katethekitcat

Two things. First, some people care about their grades and about all kinds of other things. There is nothing wrong with wanting good grades and with realizing that lower grades can affect things such as admissions to graduate school and funding, which could affect a person's ability to obtain the training they need for the career of their choice. I don't know where you get that stuff about laundry. The OP has a serious question about a medical condition that has affected their performance.
 
Second, having a serious medical condition that is not recognized as a disability is unfortunate because you don't get the help and recognition that you otherwise might, but it still seriously affects your life. It is unfortunate to have chronic diseases.
 
OP -- you got some good advice above, in particular from Sigaba, danieleWrites, and jkirtz. I'd follow it. Good luck!

(Somewhere in Germany)

Omg .wtf is going on !!!

Bewildered stares,. Shock. Babies crying.

Broken dishes. Barking dogs.




(Some little asshole philosophy student who doesn't know Nietzsche from his elbow won't switch avatars )

Hi rated your essay using the free online tool available at gmatawa.com

Your score: 4.28 on a scale of 6.00

Explanation for the score

Coherence and connectivity: 2.5/5
Paragraph structure and formation: 3.5/5
Vocabulary and word expression: 4/5

You can yourself verify at gmatawa.com

Not silly at all- it DOES need to be considred. When I visited the University of Iowa, a professor told me, straight out, that location affects how happy you're going to be. If you're applying to graduate school, it means you're at the age where it wouldn't be completely unrealistic to be married within a few years, and that means it automatically becomes harder to relocate. You have other people to plan for.
 
I didn't explore Iowa City extensively while I was there, but the impression I got from talking to other students (including a few close friends who go there) was there's a lot going on both at the university and within the larger community that you can get involved with. U of Iowa is the number one party school in the nation, so there's definitely nightlife, but it's much more of an undergraduate thing - grad students have their own bars they tend to frquent and are obviously more focused on research and classwork. The university is in a rural area overall, but there's plenty to do within the city itself.

Look at the work the professors are doing and the projects they're involved in - which university has professors (plural - having more than one is imporant). This is the work you'll be helping out with for the next few years and the people you'll establish professional connections with. School ranking matters less than finding a program that's a good fit for you interests. A school might be lower ranked overall but be incredibly strong in a niche in the field.

Heard back from Tulane today - accepted for M.S. in Tropical Medicine/Parisitology.

Significant? That isn't an issue. Anything can be significant. What might be an issue is repetition. For example, I once had a great idea for a paper. I had my argument, and what I wanted to discuss planned. I spoke with the professor about it, and he liked it. Then I went out and did some research for the theoretical background. And found out that 8 other people had already written that paper. They were all different, but the arguments were the same and so were the points. The topic itself was very narrow, so there are very limited ways to talk about it, and those ways had been done several times. I would not have added anything knew to the topic. I wrote a different paper on a different topic. Right now, there is a lot of academic discussion (in the form of papers and theses) about the use of social media in the revolutions that have taken place in the Middle East. Many people are writing about the same thing, but in different ways. It's a broad topic with a lot of ways of looking at the same thing. Unlike my paper, which had a topic too narrow to not repeat someone else's argument completely, social media in the Middle East is very broad, and there are many view points that can add to the topic.
 
When you choose something to study, it doesn't matter if other people think it's important enough to study or not. When Isaac Newton noticed that an apple hits the ground when it falls from a tree, many people would have thought this insignificant and not worth study. It happens all the time, right? But he studied it anyway. If it's important to you, it's important enough to study. The question then becomes, can you add something new to the discussion on your topic? Even if it may not seem like it immediately, it's almost always possible. Very few topics are so narrow that they've been done to death. People have been writing papers about certain topics for thousands of years. The Talmud, the Hadith, and so on. Adding to the discussion does not mean doing something no one has done before, but looking at it in a different way.
 
pears is correct. The topic you're looking at, cyberspace in your homeland, is huge. The problem with cyberspace in a single country is that there are many, many, many things to study. pears is advising you to focus on one thing about cyberspace. Pick a few things about cyberspace and your homeland that interest you. For each thing, write an argument, that is, write a single sentence that tells your opinion of the thing. For example, if my topic were about video games in my culture, I might focus on things like: how online game environments change the way players define friendship, or how some game players emulate the personality of their favorite video game character. I could then write a sentence (argument) like so: Online game environments, like Call of Duty or Halo, change the way game players define friendship because game friends are also allies in a war simulation, and these allies are people that game players must trust to work with them to accomplish the game's objective.
 
Take the sentences (arguments) that you are most interested in to your adviser. If you cannot express your argument in one sentence, the topic should be narrowed down so that your thesis will have a strong focus.

It's so hard to tell a person, "yes, you have a chance, apply," or "no, you have no chance." So much depends on how well your research interests match a department, how many PhD students they can fund that year...factors no one else has any control over. Only the admissions committee can really tell you if you have a chance and, sadly, none of us are the admissions committees (if only we were!) If this is what you want to do with your life, then apply, because the worst that happens is that you lose your application fees. It sounds like you're being realistic and planning for back-up options, so as long as you have those, go for what you want. You never know what "reach" school might actually think you're a perfect fit for one of their faculty members. 

I WANT TO HEAR BACK FROM MICHIGAN....urgh...I also applied by the end of October and not a peep out of them except a "We didn't get your application fee" e-mail (they did - now cleared up). Suppose that might have slowed down my application. Sorry about the rejection though
 
I've been noticing most of us applied to a large number of schools - I applied to nine, now I'm seeing ten, eleven, thirteen from others. Just curious: what are people's thoughts as to why they applied to so many? Now that I've been accepted to two places that were in my top choices, I already regret at least four other applications, since not one of them stand a chance of me attending as long as I got in anywhere else. Are people worried about not being accepted anywhere? Are you just very excited by all of the programs you're applying to? Or is it worth having a large number of options so you have a large number of options when it comes down to what you want to pay in tuition? 

I'm impressed at how seriously people are taking someone who proudly self-published an original metaphysical treatise.

But let's leave aside how laughable this is on its face, and try to reason through the situation together.

Dave: For the sake of argument, let's say that your work is as groundbreaking as you hope it is. Even so, your insistence on self-publishing contradicts the ideals of the academy, which is premised on *peer review*. This raises two questions.


1) Did you consider the message that self-publication would send to the career academics who will be reviewing your application (i.e. that you refuse to submit to the standards of the very academy that you're asking to join)? It's kind of like showing up to karate school wearing a home-made black-belt because you like to practice roundhouse kicks in your basement.

2) Given the contempt you've shown for the status of graduate school/academic philosophy as a 'career', why do you want to join the academy in the first place? Have you considered that this might not be the place for you? Reading/writing/caring about 'philosophy' and being an academic are *not* coextensive categories.

Have you considered blogging as an alternative?

How is it you can speak with so much authority?
 
And then, further, how has it come about that graduate school for philosophy has become a job-- instead of an opportunity for blossoming philosophers to study, research, and refine their craft?
 
How reliable are stats, really? Because I hated my medieval ethics professor, because my modern philosophy professor was a complete fuck-ass, are the 'scores' that they gave really a reflection of either my capacity or my work ethic?
 
What you're telling me is that committees evaluate you as a professional student less an actual philosopher. In fact, you're telling me that no matter how decent your work in philosophy is looking, it won't matter at all unless you're an exceptional student.
 
 
I hope the authority with which you speak and the values that you project as standard give you a big boner as it inflates your sense of self
 
You're corrupt and you make me sick
 
so give the fellowship to the kid comparing Daoist and Kantian ethics you crooked hack

I have a diamond in my bowels.

(Edited for vulgar content)

Deleuze is not a 'great philosopher'.

You only think so because he is famous. Not because you think for yourself.

So many schools emphasize the writing sample as the most important factor in the application, but it is too late to write another.

..you could focus on a statement od intent and discuss a specific philosophical project you would like to research through the years. ..hinting at a dissertation maybe.

I think that is better than ' going in with an open mind' or being 'open to new things' 'broadening ones horizons'

Which to me imply you are aimless and haven't developed any serious passions in philosophy.

Or who knows? Maybe all different type of faculty will project their own values and expectations into the evaluations process. So standards may always be somewhat different.

Every admissions season, many students applying to statistics and biostatistics programs are intimidated by the task of writing personal or research statements. Indeed, there is an entire sub-forum on GC dedicated to SoPs (Statements of Purpose) where there is much hand-wringing over how to craft the perfect text.   But while I can't speak for disciplines outside of the statistical sciences, I can confidently say that in stat and biostat, the evidence strongly suggests that personal statements have little impact on admissions.   I've written several posts about this in the past; here's a summary of why you should stop worrying so much about a 1-2 page essay:   1. Mathematical ability is best assessed through academic records and test scores (and to a lesser extent, letters), so it is generally quite easy to order students on this important trait.The pool of students applying to statistics and biostatistics departments isn't particularly deep, so that a major concern of even excellent departments is whether applicants can handle the requisite mathematical coursework and exams.

2. Very, very few applicants have meaningful statistical research experience before starting graduate school. As a result, many students end up working on dissertations in areas entirely different than they were initially interested in... and this is totally OK!

3. Funding in most (but not all) U.S. stat/biostat programs is allocated at the department level to the strongest incoming students, so applicants aren't typically "matched" to potential advisors who agree to fund them*. Rather, the department projects the total number of positions available and then tries to recruit up to that number of students. Once the students are on campus, they are then either assigned to a position or (ideally) have some choices available to them.   Given points 2 and 3, declarations in the personal statement such as "I am very interested in studying [X] with Professors [u,V,W]" usually carry little weight. They typically translate to: "[X] is a hot topic which I know very little about but sounds interesting, and I see on your website that Professors [u,V,W] list [X] as a research area." Which, again, is JUST FINE, since that's essentially all most people can credibly write.

4. Research potential *is* important, but the best source of information on this trait is letters of recommendation, not a one-page essay. In some fields, part of showing research potential is demonstrating that you have already thought of a reasonable project that will turn into a dissertation. Since (virtually) no one applying to stat/biostat has a "shovel-ready" dissertation idea, research potential is generally assessed using some combination of mathematical ability, creativity, and perhaps some exposure to lower-level research, all of which are best evaluated using other parts of the application.   I don't mean to denigrate the personal statement too much. There are a few key things to avoid (eg. rampant grammatical errors, aimless rambling, saying you have no intention of pursuing an academic career if you are applying to a PhD program) and of course there will be exceptions to every rule, but in general, as long as the PS is competent it probably won't affect your chances of admission significantly.   

Hey everyone! 
 
I stalk the "Results Search" nearly every day, and I've noticed people are far more likely to post positive admissions results rather than negative. This makes sense (it's obviously easier to do when you're excited about something), but, if you can, please remember even to post rejections with your stats because that information is INCREDIBLY helpful to other users. There are a million topics on these forums of "do I have a shot," and with both acceptances and rejections in the Results Search, users can better assess for themselves whether their stats make a school a safety, a reach, or somewhere in between. 
 
Plus I just like stats. 
 
Thanks!!!

There's a lot of helpful threads in the other, more general forums (non-public health) about whether or not it's even a good idea even to try to explain a low GPA. If you have strong letters of recomemndation, a great personal statement, internships, work experience, research, etc., often explaining grades can just detract from what's positive. If you do feel it's important for you application, make sure it gets tied into a larger narrative: "Because of my low GPA, I was inspired to...", etc.

Hey everyone! 
 
I stalk the "Results Search" nearly every day, and I've noticed people are far more likely to post positive admissions results rather than negative. This makes sense (it's obviously easier to do when you're excited about something), but, if you can, please remember even to post rejections with your stats because that information is INCREDIBLY helpful to other users. There are a million topics on these forums of "do I have a shot," and with both acceptances and rejections in the Results Search, users can better assess for themselves whether their stats make a school a safety, a reach, or somewhere in between. 
 
Plus I just like stats. 
 
Thanks!!!

Hey everyone! 
 
I stalk the "Results Search" nearly every day, and I've noticed people are far more likely to post positive admissions results rather than negative. This makes sense (it's obviously easier to do when you're excited about something), but, if you can, please remember even to post rejections with your stats because that information is INCREDIBLY helpful to other users. There are a million topics on these forums of "do I have a shot," and with both acceptances and rejections in the Results Search, users can better assess for themselves whether their stats make a school a safety, a reach, or somewhere in between. 
 
Plus I just like stats. 
 
Thanks!!!

Hey everyone! 
 
I stalk the "Results Search" nearly every day, and I've noticed people are far more likely to post positive admissions results rather than negative. This makes sense (it's obviously easier to do when you're excited about something), but, if you can, please remember even to post rejections with your stats because that information is INCREDIBLY helpful to other users. There are a million topics on these forums of "do I have a shot," and with both acceptances and rejections in the Results Search, users can better assess for themselves whether their stats make a school a safety, a reach, or somewhere in between. 
 
Plus I just like stats. 
 
Thanks!!!

It's so hard to tell a person, "yes, you have a chance, apply," or "no, you have no chance." So much depends on how well your research interests match a department, how many PhD students they can fund that year...factors no one else has any control over. Only the admissions committee can really tell you if you have a chance and, sadly, none of us are the admissions committees (if only we were!) If this is what you want to do with your life, then apply, because the worst that happens is that you lose your application fees. It sounds like you're being realistic and planning for back-up options, so as long as you have those, go for what you want. You never know what "reach" school might actually think you're a perfect fit for one of their faculty members. 

If you suspect that you have a learning disability, I recommend that you take steps to figure out if you do have one, which one it is, and what you can do to mitigate it before starting graduate school. Put yourself in the best possible position to succeed as soon as possible.
 
Your path is going to be hard enough without a potential X factor lurking around, waiting to raise its head at the worst possible moment and in an unforeseen way. 

LOLLL at the last reply

You could have just put C for every answer and done better.