silver_lining

drunk driver

school bell

strip tease (the novel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_Tease_(novel) )

stress relief

exam stress

Final Fantasy

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cable tv

On my CV, some items are marked as declined, but as you don't know what you will be doing yet, I see no ethical issue to including it even if you decline it later. I am sure academics realize that things like conference attendance may change rapidly. I am assuming that the conference is in the Spring? If that is the case, then it is likely they will have read your CV even before you decline. Not sure about every school. I know Princeton allows you to send in your first semester grades via the application website and I wouldn't be surprised if other applications have the same useful feature. If not, e-mail the grad secretary. However, if you are not able to update it, I wouldn't fret. If you've received good grades the previous semesters, the probability of you doing terrible is small and adcoms know this (I think...). Disclaimer: I don't have much experience, so if any current grad students or faculty would like to add to this/correct me, it would be appreciated.

I know someone who was in a similar situation, but in a different field. Half accepted the updated CV, the other half said it would be an unfair advantage to accept anything updated after the due date. I would try to update it if I were you. However, don't be surprised if you are turned down. Probably best to email the grad secretary/coordinator.

sail away

cool tune

pony tail

This. Very difficult not to do. I am guilty of it.

Media Player

One of my letters is missing. It is clear that this professor started the letter since it is listed as "in progress." He submitted to other schools already, so I believe he must have just forgot about this one. He never responded to any of the reminder emails I've sent him over the course of this process (a total of 2 e-mails, so I am sure I have not irritated him). I have sent him a reminder via the application, but I don't know how to approach reminding him through email again... I hate sending reminder emails. The application is due today. His lack of communication makes me feel like I've done something wrong, but I don't know what.

Remove this: "although I will admit that this was a true test of my determination because quantitative studies are a weakness of mine, as evidenced my GRE score." - If I were you, I wouldn't admit that I am weak in quant even if your GRE quant score isn't great. In fact, I would probably put more stress on the fact that you've taken statistics courses, which could make up for your GRE score. and this: "My attention was drawn to SCHOOL'S Political Science Department from a little word of mouth via a friend, which prompted me to look into the professors and their published works, mainly because I love to read but because I wanted to see if anyone performed any research similar to what interests me." - In my opinion, I don't think adcoms are going to care about how you've heard about their program, so remove this as well. I don't do research on American politics, so I don't feel comfortable commenting on the rest. However, I also struggled with the 500 word limit. The shortest I ever got mine was 1000 words....

wrote "Lacunae of the Literature" instead of "Lacunae in the Literature" in the table of contents of my writing sample.... Now I am certain I will be rejected everywhere.

Glad I am not the only one with these problems! One did not respond to my emails as well (I sent him a reminder 1 week prior to each "major" deadline). Chasing him down was a pain. They are all in now though. On the other end of the spectrum, I had one absolutely lovely letter writer that submitted each letter within 1 hour - 2 days of receiving a notification! Amazing!

It varies by school. If you look at the results page, you can assess which schools are most likely to call you. I think it is a generational thing (at least I hope it is. I may just be strange). I am more likely to respond to texts and e-mails than phone calls.

I agree with TakeruK on this. I took the LSAT when I was a sophomore, but I didn't report it to schools (I even answered "no" where it was asked if I took it. I got a 170 so nothing to be ashamed of). I do not feel guilty because I interpreted the question similar to TAKEruK. I also covered up portions of my GRE score report. I guess this may mean I will go to hell, but I will deal with that then.

Do not object. I was just wondering if there was more to it than just reducing workload. I do hope they get paid for it.

During my search to see if anyone has actually written an article on this, I ran across an article by a Political Scientist on admissions (no, not the Gary King one) and according to this article there are graduate students on the admissions committee. I realize that they play a very small role in admissions, but why even have them on the committee?

Every time I read my CV and SoP I feel like an impostor. Everyone feels this way at some point in their academic career (unless, of course, they have a huge ego). It will get worse once rejections come along, but rejection is something to be accustomed to in academia, unfortunately. Just realize that you are indeed good enough for the programs you are applying to and are smart.

You are looking way too far into it. Often things can be misinterpreted when faculty/students are from different countries and, therefore, have different customs. I studied in two different countries and I remember very well the vast differences between student/professor interaction and even the way e-mails would be addressed!