rising_star

Two thoughts: 1) We had a discussion on body modifications in graduate school before. See 2) This post isn't really appropriate for "Waiting It Out" so I'm moving it to "The Lobby".

When I applied to MA programs (way back in Fall 2005, to start in Fall 2006), I heard from two program by January 31. One had an application deadline of Jan 1, the other was Jan 15. YMMV of course.

coyabean, On your blog, you mentioned that you plan to add a couple of safety schools. Were they ones already on the list?

I'm not sure I'd mention it in the SOP because it might seem like you are just trying to make excuses for your performance, you know? Maybe ask your advisor or another trusted professor how to handle the GRE thing? Good luck on your retake!

I never cited any specific published work by the professors I was interested in working with in my SOPs. I had been in contact with all of them via email prior to applying, so I would mention that I'd talked to them and they had been interested. Or, be even more general and say that due to our shared interests in X and Y, I am applying to Univ B to work with Prof McAwesome.

I'm glad to see that you plan to get more specific. You seemed to be fighting that before both when you posted here and over on/in applyingtograd. It really is what your SOP needs. I think you have the right idea about how to tie together your interests. Good luck!

You sound competitive to me. I wouldn't even bother applying to master's programs.

You sound competitive to me. I wouldn't even bother applying to master's programs.

You know, it kinda depends. I don't do exactly what my advisor (or anyone else in my dept) does but we are interested in similar things, use the same methodology and theoretical framework, and he really "gets" my topic, even if he's not really that knowledgeable about my region of study or the specifics of my project.

Hmmmm... I worked pretty closely with my advisor when I was in a MA program. It was especially important to coordinate things like when I would submit drafts, when she would return them, when I would defend, etc. Plus, we worked pretty closely ont he content of my thesis. In other words, I think it's a mistake to say that MA students don't work closely with their advisors. I second everything fuzzylogician said about making contact and delaying application submission.

The requirement for TAs and RAs is 9 hours. In my MA program, pretty much everyone took 3 courses at a time for their first two semesters. I took four each of my first two semesters. For reference, we needed 8 courses plus thesis hours to graduate.

In my social sciences MA program, every social sciences seminar required a book a week of reading or 200 pgs of articles and book chapters, a 1-2 pg response paper weekly, leading discussion 1-2 times per semester, and a 15-25 page final paper. The more hard science-y seminars had 5 journal articles per week, leading discussion once or twice, and a 12-15 pg annotated bibliography or paper. In my PhD program, we typically read less, usually 2/3rds of a book rather than the whole book each week, and don't always have to write response papers. There's also, of course, the expectation that you are reading in your research areas, keeping up on the field, and taking copious notes to prepare for comprehensive exams and proposal writing.

Why are you considering applying there?

You might want to look at some of the other posts about this kind of thing. The general consensus is that yes, you want to mention faculty and that you should always demonstrate your fit with the program.

You may want to take a look at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Maryland, ASU (School of Sustainability), Kentucky, and UNC (both Charlotte and Chapel Hill). Maybe even Rutgers, Wisconsin-Madison, and UBC. Admits typically come with funding, though there are some exceptions. How much the funding is really varies, as do the number of years of guaranteed funding, the teaching requirements, and if the amount is really enough to live off of (I know that's been an issue at Washington in the past). The Arizona budget situation is as bad (and potentially soon to be worse) than that of the UC system not to mention that Robbins has a LOT of students at the moment. Nik Heynen is well known and well respected. UGA is a solid program with decent funding. FWIW, I haven't heard good things about Minnesota in recent years, including from two current near-completion PhD students. Not sure what your beef with Columbus is but, keep in mind, it's only temporary, it's a top program, and has a great group of faculty.

I wouldn't use "essential" but there's definitely a middle ground you can find....

I would list the place where you got your AA, at least until you earn a graduate degree. I still have the place where I did a semester of undergrad study abroad on my CV...

Well, it depends. We have all kinds of TA positions in my department, ranging from teaching lab sections and discussion sections to grading for someone to teaching your own course. It really just depends.

Here's the caveat I always give when it comes to using those NRC rankings. They came out in 1996 (the data were collected in 94 and 95). My advisor earned his PhD that year. Since then he has become one of the most cited young(er) academics in our subfield and the program he's now at wasn't even known for work in our area when those rankings came out. We consider ourselves a top 10 program (and fully expect to be so whenever those new NRC rankings come out) but that isn't reflected in the old ones where we're somewhere in the mid 20s (for reference, there are only like 60 PhD programs in the country in my discipline). So use them with a grain of salt since there's been a lot of faculty movement and up and coming stars since then.

Depending on the program, you may have a lot of flexibility as a TA. In my program, when we teach our own courses (which all PhD students do), we get to decide everything for the course except when and where it meets.

Honestly, I wouldn't be too put off by it. What I mean by that is a LOT of schools are having budget problems and tuition hikes, and many more will have them in FY 2012, which is when the stimulus package runs out. My university president referred to July 2011 as falling off a cliff because of the role the stimulus money is currently playing in keeping the doors open.

I think a lot of it depends on your undergraduate coursework and how related the two fields are. I moved from the humanities for undergrad to the social sciences for grad school. But, my humanities major was interdisciplinary and I took a number of religion and anthropology courses, did a minor in area studies, etc. So it wasn't a huge stretch to say that my interests in that region shifted from literature to the social sciences. No one expected me to do another bachelor's, or even to take a bunch of undergrad courses. So yea, it all depends.

My BA was in a humanities discipline so there was no experiment design or whatever. I had the two main texts picked out and read, and had some of the criticism picked out and skimmed. Oh, and I'd written maybe 8 single-spaced rough pages beforehand because we had to turn in something in December about the project. (Sadly, my argument about the texts changed.) But basically, I sat down and wrote the damn thing because I had to. Also, there's weird formatting with theses so one of the margins was like 1.5" or something plus it's all double-spaced. I feel like I only wrote about 10K words, maybe a little more. And, for the record, doing all the writing in a month or less is totally doable. For my MA thesis, I had the data and some of the lit review done but wrote it in January because my advisor wanted a full draft on Feb 1. I started writing the first day of spring semester, decided to take in two foster dogs a week or so later, and didn't do much work on the weekends due to an out-of-town significant other. And I totally made that deadline, handing in 75 pages double-spaced (later expanded to 100). Wait, maybe my BA thesis was only 95 pages because I know it was shorter. Okay, I just found and opened by BA thesis. The works cited starts on pg 92. The 105 pgs is my MA thesis.

When I applied to MA programs, I told a school they were my top choice. They let me in with full funding. YMMV.