MsDarjeeling

I'm only in an MA program, but I find when I feel this way at the end of the semester it is because the assignments that I have left literally don't interest me. If it is something I got to choose the topic for or whatever then I have no problem getting it done. And like you I get up often to snack, clean, use the phone, or whatever and waste a lot of time. What helps? A few things: Set a timer for 45 minutes, turn on meditation music, and force myself to work. Take 15 minute break, then repeat for a total of 3 hours. Stop working at home. Go to the school library, public library, coffee shop, park (if its warm), etc. Do not plan to spend the whole day working. Carve out time to go run errands, watch a movie, meet friends, etc. I have to get some work done if I want to meet my *go have fun* deadline.

I'm doing a PS as well and yes it is different than the SOP. In the PS you're talking about you as a person, not your research experience or interests or publications and what not. Here you can address anything that has made you who you are and led you in the academic/career direction you're going in. So for example: Did you/your family immigrate from somewhere else? Did you study abroad or just travel a lot? Peace Corp or AmeriCorp service? Were you an older/nontraditional student? Grow up impoverished? Did you take a year off to care for a dying relative? Any of those things could apply or you could also consider if you had an *aha* moment that made you realize this was the direction you wanted to go in. Now some people use the PS to talk about extreme challenges like beating cancer or drug addiction, but I personally would not recommend that. Of course it is up to the individual to determine what best describes who they are and what they wish to share with a bunch of strangers.

Ahhh yes the too broad or too specific debacle. I'm in psych and eventually narrowed down my interests to 3 broad topics. For each topic I have very specific things I wish to focus on. So how I mentioned them depended largely on the school I was applying to and the faculty member I was trying to say I *fit* with. The faculty members website profile, cv, and publications was helpful in letting me know how best to present this information. For example, lets say my broad research interest is attention deficit disorder, but specifically I wonder about the differences between diagnosing and treating adolescent girls versus adolescent boys. Ok so University Z has Dr. Smith who lists one of his research interests as attention deficit disorder. His publications indicate a variety of subtopics including many focusing on adolescents, diagnosis, and treatment. I would mention my specific interest and highlight related projects I had done. Now on the other hand lets say University M has Dr. Jones who lists attention deficit disorder as a research interest. However, his publications include only subtopics aimed at adults. Does that mean he has zero interest in adolescents? Not necessarily and I could contact him to ask. In this case I might just mention the broad research interest and be sure to highlight various projects (whether broad or specific) that I've done related to this topic. As for your desire to pursue Sociology and Statistics? I do not think there is anything wrong with you emphasizing your desire to incorporate Statistics if you're applying to programs that allow you to study both. They might think it strange if you weren't genuinely interested in both. If you're applying to programs that don't offer a dual PhD, an en route Masters, or specialization in Statistics then you might want to downplay that slightly. Instead you could mention how you'd like to incorporate more coursework in that area because it relates to your research interests. Regardless, if you lead with Sociology and explain how Statistics enhances that then I think you will be ok.

YES! This has been my experience too and that is a plausible reason.

Well sure your boss could do that, but consider how it would look. Anybody could write a letter on ordinary paper and/or use their personal contact information. I think something like that would raise questions of legitimacy which you really don't have time for if your apps are due in a week. The only circumstance I can imagine that being appropriate is if your boss no longer worked for company x, but was writing you a letter anyhow. Then he'd use his personal stationary and contact information and explain in the letter that he is now at company y, but at the time of your employment at company x he was your supervisor. If your boss is willing to do the letter for you and he knows what hoops company x requires, is there anyway he can expedite the process? I'm guessing this wouldn't be the first time someone needed a letter on short notice so perhaps a work around is possible.

I'm in psychology and find my classes to be mostly female students and I don't feel the need to work harder to impress them because of my gender. I have noticed that I have to work much harder to impress female faculty than male faculty. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I recall feeling that way even in undergrad.

I think the others have given you some great input. The only other thing is that you should reply to her and just thank her for taking the time to consider your request. Many professors don't respond at all, let alone actually looking up info about a past student like she did. Now it is time to focus on who else you can ask.

The others have given you great food for thought. The only thing I would add is that how many letters your professor is willing to write may also depend on how much time you give them to meet the deadline. If you give them 3-4 weeks to do 18 letters, yeah I could understand them being annoyed. If you give them 2-3 months to do 18 letters then that may seem like something they can actually accomplish. It also may help to widen the number of professors you have writing letters for you. What I mean is instead of asking the same professor to write all 18 letters, ask 2 professors to each write 9. Surely you have more than one professor that can write you an outstanding letter and 9 is more manageable than 18.

I think the answer to this question depends on which school has done this and how many were sent out. Some schools may extend this offer based on gpa, attendance at a certain event, a degree program they're trying to expand, etc. It's yet another advertising tool and a form email that could have been sent to anyone is a hint. Under those circumstances it isn't really a selective offer so no I don't think it improves your chances of admission. Now I have heard of circumstances where a student was interested in a particular program at a very well known school, visited for more information, and someone important met with them and then chose to waive their application fee. That may not be something that happens to every single interested person so it may suggest improved chances of admission.

I don't think its rude, but I wouldn't leave them in the mailbox out of fear he may forget to check it. I'd slide them under his door.

Congratulations!

I 2nd TakeruK's suggestion. Some fields are unfortunately that competitive, but it does create a lot more work for professors. Hopefully this professor agrees to do some of them and then you can get someone else to take care of the others.

So basically you need to give them a reason to put you in the MS program? If I'm understanding your situation correctly. Well since the dept chair is also your advisor you could start by talking to them and stating your case. You haven't elaborated here (and you don't have to), but there must be a reason (or several) that you were unable to make satisfactory academic progress for two semesters. And I don't mean blaming other people, I mean actually taking responsibility for what happened and explaining any hardships or challenges. If you've had regular communication with your advisor they may already be in the loop, otherwise you have to bring them in. Then you need to state a clear plan for getting out with your MS. You mentioned needing 2 more units, but if there are any projects or quals you need to do then have a clear plan for how that will be accomplished and what you will do differently to remain in good academic standing. Then I'd take that same case to the dgs or whoever else is up the ladder that will be part of the decision.

Well there are people who get more than one Master's so I don't think adcom's will be surprised to see your application. Whether your prior MA is a hindrance or an asset is up to you. What do you think? Do you plan on utilizing both knowledge bases for your desired career? If not then why the sudden desire to switch gears? I think the key is to avoid looking like you have no idea what you want to do and are earning degrees just because. You should have a clear idea of what the 2nd will do for you that your 1st couldn't.

Maybe, but I'm not aware of how this would be factored into any of the rankings out there. I think what would be more important is what are those professors doing? Are they publishing, earning grants, etc? What kind of diverse perspectives do they offer? Also what do you want? I personally like to have a variety of faculty to learn from and work with, so just 3 wouldn't be ideal for me. Someone else may prefer to be very close to just a couple of professors.

I understand that you're tired and overwhelmed, but we all are. We signed up for this remember? It'll take time to find the right balancing act, but I don't recommend not turning in the report on time or doing a poor job. If your advisor isn't brand new to academia then he likely has a lot of ideas about what's on your plate right now and he clearly thinks you can handle the Lit Review as well. This is a good opportunity to buckle down and make some sacrifices to sleep and socializing (if you're doing any), let the house get a little messy, cut back on exercise, reduce tv/internet browsing, etc. Also look at the amount of time you're putting into your classes and homework. Is there anything you can do to study more efficiently and free up a little time? Is all of your RA work being done in the designated 25 hrs? If not, is there something you can do to get there? Are you able to adjust the schedule so that it frees up more time on another day? I know cutting any more from the 10 hr a week job isn't what you want, but perhaps you can switch shifts to allow for more free time on another day. I am working my way through school and I find when schoolwork piles up it makes a huge difference to work 4 long days and have one extra day off versus working 5 regular days. As for the Lit Review, yes its a huge topic and yes its a lot of work. Is there anything you can do to work more efficiently? I like to print articles and read them on my lunch hour at work, while waiting for class to start, etc. Always having them with me allows me to get a lot of work done when I have surprise gaps of free time.

Here's what you know: You're unemployed. This is a great company offering you a full time job. This job is relevant to what you want to study. Telling this job that you may be leaving for grad school in less than a year is the kiss of death. Here's what you don't know: If you'll be invited to interview for grad programs. If you'll be accepted anywhere. If a job offer like this will come along again. Here's something to consider: Ad com's know that people are working while waiting to get accepted somewhere. They know that sometimes you can't take time off work and may schedule interviews on weekends or via skype. If you get invited to interview ask about these options. If they insist you come in person then you'll figure out an excuse to tell your job later. So take the job, save some money, get off your parents couch, learn in your field, etc. If you don't get in this round then next round you can mention all the cool stuff you've learned at this job =)

I handled this by tying the work the professor/lab is doing into my research interests and projects I've completed/currently doing. If you have additional skills that are beneficial to this lab you could highlight those as well.

I don't think you should state a specific university because they may not be hiring and you don't want to give the impression you aren't open to going elsewhere. I agree you should tie in your research interests which might also include the kind of research lab you want to establish. Yes this is kind of reiterating goals for grad school, but perhaps you could be more specific than you were in your SOP.

Each school's transcript should list a cumulative gpa and a gpa for each semester/quarter. For consistency I would make sure that what you put on the apps is what is on your transcripts, never mind which classes are counted/not counted/transferred/not transferred etc.

Are the schools you're applying to asking you to combine the gpa's from all of your colleges (I'm guessing that's what you mean by all-career gpa)? If they aren't then I would report exactly what is stated on your official transcripts for each school separately. They may not want all the schools combined or have their own method of which courses/schools they want combined. Or heaven forbid you make a mistake in the calculation and they become further confused. You could always contact them directly to find out how they want you to report the information. Speaking only of my apps (also applying to psych programs) they specified that a gpa for each school should be listed. For a current gpa they requested the one for the school currently attending or the school last attended. Way less work on my end =)

I second bio's suggestions. Instead of constantly revising it on your own it is important to have others review it. Those others need to be professors or professionals with academic writing experience that can assist with content and grammar/spelling. Let them write all over it, rip it apart, and add or delete things. Before you incorporate any of their changes take a couple of days away from it. Then go back and do another round of edits. I think its good to have at least 3 people edit it for you and once you've gone through all of them take a week or two away from it. Chances are when you open it you'll find it satisfactory. If not then touch bases with your editors. If they're telling you that its great and a huge improvement from the earlier draft they saw then start to accept that they're right and you need to leave it alone.

Or you could spin the negative into a positive by saying something like "Even though my performance on the GRE was below average for students admitted to your program I do not feel it is an adequate representation of my academic capabilities. Both my high undergraduate and Master's GPA's are much more indicative of my ability to succeed in a PhD program." Then continue raving about your talents and skills.

You're right that personal reasons could be interpreted as time in prison, which is negative. I think the problem with hinting at what the reason was allows that to stick in their minds. They'll forever see you as the sickly person or the rehab person or the prison person. This could then lead to questions of how stable you'll be in a graduate program. Using a blanket term like personal reasons forces them to realize that they really don't know and are just making assumptions. And we all know about making assumptions =) You could always rephrase "personal reasons" to whatever you feel sounds better but is still not specific.