beyondaboundary

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

Just thought I'd shake this thread awake. Defended the dissertation yesterday. PhD done and dusted. Hope you are all well.

Just thought I'd shake this thread awake. Defended the dissertation yesterday. PhD done and dusted. Hope you are all well.

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

Congrats! You really can't go wrong with UMich...in my humble, very biased opinion

Congrats! You really can't go wrong with UMich...in my humble, very biased opinion

Garamond. End of discussion 

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

I agree with Dedi that the SOP needs to speak directly to the adcom. Definitely use plain English and be precise, this is not a lovely piece of prose, it's a straight forward statement of why you are interested in their graduate program. Maybe this is very different from field to field though? My advice to people writing in STEM fields is to avoid scientific jargon. The committee is often made up of people from all fields of study within the department, and you don't want to alienate the people who don't study what you are applying to study. In addition, clarity is highly valued so if you can explain a complex idea using simple words, that would be desirable. Experts in your field of study will nod along, confident that you know your stuff and non-experts will appreciate the way you distilled the complex idea into something they can understand with only 30 seconds of processing. The readers have to read a ton of SOPs and if your SOP makes them have to reread a sentence/paragraph a few times to understand its meaning, then that would be both annoying and a sign of poor communication ability. 
 
The way I envisioned my SOP was that I imagined myself having a drink (coffee/tea/pop/beer/whatever) with the faculty of the department I'm applying to and they ask "Why do you want to be part of our program?" The answer to that question was basically the thesis of my SOP and then further paragraphs expanded on each of my reasons and gave evidence that I am capable of succeeding in their program and that I am someone they would want to hire/have in their program.
 
So, keep it plain and simple is what I think. Don't use words that you would not use if you were standing next to someone, holding a cup of whatever and chatting about your research interests. Make sure you explain everything to the level of detail required and no further. Don't refer reader to any other source (after all, you wouldn't hand them these things, you/they are holding a drink!). 
 
This strategy worked very well for me but it's always hard for any of us to really know what parts of our applications were good and what parts bad. For all I know, I might have gotten my offers despite of my SOPs  

I am not going to argue against that in a net sense, hosting these tournaments means countries'/cities lose money. 
 
However, one thing I think almost everyone overlooks is the improvement of infrastructure as a result of these games. Better infrastructure improves efficiency in the market in countries.
 
I am going to use Brazil's world cup and olympics as an example because it's probably the country I know best in the world.
 
Some of the projects that have been done/in process because of these games:
 
- Up to 31 airports nationally have been upgraded/expanded, and if anyone had been through airports like Rio, Manaus, and Salvador they would understand how dire these upgrades were needed.
- Many highways, particularly the additions of toll highways from Rio to Sao Paulo/Belo Horizonte/Curtibia/Porto Alegre have been either constructed or improved.
- Rio's downtown shoreline (Porto Maravilha Project) is being gentrified (sewage, roads, development, drainage/treatment), this area was a MESS when I was there last.
- Construction of a bullet train system from Rio to Sao Paulo.
- Over 10,000 kilometers of railways are being upgraded and expanded (this is a big one because transportation infrastructure for Brazil's economy is terribly inefficient).
- Light rail has been greatly expanded, both the metro in Rio and three major rapid bus lines have been introduced.
 
Those are just some examples of greatly needed infrastructure projects for Brazil and Rio. Bringing in these games have actually enabled the government to push for more private contracts and bids in this process than they otherwise would have been able to garner.
 
Many economists have argued that Brazil's recent economic slowdown is partly caused to faulty infrastructure in the country which causes inefficiencies. Dilma started her administration with the Programa de Aceleracao do Crescimento (PAC) which was a project designed to improve the country's infrastructure, it has been renewed as PAC II. 
 
------
 
Unfortunately, every protest/argument against these types of games uses faulty logic like spending X dollars on stadiums or venues that are not of use, the money could be spent on other things blah blah blah. I NEVER see anyone take a logical position that shows that many of the infrastructure projects behind these two events will greatly improve the Brazilian economy in the long run. 
 
So in sum, yes Olympics/World Cups can be very costly and be a net-negative in terms of money spent vs. money brought in. However, this is not a zero-sum equation and I wish people would look a little deeper at what the governments are actually spending money on for World Cup 2012/Rio Olympics 2014 that is going to greatly help Brazil in the future and is badly needed.

I could not agree less...France all the way

I only follow soccer about once every 4 years, unfortunately, but it's still fun. Here's my bracket
 

http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism#

Try this one on for size. The point is that academic rigor (which I have to assume we all respect) must start with self. Sloppy citation takes away from the quality of your argument and thus brings everything else about your work into question. If there is no citation or a wrong citation but your reader is foliar with the corpus of literature in your field that's where the accusation of plagiarism lies. Its a hard lesson to learn but better now than down the road. The secondary argument is that we seem to be focusing on the motive of the act (laziness or sloppiness) but not the act itself (providing fiticious citations)

http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism#

Try this one on for size. The point is that academic rigor (which I have to assume we all respect) must start with self. Sloppy citation takes away from the quality of your argument and thus brings everything else about your work into question. If there is no citation or a wrong citation but your reader is foliar with the corpus of literature in your field that's where the accusation of plagiarism lies. Its a hard lesson to learn but better now than down the road. The secondary argument is that we seem to be focusing on the motive of the act (laziness or sloppiness) but not the act itself (providing fiticious citations)

http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism#

Try this one on for size. The point is that academic rigor (which I have to assume we all respect) must start with self. Sloppy citation takes away from the quality of your argument and thus brings everything else about your work into question. If there is no citation or a wrong citation but your reader is foliar with the corpus of literature in your field that's where the accusation of plagiarism lies. Its a hard lesson to learn but better now than down the road. The secondary argument is that we seem to be focusing on the motive of the act (laziness or sloppiness) but not the act itself (providing fiticious citations)

just got an email from gsu- accepted!

Brandeis Sociology, PhD (Fall 2014):
 
"I had never taken a sociology class and had no particular interest in any of the faculty's areas of specialization. I only applied because they waived the admission fee based on my GRE scores, so I commend them on their wise choice of rejecting me lol."
 
This is my favorite because it exactly mirrors my motivation and application result. Good to know I wasn't the only one that did this.

My MA is in New Media and Society...I tell people my degree is in Facebook

First acceptance! UIC sent me a very nice letter from the department, with a very nice offer including an assistantship. I'm super excited, it's still sinking in. Very glad I visited Chicago last week but wish I had taken the chance to visit the campus. 

Congrats on the good news everyone !
 
I've withdrawn my other apps and committed to UMich.

Illinois (Urbana) acceptance!   and   .

Just got accepted into South Florida with full funding! It feels great to finally have somewhere.