rogue

You could always send a short note (separate from the SOP) explaining the NP. I had an anomalous quarter in grad school and profs I've spoken with suggested doing this to explain my sub-par performance.

This is pretty much what I've heard as well.

I've been out for 13 years since undergrad, and 10 years since my master's and had no problem getting recs. Two years isn't long at all. Good luck!

Ditto. It's like a second full-time job... and I already have two jobs.

Can you mention the mountain climbing in your cover letter? Something along the lines of, "I am a motivated self-starter in everything I do, from managing xyz projects to extreme mountain climbing"? (God, I hate resume-speak.) I still have National Merit Scholar listed under awards/honors on my CV, and I've been out of school for 13 years. It's three little words; not like it takes up much space, and it is an achievement.

So far, I've had two positive phone conversations and one good email exchange. I know it's dorky, but I was particularly excited that my research proposal elicited exclamation points in the email reply. I'm having to force myself to contact profs as I can be a little shy. Actually, shy probably isn't the right word--more like worried about misinterpreting their research and making an ass of myself. I'm also trying to read stuff by each one before contacting them, though I'm starting to think that's not the best use of my time, because so far none of them have shown much interest in discussing their past work with me. They're all more jazzed about current/future work, which I guess makes sense.

There are threads in the Sociology and Applications forums that talk about what to say in a letter, so I won't rehash that here. The consensus seems to be that it's fine to email multiple profs in the same program. Just don't be shady about it, you know? Like, don't tell each one of them that they're your first/only choice to work with, because chances are they'll compare notes at some point when discussing your app. Definitely don't let lack of response keep you from applying. Some people just won't get back to you, but that's not necessarily a reflection on your chances of getting into the program.

If you don't really want to go somewhere, why bother applying? Even if it's a safety school, if you wouldn't be happy there, what's the point?

I met with one, completely randomly, this summer. I ran into her at a conference and wasn't prepared to have a serious talk, so I tried to just treat it like a job interview. It seemed to work pretty well. Ask questions about their research, be prepared to answer questions about yours, and keep things positive.

This is great; thanks for sharing!

It seems like a lot of schools pretty much disregard the AWA score anyway. As long as it's not completely incongruous with your verbal score (like, say a 750V/2.0AWA), it probably doesn't matter.

There's a helpful thread about this on CHE: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 705.0.html In general, I'd say stick with Dr. X or Professor Y. It's probably safer.

I would mention that you're reapplying and what you've accomplished since the last round. This shows initiative, and if you can show that you took specific advice from one of the profs you're emailing, that's bound to be looked on favorably. I think not mentioning it (if you're contacting the same professors) might seem a little strange. They might remember you from last year and wonder why you're approaching them as if you haven't communicated before.

The intro has to be the hardest part of the whole statement. I'm applying to two different types of programs and thus have to write two very different essays. The hook for one of them came to me completely out of the blue, days after I'd written the first draft of that essay. Everyone who has read it seems to like it. The other essay? Not so much. I can't for the life of me find a good intro/hook for that one. It's killing me.

This might be a weird question, but is it ever appropriate to mention a grad student's name in your SOP? There's a PhD candidate at one of the schools I'm applying to whose work is very similar to what I'd like to do. This student's advisor is one of the two professors I'd like to work with, and whom I plan to mention in my SOP. Is referencing a student's work taking the name dropping too far, or could it be helpful?

There are definitely some out there. I remember seeing at least a dozen or so faculty with a Latin American focus when I was researching schools. I don't recall who/where off the top of my head, but if you can get your hands on a copy of the ASA's graduate program guide, it's relatively painless to scan through the whole thing.

One of the main points of an LOR is for a third party to attest that you're capable of succeeding in graduate level work. My take on it is, if you're capable (and they must think so if they agreed to write for you), you're capable. A change of field shouldn't change that, unless, say, you were changing from history to astrophysics or something similarly major.

I feel your pain... mine is making me pretty miserable right now. Good luck!

I don't know anything about counseling or school psychology, so I can't help you tie it in, but have you considered just listing it on your resume/CV, or having one of your LOR writers mention it? That seems to be a good solution for things that ought to be communicated to the ad com but don't, for whatever reason, work in the SOP.

I'm a big fan of freerice, and I started using it more regularly when I began studying for the GRE. My best level was 55, but I was mostly in the 48-52 range, and I got a 770 on the verbal section. I know a few of the words came up on my test, but I don't recall exactly which ones now. I also noticed that some of the words in my Kaplan card deck and Princeton Review book showed up on freerice.

OK, I feel better now knowing I'm not the only one who worries about location in addition to academics. Some of the programs that would be great for me academic-wise are in places that get brutally cold winters, and I hate being cold. (It would be great if I was more like glasses and loved the cold.) I guess I'll still apply to one or two of the best fits and worry about whether I can hack the weather later, if I get accepted. You're probably right. At this point I'm just looking for any way to cut down my list of schools. Would it be poor form to call the DGS (or someone else at the school) and inquire about how many students they expect to fund next year? I'm leaning toward yes, but...

After the thread about studying for the verbal section, I'm almost afraid to reply, but... I had a hard time remembering how to set up some of the word problems since it had been forever since I needed to do that sort of math. I found these books to be helpful. They break things down with good explanations and have lots of practice problems. How to Solve Word Problems in Algebra (Mildred Johnson) Math Word Problems Demystified (Allan Bluman) Bob Miller's Algebra for the Clueless That said, I was sort of disappointed that I only got a couple of word problems on the test. But the problems in these books also gave me plenty of practice in working out all the other types that were on the test.

I can't weigh in on the grades question, but I heard at least one presenter this week at the ASA conference who was a soc Ph.D. student and had gone to law school prior to that.

I think I read somewhere that the AW section is now scored by a computer and one reader, as opposed to the two-reader method of the past. In this case, the second human reader only scores it if there's a certain point spread between the computer and the first reader (maybe one full point?). So, I'm guessing the algorithm is pretty accurate or they'd still be having two readers for every essay.

I'm trying to get my list to 8-10 schools, but it's around 14 now, which strikes me as a bit too many. Did anyone else start using somewhat arbitrary factors (like geography or rumors about funding) to whittle their lists?