rising_star

I've known lots of people that have done it. One of my favorite people in my cohort moved here on a Fulbright from Chile with his wife, who doesn't speak much English. They were able to find a network of other Chileans at the University and she's been able to make friends of her own, find work, and improve her English. If there's a will, there's likely a way.

Billy1, master's or PhD? I think for a master's, particularly a professional one, it's not all that important. If you do contact profs, you need to make sure it doesn't come across like you're brown-nosing at this stage in the application process. It's difficult to do sometimes, but definitely not impossible. The sample email IvyHope suggested could work, with some modifications obviously since you've already applied. I wouldn't have anything like "I hope you view my application positively/favorably" in there, as that'll make it seem like you're trying to influence them (which you are but don't be so obvious about it, you know?). I would avoid asking if they're accepting students (it's something more commonly asked before you apply or after you get in), mentioning anything about being a prospective match, and talking about your goals. I'd have some definitive questions about their work and show a strong connection between it and your interests. Good luck!

I think it does a lot of good, especially if you've done well. It shows the faculty that you're capable of doing graduate-level work, researching independently, writing extensive research papers, and balancing the time commitments of graduate school. If you write a thesis, it's even better. I think my MA work really was an asset, as I got into all the PhD programs I applied to.

Billy1, I think a lot depends on what kind of programs you're applying to. Did you already apply? If so, MA, MPP/MPA, or PhD? For a PhD applicant, I think it's important to contact faculty before you apply to make sure that the faculty in your research interest are accepting new students. If you've already put in applications, it can't hurt to try and make contact with the faculty you've mentioned in your SOP. But, you may want to wait until you're accepted. After getting accepted, it's important to contact faculty to see what courses they will be teaching, their involvement on student committees, etc.

Bikov, many REUs offer housing and a summer stipend to participants, to offset income they might otherwise get from taking on a summer job. Have you looked into that as a funding possibility? Obviously, it wouldn't help with the plane ticket but it would certainly help with your living expenses.

Actually, I know what GIS stands for. It's either Geographic Information Systems or Geographic Information Science. I meant that I've never heard of a class called "GIS programs", unless the OP means that the class focused on a particular GIS package like ArcGIS (which might make sense since the other thing mentioned was SAS, which is a statistical package). I was just asking for clarification so I could see how relevant they are to the OP's grad school plans...

I wouldn't say that you weren't good enough, jpark. Sometimes faculty are at their advising max and don't take on new students because then they couldn't work effectively with all of their students. My advisor does this periodically, in part because he has 9 students and doesn't think he can handle any more than that (and wants to get that number back down to 6...).

I think you've gotten some good answers over in applyingtograd on LJ. If the deadline has passed, it's worth it, I think, to check with the schools and see if additional materials would even be considered. Some will say yes, some will say no. Obviously, you don't want to send the transcripts to the schools that say no. If the deadline hasn't passed, go ahead and send the transcript. If possible, include some sort of note that lets them know that this is a newer version of what they already have on file. Otherwise, they might check to see if they already have a transcript for you from University X and not even examine the new one. Unrelated: Where did you end up applying? And what's GIS programs?

IvyHope, for the record, name-calling is 100% inappropriate on this forum. I did not call you any names, just pointed out that the position you're taking seems silly to me. You are, of course, free to do whatever you want. However, you are not free to call posters on this forum names because you dislike the advice they have to offer. Consider this a warning.

I think my point is that you're being silly, borderline ridiculous, by keeping a job you hate for those reasons. Keep it because you need the money or you love the work or whatever, but not for grad application reasons. No one has time to waste calling places where you do or used to work. If you hate your job, quit it. Otherwise, you're making ridiculous excuses for keeping yourself some place where you aren't happy. To me, that's inconceivably stupid.

What have you got to lose? Apply to the program in-state and others out of state to give yourself a good shot of getting in somewhere.

This is so NOT going to happen that I'd quit the job. Applying to graduate school isn't like applying to a job where they call your past employers to verify your employment. If they wanted to call anyone, it'd be the people that wrote recommendations on your behalf. And, since when you submitted the application you were working there, there really aren't any ethical issues. There are a couple of factors here. 1) Will the internship give you valuable experience that will help you in graduate school? 2) Do the schools have organized visit weekends with admitted students? 3) How much time/energy/money will you have in early April to visit schools? 4) How many schools did you apply to? For reference, I went on visits to 4 programs in spring 2008, largely on consecutive weekends. I enjoyed getting to spend a few days at each school, meet with faculty, meet current students, etc. I wouldn't rush that process though there were times when I knew on the first day that the school wasn't the right fit for me. You may be able to do some of that weeding out through Skype or Google chat conversations though.

NOPE. Don't even bother. It's a total waste of your money to do it. The only time to send updated transcripts is upon enrollment, when they're needed to verify receipt of your degree.

I almost want to change the subject line of this entire thread because it's so NOT a huge mistake. A huge mistake is naming the wrong professors or listing the wrong centers on campus. A huge mistake is telling them you want to study flying bananas instead of a particular species of flying monkey, etc.

I only ever got one by phone. My prospective advisor called me up in the middle of the afternoon. Her number showed up unknown on caller ID and, on a whim, I decided to answer it. It was like 2pm-ish on a weekday in February. I was actually in my office at school and had to run outside so I didn't have to whisper. She congratulated me on getting in and offered me a chance to visit, on their dime, and told me to email her to schedule the visit. If anything, you need to have a nice, professional sounding voicemail on your phone.

When I applied to MA programs, I sent handwritten thank you notes to all my recommenders. When I applied to PhD programs, the profs that wrote my recommendations were the same 3 profs on my thesis committee. So, I waited until after my thesis defense and final submission (they all knew what programs I was accepted to, visited, and decided to attend well before this since I didn't submit until July [though I defended in early April, don't ask]) before sending hand-written thank you notes with a gift certificate to a restaurant in town that they like. This was pretty specific since two of the profs are vegetarian and I got them certificates to one of the only vegetarian restaurants in town, which I've eaten with them at and know they and their kids and spouses enjoy going to (and the restaurant lets guests use gift certificates on beer/wine as well as food). My committee members got $25. My advisor got $50.

Not everyone has professors to ask...

Many programs will offer you a funding package (tuition waiver, stipend, etc.) that's separate from a financial aid package (which would consist of loans). If you're missing paperwork after being admitted and accepting an offer, the department/university should let you know.

Hi tahagedo, I took the liberty of making this a new post. You can change the topic by clicking "edit" on your first post and changing the subject line. As far as your chances, I don't know about soc so I can't say. I just wanted to say that you might want to look into geography programs since there's a lot of overlap with your interests (as long as you don't think "space" is a dirty word).

Research/internship experience may be as helpful or more helpful to you than going to a "good" MA program. The reason I say that is because value depends a lot on your interests and who you work with. I'm not in your field but, I didn't go to a top MA program and was able to get into great PhD programs because of the research and networking I did as a MA student.

For all you know, half the people on this board could be high school dropouts. Since most SOPs begin in college, there's little way for an adcom to know if one dropped out of high school...

I applied to 6 schools for the MA and 6 (technically 7 but one was to stay where I was) for the PhD. In hindsight, there are 2 schools I shouldn't have bothered applying to for the MA and at least 3 I shouldn't have wasted time/money on when doing PhD applications. Honestly though, from websites and emails, the schools seemed like they'd be a good fit for me. It wasn't until I visited that I realized what awful choices some schools were...

Don't harass them too much about missing materials. I'd wait more than a few days after the deadline, at least a week. Think about it. You and probably a hundred other people applied to that program, some quite close to the deadline. The person wading through applications and putting together the folders works an 8 hr day and, at the beginning and end of semesters, has a lot of work to do for current graduate students. Having watched my program's secretary go through this for two years, waiting at least a week or two is preferred. Our deadline was Jan 1 so when she came back to the office in January she had to finalize TA assignments and fix scheduling conflicts, handle anything that may have happened over break, and start compiling applicant's folders for the admissions committee. That's a lot to do. Not to mention that she doesn't come back to work on Jan 2 or work over the weekend. So if you call/email Jan 6, she probably won't have any kind of answer for you (simply because she's still opening envelopes and printing things off the electronic system) and might sound kind of frustrated. Patience really is key. I recommend not stressing about applications at all. I had an awesome backup plan when I applied for MA programs and a nonexistent one when I applied for PhDs. I never let myself get stressed out about either, to be honest.

I applied to social science programs. I think one factor that has to do with when you here is how highly ranked you are by the committee. If everyone thinks you're outstanding, they can quickly extend you an acceptance, rather than circulating your application among faculty or meeting to discuss. From what I understand, the decisions may come out earlier in the sciences and psychology since they often have interview weekends with applicants. Telling folks earlier gives them additional time to arrange travel, take time off work, etc. But in the humanities, where interviews are rare and the adcoms often have more applicants, they can take more time to inform applicants.

You might want to apply to some schools that aren't in the top 10. Do you have any research experience (senior thesis, research assistant, etc)? Is your writing sample strong? Did you have connections with the faculty at each school you applied to? As for GPA, a lot depends on which Ivy you went to. Some are known for grade inflation while others (ie, Princeton) have enacted grade deflation policies.