chron

This school is outside of the US, so I don't think that rule applies. Anyways, I talked to this professor and there was a miscommunication. The prof says it's OK for me to wait until I receive the official offer before I have to decide.

A prof at a school I applied for contacted me and said that she would give me an offer, but then seemed to say that I'd have to tell her now whether or not I will be going there. I have not received an official offer, which seems contingent on this prof accepting me. I have not received word from any other school I applied to. How should I respond? I don't want to lose this offer, as it's possible I may not get in anywhere else, but I want to wait to see whether or not I've been accepted by other schools.

blake, your advice makes sense to me. However what confuses me is, I called one of my grad schools yesterday (the one that said I should contact profs after applying) and they said Master's applicants often list multiple areas of interest on their application. They also didn't seem to suggest a limit to the # of profs I should contact (though that's not the same as # of profs to list in my statement). I'll avoid listing several profs' names next time, but do I still have to keep to one area of interest - I linked them together with a common theme in my statement, though I'm not sure my readers will buy that argument. You may indeed be right, but you can understand why I'm unsettled on this due to the conflicting information I've heard.

I'm applying for a Master's (thesis-based) and not applying to a top 20 US school or equivalent. Should I be worried about getting stuck with a particular professor / research area upon admission? I had thought if I applied for a Master's rather than PhD I didn't need to have a specific research area in mind to get in. But one school says I should contact profs after I submit my application. Doesn't that mean I need to have a specific research area already in order to contact profs in that area? What should I say to the profs? How many profs can I contact? Even besides this particular school, I am confused about whether or not I should be declaring my areas of interest on my SOP, mentioning profs' names, or contacting profs. Although I think I have a general direction, I don't have a specific area of interest. I have been mentioning a few different areas of interest along with the names of a few profs on my SOPs so far, but I'm unsure if that's the way to go. Or if it's good or bad idea for me to be contacting profs at each grad school. I had thought that I would be able to enroll and spend some time talking to advisors and concentrating on courses at first before I have to pick my topic/supervisor for my thesis. But I'm also not a top candidate, and need all the help I can get to get into a grad school, so if it means I have to pick an area now I guess I should do it.

nohika, did you write this for one prof or did you name multiple profs (and if so how many)?

I'm applying for just a Master's not a PhD though I want to do a thesis option Master's. Do I have to mention a single specific area of interest on my SOP? Because although I have a general idea of what kind of areas I want to do, I haven't committed to a single area. On my SOP I basically said "I am interested in X. [details] I think profs A and B could be my supervisors" and repeated this about 3 times. Am I messing up by doing this, or is this a reasonable way to write? Also there's at least one grad school which said it's recommended that applicants contact a limited number of profs after they apply. This is something that has long confused me, whether or not I should have been contacting profs. If I do have to contact profs, it's hard to narrow it down to a few profs because I don't have a specific research interest. I mean I could pick one if I had to, but I had thought I would be able to take a couple of courses first as a Master's student then decide what to do my thesis on. Besides this particular school, should I be contacting profs or writing their names down on my SOP in general? If it matters, I'm applying to Canadian schools where you usually go for your Master's first then apply for a PhD.

I am applying for a Master's not a PhD, though I want to go for a thesis rather than coursework option, and the area is computer science. I'm afraid I have come across as a newbie and made KODs on the applications already. First, the statement of purpose - the first half of it basically went like this: "I am interested in (Area X). I would be interested in researching (blah blah) or I'm interested in this area because of this reason. ..... I believe professors A, B, and C could be potential supervisors." and then I repeated this 2 or 3 times. Did I commit a KOD? It's hard for me to say I want to go for a specific area though I think I have a general direction, but did I make myself look all over the place by doing this? And the professors are just names I listed who do research in the area - I've never contacted with them. I know this is a boring SOP but as someone who's admittedly not a candidate with a lot of accomplishments it's hard for me to write one. Also should I have been contacting profs? I've heard conflicting opinions on this which confuses me. I've heard some say that I should be emailing profs, but others say that I'd look like I'm buttering up to them and would make things worse. I've seen grad schools' sites say emailing profs would just annoy them and make me blacklisted, but now I see a grad school that says I should be contacting profs AFTER my application if I want to be admitted. I'm confused. Even if I were to email a prof, what would I say to them? Simply that I'd be interested to do research with them? What if I don't have a specific area of interest right now? Was that only supposed to apply to PhD applicants, or Master's too? Someone told me that I should have contacted profs before I applied, and only apply to a few schools which show particular interest in me, and that I am wasting money applying to more schools. But I've also heard that I'm not supposed to try to gauge my chances of admission by contacting people at the grad school.

anonak, I am in much the same situation as you, I have been unemployed or underemployed for practically the entire time after graduation and this is, on the surface, why I'm applying to go to grad school. It's not really that I'm particularly interested in academia. I'm also a "don't know what I want to do" person - actually, deep down I do have an idea of what I want in life, but it's not something that most people can understand, and I'll leave it at that. I don't really agree with the things Usmivka said - I know in practice, you shouldn't show this "attitude" to grad schools, but this is something about schools and employers for that matter that I really don't agree with. If I go to grad school, pass all the courses, fulfill my requirements, and get a degree, why should it matter whether I have a "direction" or not or whether or not I am super motivated and passionate about the field? If I'm capable of completing a degree, I deserve it. One thing most people don't understand (and I'm not saying that's necessarily the case with anonak) is that for some people it's mentally difficult to feel enjoyment or a lot of emotion towards things. Also, why should anonak be blamed for potentially lying - do you really think all those other applicants and grad students knew exactly what they wanted to do since they were a little kid and are as devoted to their field as they claim in their personal statements? If I was an employer, I would want to hire anonak for her humility and honesty, I like her attitude more the bragging, self-promoting type of personality this society rewards. For me, I am applying to grad school even though I realize I'm taking a risk. You may say you're supposed to "find yourself" then go to grad school, but isn't that the case too when you go for a career in the workforce? I figure the alternative would be to go back to my undergrad and start another Bachelor's all over again, but I feel that would be an even bigger risk in terms of admission as well as completing up to 4 years again vs. a 2 year Master's and the mental impact of knowing you're going backwards not forwards. If I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't have gone into my field, but the kind of things that I like relatively more in my field are more research based. So I'm taking a bet that I can find something fulfilling enough in grad school. I'm not worried about going to grad school, I'm pretty confident I can do it. I'm just worried about whether or not I can get in - I suspect I appear as a weak candidate and I don't know if I can convince a graduate school to admit me. Another advantage of going back to school is that there are counsellors to talk to. I don't expect it to be of much help, but that's a major goal of mines if I got into grad school. As for doing things like going into the Peace Corps, for one thing not everyone is from the US, but even if I did something like that, there will be the question of "then what?" after I complete my service with them. In summary, I'm aware there is a risk but I don't think going to grad school is a bad idea even if you're not someone that really knows what you want to do. As long as you think there are some areas in your field that you can tolerate. I just think the risk of not going may be worse and I would be questioning myself "why didn't I give grad school a chance?" in the future if I didn't apply now. So I'm going to give it a chance, and hope it works out for me.

Another school I applied for said on their department page that it required a statement of intent (without mentioning specifically what should be in it). I already submitted the application so it's probably too late now, but the general graduate studies page mentions a personal statement AND a research interest statement. It doesn't say every program necessarily needs both. Was the statement of intent I submitted supposed to be a personal statement, research interest statement, a hybrid of both, or neither? In any case, I didn't read the exact description of the statements on the general grad studies page before I applied, so I think I sort of screwed up. It's my fault, and I have to be more careful next time.

I wanted to mention this, in case someone experiences the same issue. One my grad school I recently applied for had, in their online application, a text box saying "briefly state your statement of purpose" or something similar. That confused me because it was a small text box and I thought SOPs were supposed to be much longer, and because the university was of Case 2 I mentioned above (requiring a statement of research interests for PhD applications but not Master's which is what I applied for). I also mistakenly thought I would be able to upload the document later, so I wrote in the text box "I will upload my SOP in a document". It turned out there were slots to upload required documents like the CV but not additional documents, so I ended up unable to upload an SOP. It was the night of the deadline, so it was too late to do anything about it (I couldn't go back to the text box section). I wish I had known and written a mini SOP in that text box, but it confused me at that time. I hope that didn't kill my application.

I think I'm going to miss a couple of deadlines too, the main problem for me being that some schools require things to be mailed to them and I am experiencing unexpected delays - I mailed a transcript order and my university unexpectedly hasn't even received the form. I underestimated how long it takes for transcripts to be processed/mailed. I wonder if I can get electronic official transcripts to be sent more quickly - IDK if they would accept that at least temporarily. Also I submitted an electronic application for a school, only to realize afterwards the rest of the documents were supposed to be mailed not done electronically. I just hope I don't waste my money applying to schools that won't look at my application because they don't receive mailed transcripts by the deadline. I hope they will be flexible with the deadline if I submit the rest of my application by time, but IDK. Anyway, good luck to you ktwho.

I'm annoyed right now because I ordered transcripts during the holidays and my university says they haven't even received the order form yet (and I live close by so mail shouldn't take that long to deliver). Maybe the mail got lost, but it means I'm likely going to miss up to 3 deadlines considering it'll still take a week for them to process the transcript plus mailing time. If I send a new order now, they can't guarantee that they'll cancel the old order and not cash in the cheque. I wonder if there's such thing as an "official" electronic transcript send directly from my university to the grad school. I could still submit the hardcopies but they'll at least get an electronic transcript quickly. I don't know if that's acceptable.

I posted this elsewhere but didn't notice this section so I hope posting this again is OK. I hear that grad schools require a statement of purpose, but I am confused because some of the grad schools I'm looking at don't mention it. I am mostly looking at Canadian schools, so maybe it's because of Canadian vs. American differences, I don't know. I have seen cases where: - they ask for a statement of research interests which I think lists what areas you want to study/research and potential supervisors, but not a statement of purpose - the above, but only for PhD not Master's applicants. (I am only applying for a Master's). - no mention of any statement or additional documentation. Maybe it's somewhere, but I can't find it on the university or department website. Can't find a mention of a resume/CV requirement even. - they ask for a statement of academic intent, but say it should be brief and seems to be mostly about what I want to study and career objectives though I could also mention past experiences. However, the SOP samples I found on the web are mostly about past experiences, like going through your resume in detail and talking about what inspired you and such. I get the impression it's not the same as what this grad school is asking for. (I'm looking at computer science programs specifically, if that makes a difference.) I'm not sure what I should be submitting in those cases (and in the 2nd/3rd case, anything at all?). Could someone clarify this for me? Thanks.

I'm confused about how grad schools require my official transcript to be sent to them. From my understanding, it means I have to buy official transcripts from my previous university by sending a form in the mail (I'm not on campus), then receive the transcripts in my mailbox, and then mail it to the grad school. But then I heard from someone that I'm not supposed to do this and that I should have gotten my previous university to send my transcripts directly to the grad school without me being involved in the mailing process. This is important because it takes time for my alma mater to process the official transcripts, plus time for the post office to do all the sending and shipping - I figure it could take 3 weeks and that's probably not "safe". I would likely miss some deadlines in that case. Should I tell my alma mater to send my transcripts directly? I think I'd still have to pay for the transcripts but it would save time. I've seen occasional grad schools who do want transcripts sent directly, but most seem to say they want me to send transcripts in offiical envelopes to them. I've also seen occasional grad schools which say I can just give them an electronic copy of my unofficial transcript now, but if I were admitted I'd have to send them an official one. IMO this is the best policy, but could I actually do this with other grad schools? I guess not but I just wanted to ask.

I am specifically looking at Canadian schools, so maybe this is a difference between what US schools usually want vs. Canada. I keep hearing about this statement of purpose I'm supposed to write, but at least some of the schools I'm looking at don't seem to mention it. In some cases, they mention a statement of research interests which lists what areas you want to study and potential supervisors. Sometimes it says they just want that for the PhD not Master's (I am applying for a Master's). Sometimes there's no mention of a statement or even any additional documentation at all, which makes it unclear if even a resume/CV is required. Sometimes it says they want a statement of intent, but the description seems to suggest it's mostly about what you want to study or future goals, whereas the sample statements of purpose I've seen on the web are mostly about describing your past and elaborating on your resume. What should I be submitting to them?

If I'm unlikely to have a shot at those places, then could you give suggestions on universities that I could apply to? (Preferably near Ontario but elsewhere in Canada is fine, as long as it's English speaking*). Somewhere that still has a decent program, or at least somewhere I wouldn't be embarrassed to attend. If the truth is that I'm unlikely to get in anywhere, then I want to know that too. *actually if you can this for the US, or anywhere, let me know too.

I am asking this because, quite frankly, my situation is a bad one, and probably worse than anyone else on this site. I have a Bachelor's in computer science, but that was a couple of years ago. I have not had success after graduation and I have been unemployed for the last few years, at least not meaningful employment. Therefore, it's practically impossible for me to get a meaningful job at this point, unless I go back to school. This is why I want to go to grad school - it's the last straw for me. If I can't get in, I would have to give up my career entirely and I'd have to start over again by doing another Bachelor's which has its own complications, and means I won't be able to have a career until I'm in my 30s. Either that or I resign to the fact that I'll never do better than a McJob for the rest of my life. My marks aren't stellar but they're enough to meet a grad school's minimum requirements. I never did research as an undergrad - that's likely the key. I don't know if I have any chance of getting in if I don't have that. I did Co-op as a student, but that may not compensate for lack of research. Besides that and one brief job afterwards there is nothing I can mention. If grad schools take my resume gap into account just as employers do, then I'm done. I may have trouble finding references, but I'll assume for now I can find 2 profs and one past employer to write a letter of recommendation. I realize if they won't do that, then I'm done, I have no chance of getting in. Do I have a chance of getting into grad school? I'm in Canada and I'm only considering Canadian schools at this point, and I'm going to apply for a Master's not a PhD, though I believe in Canada most people are only supposed to apply for a Master's. Are there specific schools that I should not apply for because I would have zero chance? Or schools that I would have a chance at? I'd rather go somewhere half decent given my undergrad is, I believe, considered a top school in the field, but I guess I should take anything at this point. It's hard to say which schools are harder to get in than others because they all require a B to B+ average, which I meet, and few other details. If you ask why I don't just go to a community college, it's because I'm not really interested in those sort of classes. I'm actually not that interested in typical IT stuff or even some aspects of computer science. If I got into grad school, I would go for something on the math or algorithms side of CS, like AI is something I could do. Or something numeric computation related - I was thinking about possibly applying for a computational math/science type program rather than CS. I also thought about bioinformatics, but I don't know if they require a biology background to be admitted which I don't have. Please help me if you have any suggestions or advice.