rising_star

It's really not a big deal. Most of us take classes at multiple institutions, after all! Just say something like "I enrolled in XXX to strengthen my background in subject Y" in your SOP. No need to talk about fit or anything. For all they know, you looked into classes at all the NYC schools and the Columbia course was the best fit for your schedule.

The Academic Jobs Wikia page does have a page for humanities and social science postdocs. That's the only one I know of. Good luck!

Daisy123, there's no need to go worse case scenario on this. A lot of faculty deliberately don't check their work email during breaks. That's not personal, that's about preserving one's sanity and actually getting a vacation from time to time. As for having 10 days to go to Vegas, it's really not necessary to meet with a POI in person before applying or even before accepting an offer. You could exchange emails, talk on the phone, or Skype before your application if you really want to get to know the POI better.

What would you hope to get out of emailing now? Are there specific questions that they could help you with after you submit your application and before you hear if you've been admitted? My guess is there's nothing overly important that you must ask now and didn't ask before. Given that, I would wait until you hear about admissions to contact POIs.

There is no need to cross-post. People can see your post regardless of the forum. To those who wish to reply, please go here:

Oh, what TakeruK said is important. You definitely don't want to inconvenience anyone with the transportation. But, if there's a spot, you should go with that, rather than arranging your own solo transportation. I say this because (what seems like eons ago), I went on a visit weekend for admitted students. They put us all in the same hotel. After the last full day of programming (so, day 2 there), the whole group of us ended up hanging out in the hotel's restaurant/bar and discussing the weekend, the professors, if we were planning to go, etc. There was one person who was an undergrad there but ze came back to the hotel too (can't remember why) and was also part of those conversations. I think it was good for all of us even though none of us ended up attending that school. (That part is another story entirely and is also legendary in that department.)

I have never asked for a "strong" letter of recommendation. Ever. I ask if people are willing/interested in writing a letter for X, Y, or Z, and leave it at that. My assumption has always been that if the letter won't be favorable, they'd tell me. But, I also wouldn't ask someone that wouldn't write a favorable one. At this point, jujubea, I wouldn't ask the recommender anything at all unless it's to make sure the letters were submitted. Don't ask about the content. Don't fish around to try to ascertain the content. Just let it go. They're in and there's literally nothing you can do about the letter right now.

My advice (same as every year): Don't sweat it. Two days late is not a big deal. Think about it. Your apps are due January 1. Most universities are closed from before Christmas until after New Year's Day. This year, many won't reopen until January 5. That means absolute no one is around to even know the letter is missing. And, more importantly, one late letter isn't the kiss of death for your application. I told this story elsewhere already but I'll add it here too. I once had a program admit me and then tell me they were missing the 3rd rec letter and needed it to nominate me for a university-wide fellowship. This was 3 weeks after the application deadline, mind you. Everyone knows a late letter isn't your fault and they don't hold it against the applicant.

From an email I received. Please see below for more information. ======== The University of Illinois at Springfield solicits applications for the MA in Environmental Studies for the fall 2015 semester. We offer three concentrations: Sustainable Development & Policy; Environmental Planning & Management; and Environmental Humanities. Our students have access to our GIS Laboratory, the Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon, and the many resources associated with our location in the state capital. For more information please visit our department website (uis.edu/ens) or contact the department chair (Dennis Ruez; druez2@uis.edu). Financial Support. Most of our on-campus students are supported by the Graduate Public Service Internship (GPSI) program (gpsi.uis.edu), an ideal experiential opportunity for students interested in working for government agencies. These interns work half time in the fall and spring, full time in the summer, for a state agency in exchange for a stipend and tuition waiver. Most of our department’s interns work with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, but many other options are available. Other support is available via Graduate Assistantships, the Illinois Legislative Staff Intern Program, and the Whitney Young Fellowships. Information on all of these programs is on the GPSI website hyperlinked above. Please note that these support packages require a separate application from the one seeking admission to the Department of Environmental Studies (ENS). Your application to the university/department for the fall semester needs to be complete by March 1 so that the GPSI and other support programs can begin to make their decisions on March 15. The University of Illinois at Springfield also offers the MA in Environmental Studies in an entirely online format, but university financial support is generally not available for those students.

So I did a bit of everything in grad school, including finding roommates via Craig's List (or roommates.com back in the day), finding a roommate in the local paper, and living alone. Almost all of the situations were fine though they did vary. The first year of my MA, I had an awesome roommate. I lived with an undergrad senior, who was an education major and doing student teaching (so very busy, at least as busy as I was as a first year grad student). We got along fabulously and years later I was invited to their wedding. While living together, we both went from single to in a relationship. We would sorta alternate who was at home with their date and who wasn't but it was very informal and was never a huge issue (the person I was dating lived alone so I'd often just hang out over there). We also went grocery shopping as a household so that everything in the fridge was open to everyone. We bought both things we liked individually and stuff we both liked as well as household goods. It sounds weird but it worked out really well. We'd cook meals for one another and eat together, though not every day or anything. It ended up working out super well and, obviously, we're still friends all thanks to the ad she put in the local weekly paper. The second year of my MA, I lived with three grad students. That was kind of a disaster. Of the three, I only still talk to one of them. And that one is not the one I was in the same department as. All sorts of craziness happened, including a roommate hoarding cans of soda, a roommate hiding a dog in their room, and having a foster dog that tried to kill every living thing in sight. It was completely exhausting. During my PhD, I spent the first 2 years living with a couple of undergrads. They were a couple. Things were okay most of the time but they'd do really annoying things like be gone for 12 hours so that I had to be the one to let out, feed, and play with their dog (without asking me) and then get upset if I'd say in advance that I wanted to go out for drinks after class and ask them to let the foster dog out (we had a fenced backyard so this wasn't a major task). They also shaved my foster dog without my permission one day while I was gone. And then there were the impromptu dinner parties they'd throw for 6 friends and only tell me about 1-2 hours before people were due to come over. I stayed there for two full academic years because the rent was cheap and the house was within a mile of campus. But, I wasn't sad to leave there and I've never talked to them since. Since then, I've basically lived alone. During fieldwork, I had a roommate for several months but, once they moved out, I didn't even look for a replacement. What I like about my last two places (an apartment in a huge complex and a townhouse in a community of 6 townhouses) is that I've had next door neighbors I get along with at both places. It means that, if I want to socialize, I have someone I can talk to. At the same time, if I want to be left alone, that's super easy. At the apartment, my neighbors also had a dog so I would go over there and we'd let our dogs play together while we chatted or drank a beer. Where I live now, I'll go over and we'll just chat for an hour or so once a week, which is fun. I don't know if I'd want to live in a house by myself since I'd be a lot more isolated that way, although I used to a few years ago. It's also different once you're beyond coursework because, at least in my field, that means you're often working alone and on whatever schedule you like, so you don't see people as often.

Definitely follow the instructions! (As an instructor, I routinely stop reading once student's go over the page count for an assignment. So, if I said 300 words and you submitted 750 words, I'd only read the first 300 words. If they're really, really, really good, I might skim the rest but you really shouldn't count on anyone being so generous with their time.)

You'd have to meet the requirements for both subjects in terms of coursework and the CBEST/Praxis II tests. It'll be much harder to earn both if they aren't related but it's probably possible.

The one thing I would suggest is making sure that you use the same transportation as the other people interviewing. That is, show up at the hotel and get a ride from there rather than just showing up on campus. I say this because there could be grad students doing the driving, which lets you ask more questions, and also because you may want to start to get to know your future colleagues sooner rather than later. You can definitely skip the drinking part. Or, you could go and just drink a soda. That's an informal time that's really about you learning more about the program. I've seen people go to bars and just get a Shirley Temple, club soda, or cranberry juice.

We're well aware that the search function needs work. Unfortunately, we're also all either PhD students or full-time workers, which makes it hard to rewrite the code behind the search.

Send the email now and also send the handwritten note. That way, he'll have both!

I'd go with the more direct statement while also giving your POI an out. It's worth asking though they may decline. And, given the time of year, don't be surprised if you don't hear back for several days.

caroline, keep improving your grades but also make sure you continue to gain relevant experience through internships and summer employment. And, try to take courses in your areas of interest. You may even try to do an independent study or thesis to further pursue your interests.

It depends. I find that I get bored with the seminar refreshments because they are the same thing over and over. Some are better than others though. So, while you could rely on them to substitute for meals, you could also very easily get bored of doing that.

I would wait it out. There's no point in emailing POIs after submitting and before you hear about whether you've been admitted or not. Check the results survey and the "Biology" subforum for more information on whether there are recruitment visits and when you might be notified. Good luck!

It is definitely a good sign but nothing is guaranteed, Flaco12. Also, you don't say whether or not this is a trip where they're paying you to come visit or if you'd have to pay. If they're flying you in, housing you, and providing meals, that's a good sign in terms of admissions. But, as already mentioned, nothing is guaranteed.

OP, please don't put that in your SOP. Like none of it. It's completely out of place in a document where you're talking about your research interests and why you want to attend that program. (Also, don't include it because the language is off-putting and sorta reads like you're so difficult to work with that no one would write you a good letter, which I know isn't what you're trying to convey.)

I don't think a lot of schools ask for them later on, unless you're planning to enroll there. So that really just gives you one semester to raise your grades if the applications are due next fall. And really, shoot for funded programs.

You just posted a comment in it, bananasinpajamas. It's called "Interviews and Visits".

If only 5 is a great fit, then just apply to five.

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read the original post. If you didn't get in with that SOP before, why use it again? Sure, your goals and research interests probably haven't changed but you should change the rest of it so that you come across as a more compelling candidate this time around, CBHH.