rising_star

When you speak with the department, phrase it as a partner that will be relocating with you. They don't need to know whether you are or are not married. Also, make sure to find out which, if any, of the functions s/he is invited to attend.

I do tons of things: hang out with friends, drink, watch TV, watch movies, watch football, train capoeira, etc.

In looking at CVs, you never see the person's GPA on there. It's not on mine...

I'm going to reply, even though I'm a second year PhD student. Last semester of undergrad: - 3 courses (normal load was 2 and I only needed to take 2 but couldn't decide which lit class to drop): two for my major; and stats for sociologists to meet the math requirement - Senior thesis (didn't really start on it until mid-January; advisor dropped off the face of the planet and gave me no guidance whatsoever) - Senior exams (required) Aside from that, I had two part-time jobs and was in a leadership role in an extracurricular activity (theater). There was probably something else but I can't remember. Last semester of MA: - Took one class, just for fun really since I'd already completed all the coursework requirements - Continued working at my part-time job off-campus (worked 12-15 hours/week, desk job so I could get some other work done while there) - Took in two untrained foster dogs in January, the same month in which I wrote my entire MA thesis - kept weekends open since the significant other lived an hour away and worked full-time so weekends were our time together - Had massive roommate drama at home and almost moved out of my apartment - Visited 4 of the 7 programs I was accepted to for a weekend each (usually Thurs-Sun) - Presented at two national conferences

Not in your discipline but my advisor swears that some people hurt their own cause by visiting while applying.

I think this depends on the prof and the discipline. In my discipline, we're on a first name with all profs because they consider us junior colleagues. I do know however, that in a related field, the male profs prefer for students (grads and undergrads) to call them Dr. LastName. I say that it's never rude to be overly formal/polite (Dr. LastName) until told otherwise. You can never offend someone by being polite.

1) Grades don't really matter as long as you don't lose your funding. 2) Think about your research when the coursework gets you down. That's helped me. 3) Remember that the first year is the hardest. 4) Go do something fun before your last final and use the break to really relax.

Dogs aren't THAT hard, especially if you've already had them. And I say this as someone that fosters dogs, and started doing so during the second year of my MA. *looks over at the sleeping foster dog on the couch* Dogs do well with routine, which can actually help give structure to your schedule. I rather enjoy the goofy silliness that awaits me when I come home.

Totally not cool to say that and then say nothing else. What do life experience and emotional maturity have to do with doing research in the humanities and social sciences?

I had typos in my SOPs and I can confidently say it didn't affect whether or not I got in. You wanna know why? There are typos in peer-reviewed journal articles and books for goodness sake.

@caitlina, lol. You're like the new Ferrero!

They'll see the dates and they will have seen you at conferences. Plus, if they're worth their salt, they will Google you before inviting you for a campus interview (or even a phone interview in these uber-competitive times).

I'm with everyone else on the geography concerns. I really, really hate cold weather and get sick a lot when I live in it so I only applied to one school north of the Mason-Dixon line. But, as for fit, I think it has a lot more to do with the programs than with rankings. I paid no attention to rankings, but paid careful attention to fit (as in, who would be my advisor and would I be happy spending 5 years working for/with that person).

Mentioning every prof in your subfield is overkill, imo.

I would definitely NOT list acknowledgments. I'm acknowledged in my mother's dissertation but I'd never list it since she finished her PhD when I was 8. I agree with the advice to list the research duties on your CV.

Awww, come on, go into the reasons!

Dom Perignon

They may remember, they may not. When I emailed a prospective advisor prior to applying to PhD programs, she basically disregarded my latest email with research interests and questions and said, "Didn't you email me two years ago [when I was applying to MA programs]? Here's the response I sent you then. Have a great day!" Ignoring the fact that it was a totally a**hat email, especially since my research interests had changed quite a bit, I'm imagining that if she's on an adcomm she would remember the app from the year before.

You don't have to count the words to realize that an SOP is longer than a lot of the other ones you've seen...

I meet people in other departments through my friends, many of whom did their MAs in other depts at our university, through extracurricular activities (I train capoeira but other people take dance or yoga classes, play ultimate frisbee, join a cycling club, etc.), and by just hanging out at the coffee shop or a bar. And yes, I definitely have time to meet people. It's all about time management.

Okay, I'm not in history but here's my $0.02. I don't think anyone is 100% committed to something before starting, nor do I think grad schools want that. I had some general ideas about the subfield in which I wanted to work and the methodology and theoretical framework I wanted to use, which is what I used to decide on "fit". Like, if you're really interested in Soviet history, why apply to programs with no Soviet historians? You won't get to take seminars that will help you refine and develop your interests if the program has no one to teach them. Maybe history is totally different than my discipline and taking coursework outside of your research interest is what you do for the entire coursework portion of the program... If you suspect the people you might want to work with are lying, why even bother applying? I'm saying this in all seriousness. If you don't think their interest in your research topic is genuine, why waste the time/money applying? Or, is it that you think they find the research topic interesting but aren't actually interested in working with you? Why is it a fact? Because you said so? It doesn't matter if the program is ranked #1 if there's no one that can advise the research that you want to do. The ranking certainly won't help you if you never get accepted. Furthermore, there's no guarantee that going to a higher ranked program will get you a better job. Why? Because your research, its quality, your teaching evaluations, and your peer-reviewed publications all play a factor in where you get a job. If you go to the #1 program but don't ever publish and don't write a quality dissertation, you're going to lose out on jobs to people attending lower-ranked schools every time. So yea, I'm not really sure how it's a fact that everything aside from program ranking is ludicrous, unless that's just what you tell yourself to justify your application strategy. So do you actually have people you're interested in working with at all of these programs? Or are you applying to them solely because of their ranking? And, if so, which set of rankings did you use?

I wouldn't bother spending $20 to overnight a SOP. Just email the grad secretary on Monday and ask if you can either fax or email as an attachment (PDF would be best) a properly formatted version.

I think above a 3.5 is a good GPA in graduate school. Really, anything that keeps you progressing with your research and doesn't jeopardize your funding. Or whatever your advisor says is needed.

I think it's a real possibility. You have to show the department that they are the right place for you to study. If you can't do that, why should they accept you?

I'm still convinced I got into MA programs because of the fancy-pants name on my undergrad degree, especially since I didn't have a top GPA or super-high GRE scores, quality LORs from people that knew me well, or a focused SOP (and that's aside from the fact that I changed discipline!). So yea, the idea that admissions are "blind" is laughable.