PSATs numerous times to prepare for the SATs, I went in winging it. I feel a standardised test is just that, standardised. Why try to cram for a test where you should either know the information or not? And because so many of my friends crammed for it, they obtained higher than average scores that did not truly reflect their true knowledge of skill level for a university setting. I took the PSATs scoring 800/1600, and then the SATs scoring 960/1600 and again scoring 1000/1600. No studying whatsoever and good enough to get into Washington State University and graduate with two bachelors degrees.

But at the time, I was also looking at Arizona State University (ASU) and University of Southern California (USC) because of their excellent criminal justice programs. However, all three universities wanted GRE scores of which I refused to pay for to take once if not two or three times on top of study materials if I chose to actually study. So I packed up, left and came here to do my graduate degree.

After obtaining my masters degree, I then contacted WSU, ASU and USC once again to possibly come back to the United States and pursue my PhD in criminology with an emphasis on crime prevention. And once again, all three universities advised me they needed my GRE scores even after obtaining my masters degree. So it looks as if I have to bite the bullet and go full guns blazing for this damn test.

I have signed up to take the GRE in Sydney Wednesday, July 4th (Happy birthday America!) at 1:30pm. I’ll be flying down to Sydney right after work Tuesday morning to give myself time to relax and unwind before doing some last minute studying before the 4 ½ test Wednesday afternoon. Afterwards I’ll do some sight-seeing and relax with friends living down there before coming back up to the Gold Coast for work Thursday night. A relatively quick trip nonetheless, but only with one purpose in mind that could re-shape my academic future.

I’ve also decided to do somewhat of a basic skim of the material, seeing how a lot of it is high school math that I not only failed twice in college, but also haven’t touched it since 2004. So for the next 2 weeks, in between work and sleep I’ll have my eyes fixated to a computer screen and in my GRE prep notes to prepare for this gruelling beast of an exam.

If I pass with acceptable scores, I am hoping to apply at ASU, USC and my alma mater WSU in hopes of pursuing my PhD in the US instead of here in Australia. While these plans are not set yet and anything can change pending what the scores will be and if Bond University ever gets back to me regarding the possibility of doing my PhD here, I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket…

Until next time.

Cheers and 再见

-H