galadrielstar

Whew. Finishing my sixth and final application tonight - I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty tired of writing statements of purpose. :-) Cornell is my last application (PhD in Comm). I've also applied to Stanford, OSU, NYU, Northwestern, and U-Penn. Along the way, I've discovered a lot of really cool research articles (published by professors or their students in the various departments). I'm making a stack to read over the Xmas break! :-)

What's the atmosphere of the program? What's your research area?

Hi, everyone! I am working through my first-ever attempt at PhD applications. This is a bit stressful. Looking at studying media effects on society, not sure of a deep focus yet but I'm intrigued by the flow of power in social media and online communities. The Gamergate stuff from 2014 sparked that thinking - how mass comm and interpersonal comm seem to be blending. A critical theory approach to the question would be interesting. I've been out of college for several years, earning two master's degrees along the way. Spent a decade teaching high school English; enjoyed that; moved into a comm office at a small liberal arts college and really would like to teach in higher ed and/or work to improve organizational communication in higher ed institutions. My GRE scores are solid (169 v, 157 q, 6.0 a) and my GPA is good (4.0 undergrad; cumulative 3.96 from grad programs)....BUT..... I know my research focus is too fuzzy and none of my previous education is in communication, so I don't feel confident at all when writing my SOP. Gotta give this a shot now because everything about my life right now is aligned to make this move. *crossing fingers*