katethekitcat

Admittidly, I am not in this field, but that seems VERY inappropriate. Like, get yourself discussed in the department as, "Guess what this crazy applicant did," kind of inappropriate. Having a professor whom you know reach out to you is one thing; using your personal connections with faculty to try to get an earlier answer is completely different. You put them in a very akward position of being asked to provide inside information that others don't have to yet - you're basically asking them to go behind the admissions committee's back and do their work for them. And if the answer was "rejected," that's a whole new level of akward.
 
Wait for the admissions committee or the professor to contact YOU. Waiting is agonizing, painful, and stressful, but not fatal. You will survive.

Everyone, people are allowed to post opinions that you disagree with, even strongly. You do NOT need to reply to it all. Just ignore it. Nothing good can come of this thread if it continues in this way.

I respect your right to have these sorts of debates if it helps you deal with your angst. I have as much angst as anyone. But I come to these forums to see acceptance results and these conversations make finding actual results a needle in a haystack. Just sayin

I wish I'd gotten a minor in biochemistry. Does that count?

Were they presenting this as a, "No one working with malaria can work with you," statement, or as a hypothetical, "what if" statement? That doesn't sound like an implausible interview question - if you attended their program but none of the professors working in malaria had funding that year, would you have a backup plan or would you end up dropping out/transferring?

Leaving my current job (research specialist at a major research university) in a few months to spend three months working in land conservation. Thought it couldn't hurt to get some big-picture biology before delving into molecular for the rest of forever.

Were they presenting this as a, "No one working with malaria can work with you," statement, or as a hypothetical, "what if" statement? That doesn't sound like an implausible interview question - if you attended their program but none of the professors working in malaria had funding that year, would you have a backup plan or would you end up dropping out/transferring?

Over the past year, there has been an average of one school shooting every other day (admittidly, at all schools, not just universities). What this suggests to me, beside the fact the U.S. has a serious problem with violence and gun control, is that location/campus is irrelevant. This things can happen to anyone, anywhere. I didn't apply to Purdue, but if I had, it would have zero impact on my decision.

MattDest,
 
Not sure your bar analogy is a good one. I was not suggesting that the dialogue should cease altogether, only that one should reflect for a minute on some of the more trivial worries that have been raised here and realize that such things, i.e., how to address professors in emails, whether they will be notified of acceptance via email or phone call or website, how long it will take to get a rejection letter if acceptances are already going up, etc. are wastes of energy. 
 
We've already been worked over by the process... now let the process unfold and work for us, ya know? Have a little hope that a few members of an ad com are going to fall in love with your packet and come calling... makes it easier... then again, I suppose I am a bit more of a laid back person in general and thus despite how high my levels of despair get re: the process, I can usually manage to remain optimistic.

dear coffeehouse, aridneptune, Lelouch Lamperouge, clurp, mhnaomi...
 
i feel you guys have very solid background and will receive a bunch of admissions. sincerely hope you can decline many of them for other applicants.   

Come on guys, it cannot be so soon. The earliest day would be the end of February. 

Having been on the otherside of interviews, yes, more people than you might imagine make egregious mistakes and say things that are just terrible and leave an awful impression. More often, though, is the problem when an interviewee comes in with a nice CV, but it becomes apparent that they never really thought through their work, criticially questioned or designed things, only have an "in-class" understanding of the subject matter, etc. That's ok to a certain extent, you cultivate that perspective in grad school, but if your CV says one thing about you, but your ability to ask and answer questions gives a different impression, it's a bad sign.

They were done in December. You got in maybe because some people like me decline their interview.

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Would they be willing to do a Skype/phone interview? I don't think it would be wrong to let them know, hey, you're absolutely my top choice but I can't cancel on a school right after they've made expensive reservations.

You have several threads started with multiple essays. If you're trying to evaluate whether they're improving, try keeping all your essays in one thread so people can see the change over time.

It's going to take them a lot longer to get acceptances/rejections/invites out if they have to answer individual e-mails and phone calls from everyone who applied The waiting game is tough, but it's normal not to have heard things back yet. Schools understand you have multiple interviews and will usually be flexible if you need to work around a date.

It's going to take them a lot longer to get acceptances/rejections/invites out if they have to answer individual e-mails and phone calls from everyone who applied The waiting game is tough, but it's normal not to have heard things back yet. Schools understand you have multiple interviews and will usually be flexible if you need to work around a date.

<3 you may have been genuinely curious but you forced yourself to like it and now that it's over you boast it as a status symbol like a medal or trophy to add to the collection

you don't really think for yourself

I was going to mention that the cliff notes would be your best bet --then you could skip the hell and use your imagination . make faust x10 better ya

are you sure you're not 'liking' faust because you're proud you read a famous old book or becAuse you genuinely enjoyed reading it? yaaa

I bet you genuinely enjoyed thus spoke zarathustra too (pyuuuke) that was good for the first 30 minutes before my high wore off

I am so sorry, i was mistaken. You have a completely new and unique situation which I, nor anyone else, will be able to understand, comprehend or lend advice to.
 
What you're doing is obviously working and you should continue down that path because the results are obviously stellar. You should never seek the advice of others. What you are doing is perfect and you should be awarded for your awesomeness. We can all bask in your light and just thank the heavens above for being allowed a slight glance into the glory that is your existence.

I agree with Matt. It varies a lot based on what I'm writing.

I've found the typical writing advice people give—"writing first, edit later," "just let it flow, worry about word choice later," "get your thoughts on paper as quickly as possible and then edit"—useful when I'm writing something like a personal statement or a non-technical bit of a paper. If it's something really technical that I'm not totally confident about, though, trying to let it flow would just give me junk. There's often not really much of an"it" to flow at that point. The reason writing these things takes me so long is because I do a lot of thinking & figuring things out while I'm doing it, and that works for me. 

Like you, I felt like writing came easier when I was younger. I think that's largely because I was less aware of all the nuance I now need to hold onto. As I get more and more experience, I expect it to feel easier again. I think this is just an awkward point in our philosophy-writing lives: we're aware of many details we used to be oblivious to, but not completely comfortable with them yet. 

Deliberate, it varies so wildly depending on what exactly I'm writing. For me, personal statements were sort of like writing marketing lingo about yourself. I had a job for a long time writing marketing copy so it was pretty easy for me. If I'm writing really technical philosophy that I'm sort of unsure about (or just need to be really careful about) it can take forever. 

for example I'm are you can sound smart as gel comparing Plato with Lao Tzu but in he end.... ya you're comparing Plato with Lao Tzu. ... so.

hmmm actually maybe the most important part in writing is reading with a purpose -- and understanding various works respective from your own work. this is a sort of 'dialectical research' that gives your work grounds for growth and development.

the one thing that I resent about other students is that they're really only experts at sounding smart -- not that they actually have anything decent to contribute.

worry more about developing your core concepts than put writing itself. don't even bother trying to sound smart. as you read a lot, you should develop the capacity to 'sound smart' as you do late revisions.