Allouette

Step 1: Read your application over, even though it's too late to change it. Step 2: Panic and freak out! Step 3: Eat every Christmas cookie in sight. Step 4: Check your application statuses, even though you know you won't hear anything until January at the earliest. Step 5: Freak out and panic! Step 6: More Christmas cookies. ...Or maybe that's just me.

Relatedly, this is a beautiful, powerful piece addressing the (arguably more pressing) issue of mental health care and awareness: http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

socanth, you dodged a frustration bullet with Michigan. I can't be the only one who thought their application had the most painfully awkward set up ever, what with the having to click through the whole thing whenever you wanted to edit something towards the end.

Sigh, socanth, I feel you there. 4 down, 3 to go for me, and I want to bang my head against the keyboard whenever I open my SoP. Just... one... more... revision...

http://archive.sciencewatch.com/dr/sci/11/jun12-11_1D/ Hope that helps!

http://gre.tyrannosaurusprep.com/Vocabulary/Quiz-Games is not that comprehensive, but i found it fun and quick and easy to go through... In terms of studying techniques, I would recommend taking your vocab lists and writing either sentences or paragraphs that contain them (that way, you get a better feel for context/how the word is used/where it belongs in a sentence, as well as having to think more about the word and really cement it and its meaning in your brain). Likewise, Sparknotes has insanely poorly written novels that intentionally contain vocab words... They can be read online for free here: http://www.sparknotes.com/satfiction/ Even though they are technically SAT prep, I found them useful as a review. In any case, they are quick reads that (again) help contextualize words and really learn how to use them, instead of just memorizing their definitions.

name tag

I found a very similar mistake (I forgot a 'the' and had an 'an' in front of a consonant FOR SHAME) on one of my applications. I felt terrible about it all evening and lost a few hours of sleep biting my nails over it (I still feel nervous about it and cycle between 'it doesn't matter' and 'oh god oh god WHY'). That being said, someone put to me it this way: "If you only noticed it on your four hundredth read through, how likely do you think it is someone else will immediately zone in on it when they are scanning it through quickly?" I hope he's right because aaah. So I'm not much help insight-wise (sorry), but I feel you, and hopefully for both of us, people will either not notice or not care?

I would avoid it, because it is irrelevant. Personally, I have two prof family-friends & one former-prof parent who grit their teeth when students include similar things in their CV. Ultimately, some people might find it interesting or unique, but there will be others who will definitely think it is padding, or inappropriate, and it may make you come off the wrong way. It's a tough call, because different people on each adcomm will react differently to things like that. My philosophy for this application business is to always err on the side of caution. It may lose me some originality points, but I'd rather my clarity, concision, and maturity make me stand out above my personality and quirkiness.

dworkable, I feel you with the "interest" and "pursue"... After I sent my first draft to a friend, she was like "Seriously, Allie, if I read the word 'endeavour' one more time in this document I am going to scream". I endeavoured to use the word endeavour much less in my subsequent drafts.

No! Definitely don't give up! The feeling I've gotten from people 'round here is that AW matters least of all the scores, especially since your application is full of examples of your writing. Just make sure you have a super strong SoP and other supplementals. Also, remember the party line that applications are looked at holistically, and it is unlikely that a single aspect of your application will make or break your application. Good luck!

Yikes, that's no fun at all. Though I can understand it, if it is an American publication, because then it's not so much about the author as it is about consistency in the journal. That did scare me into switching out all my behaviours for behaviors, though! Now they just look sad and lonely without their 'u's

Yes, I'm probably overthinking this, but I'd love some input on whether I should go through my SoPs and try to switch all my Canadian spelling habits to their American equivalents for my applications to American schools. My feeling right now is that as long as I'm consistent, the Canadian spellings shouldn't be a problem. But it's something that comes up a lot (given that my field of interest involves using the word 'behaviour' excessively), and I know some people get titchy about spelling. So yes, input would be lovely. (P.S. It's not just behaviour; I think some others are centre, endeavoured, favourite, travelled, defence, practise, etc)

I don't think that being a white middle class male means you can't write an awesome personal history statement. Maybe I'm completely off the mark, but I took it more as explaining why you are choosing to pursue graduate study and what you stand to contribute to the community as a person (be that diversity, community engagement, your sparkling personality and good looks, etc). As a white middle class female, I used mine (for UCDavis) to talk about my volunteerism, activism, and community involvement. I actually really liked it because it gave me a chance to explain some of the stuff on my CV that wasn't relevant to my SoP.

pack rat

In my opinion, it's a bit unnecessary; I don't think it is unacceptable, per se, but I personally would not send a token. I think that a handwritten thank you card/letter is a great way to express your gratitude and show you put some time and thought into it (as opposed to just an email). Out of curiosity (and because I'm trying to decide this myself and would love some input), are you sending these thank-you letters now or after you start hearing from schools and can share the news with your letter writers?

I got a 6, and I think it does really boil down to length, specific examples, structure/organization & recognizing the 'other side' of the argument. I pulled the old 'essay sandwich' approach with very formulaic paragraphs (Topic sentence, supporting evidence, concluding sentence). Both of my essays were 6-7 paragraphs. All of my examples were ridiculously specific scenarios that illustrated my point. I also was sure to introduce two 'On the other hand, it could be argued...' counterpoints and then refute them.

party animal

My sub-spec is primate behavioural ecology. I'm applying to Watts at Yale and Hinde/Wrangham at Harvard... I don't know if I have a snowball's chance in hell at either, but hey, why not try, right? What about yourself? Who are you applying to at Yale?

Thanks for starting this thread, radiomars! I'm still in the throes of my SoPs (jesus christ will they ever END), but they're the last part left of my applications. I'm applying to seven schools; CUNY, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, UC Davis, Yale, and Harvard for biological anthropology. I'm hoping to push out the CUNY application by tonight, actually.

So I'm putting the finishing touches on my CV, and I'm debating whether or not to include the manuscript I am currently working on. The manuscript itself is written and in the editing stages, but what is holding me back from submitting before the deadline is that (after I've finished my edits, which still will take a good bit of time) it has to go through my co-author in the field, who expects that it will take him at least two weeks to put in his edits and turn it back to me (at which point I have to include those edits, then turn the manuscript into the head of the organization I'm working with for approval, and god knows how long it will take to get off HIS desk). ANYWAY. It's not gonna happen before December. So my question is, should I include the manuscript as 'in preparation' under my publications, or leave it out altogether? I should add: I am first author on this paper, which my supervisor and co-author both feel will definitely be accepted into a major journal in my field. My only other two published papers are with undergraduate journals.

I completely agree. I was at a mental standstill for my SoP for so long, and one of my profs was just like, "well, your problem is you're hung up on something completely valueless" (the opener). As soon as I dropped the notion of starting with something 'inspiring' and just dove straight into the 'good stuff', the silly thing pretty much wrote itself. And one million out of one million people who looked it over agree that it is so much better (clearer, more concise, more mature, more 'with it') than the drafts I started with narratives or quotes or anecdotes.

Thanks! I hadn't thought of the Thanksgiving thing, that's a really good point. Also, bedmas, glad to know I'm not the only one in this boat I sent one out after I posted and (already) got a pretty enthusiastic reply, so I'm going to go ahead and send the other two tonight.

So I put things off, and lo and behold it is the middle of November and I still haven't emailed 3/7 profs I am interested in applying to work with. Problem is, I'm afraid that if I email them now, since it's so late, it will look sloppy, or like an afterthought. Is it too late to email profs already (given apps are due mid-december) without looking bad, or should I get on that like, today?