TMP

Absolutely! You are applying to the DEPARTMENT, not just to your PA. You are expected to form a committee and certainly you are going want to be able to have at least one or two other professors on board. I have contacted professors and only to find out that several (at different departments) cannot be on my committee for one reason or another. This saved me the embarrassment of naming them in my SOP when they shouldn't belong in there.

If you didn't spend, say more than 5 years off, there's no reason to talk about your job. If you did spend quite some time out, just briefly BRIEFLY state that you realized from your work experience that you are more interested in Subject X than what you're working on at work. Don't talk about money.

If the Graduate School permits it, apply to both!

It does happen, and can happen that professors will express interest in your application and you get a rejection letter. If you did get waitlisted or accepted at other places, you were certainly qualified. It is unfortunate that after you pass that threshold, department politics dictate the final accepted list. I've had it happen to me at one or two schools where department politics just shove my application to waitlist or rejection. Professors will be frank about your qualifications if you didn't get in the spring and you e-mailed them to find out why. If they thought they saw some flaws, they'll say so. If they didn't see any serious flaws, they'll just tell you it was a bad year (in other words, department politics screwed them over from getting new students. It wasn't you.). Nothing hurts more an applicant than to hear that "It wasn't you, it was my @#$@#$ department" because s/he was truly qualified and could have gotten in.

My first rule of graduate school: Don't take anything personally. Move on. Sometimes professors don't want to get "attached" to a potential applicant early on and want to see who else is applying, or for the fear that s/he might lose a battle during admissions decision and don't want to disappoint you by making a contact and get you all excited to apply. Just apply and see what happens. We'd like to save money but sometimes there isn't much that we can do except to take a chance. Since MME is a small field, it can't hurt to drop names of professors you're already working with. This is especially effective if your professors specifically recommend X, Y, and Z at Schools A, B, and C. If you have more than one professor you'd like to work with in the department, write to them too!

ETS sends them all of your scores, whether you like it or not. It also depends on the individual professors looking at your app. I know one Michigan professor who completely disregards them while the other considers it as part of the application and doesn't weight it more or less than other components.

And me...

The intro should be what it is: An introduction to who you are as a researcher. Don't be a sleeper with "My name is X and I go to school Y and majored in Z." Give them an overview of your interests.

I would certainly try to expand to another 2 or 3 schools if you can. It's a buyer's market out there. At this point for you, it's all by pure chance/luck. Just pray hard. Also, your LOR writers would certainly mention something if they're tough graders to put your GPA in context(I know one of mine did for a past recommendation). And what different does it make if your classes are small? Professors got to know you better that way. Most importantly, stay positive and confident (enjoy your senior year). At the same time, I do want you to be mindful that you should keep your eyes wide open for other interesting and fun options and sometimes those deadlines are between January and March and I'd hate to see you get shut out just because you were putting all of your eggs in one basket in hopes of getting into a PhD program in terms of future planning. I made that huge mistake last year and by the time the dust settled with PhD programs on April 16th, I had missed all the deadlines for "gap year" opportunities and had to deal with the crummy job market for a while.

Your GPA was in economics. You got your MA in history with a perfect GPA and you took undergraduate courses in your first year to get acquainted with it. You've shown commitment. So I wouldn't fret too much. Especially with coveted languages.

Education 2010-present Ph.D. in Psych at X University.

You're suited for PhD only because....?

Yes, they actually do. Sometimes your weaknesses can be a strength. It's like any job interview. The hiring managers don't believe that you can possible be "perfect." But just choose them carefully. For example, if you say that you tend to have a one-track mind, turn it into a positive by saying that it helps you focus and accomplish your tasks in an efficient, timely manner. For example, my weakness is that I'm quite opinionated but it's a strength to some people who are used to see others flounce around without a strong focus in their academics. Try and talk with a hiring manager (or someone who has experience in hiring) and ask for appropriate wording for your weaknesses (I thought "narrow-minded" before my mom corrected me with "opinionated.")

Just RELAX. Look at this as a networking opportunity, not a formal interview for admissions. If you're going to get in the field, you might as well get to know as many people as you can, regardless of whether or not you actually get into that program. Remember, if not to the PhD program, your connections and impressions could very well come to them when you apply for field-wide/national fellowships that they're on committees of or a post-doc/professor position in their department down the road. Try, try to save any admissions questions until the very end. If they bring up your application for admissions sooner, it's fine to ask right then. Talk and get them to talk about their graduate students, it'll give you a sense of what kind of adviser they are. Show yourself as an engaging colleague.

Remember, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Always. Stick it out for the rest of the year. Also, remember you are NOT expected to know everything that's out there. Grad school is designed for people to ask questions about everything. Otherwise, what's the point? I also have a friend doing PhD in biophysics. When she bragged about how there was a gym facility in her lab, I asked her, "Why? What's the deal?" She said, "Because sometimes my experiments take two or more hours to take place! And I need to kill time..." Bring your laptop or creative writing notebook with you and write while you're waiting for the results. 15-30 minutes taken care of.

OP, First rule of academia: Don't take what people say and do to you too personally. Everyone looks out for their best interests, meaning that the professor probably wanted to get that book going and didn't want to wait until you came to work on it, so he (presumably) gave it someone who was already available. At least he gave you another opportunity. I'm actually surprised that he gave you a proposal to work on, for a first semester PhD student. Professors do get exceedingly busy and things come up all the time. There were times that I almost lost patience with one or two of my professors because they didn't get back to me in a timely manner. But somehow, I'll find their e-mail within a few days or a week after fuming over it. 3-4 weeks is the norm wait time in academia (as it seems like it, and as opposed to 1-2 weeks in Real Life) so if you hear back from him by Friday, e-mail him to say what you've done and this is where you are now. And THEN move on with your own life. You've done your part and now let him take care of his part. Remember, it's on him. Also, he is on LEAVE, meaning that he doesn't have to be accountable to anybody. He's got his own mysterious schedule that may involve travel and you don't know when he's out of town. It's very hard to deal with it as a graduate student, especially if you're supposed to be working directly with the professor. I've been there with my thesis adviser and, I tell you, there were TIMES that I wished my adviser would be on campus and use her office hours. Instead, I've had to be very patient and give her wait time. And when she did get back to me, she always apologized and gave me the advice that I wanted. And that brings me to the 2nd rule of academia: Patience, patience, patience. If you lose it, you might just lose your reputation in a small way. Right now, you're good.

Are you looking for a PhD? When you say you weren't the greatest student, do you mean that your GPA isn't competitive enough (minimum of 3.0)? My thinking is that maybe you should look into doing a master's program so you can prove yourself to be an excellent student who can get strong and solid LORs (as well as better GPA) and more experience.

Doubt it. You've taken plenty of coursework as an undergrad (and master's student if applicable), there has to be at least one professor who can vouch for you.

No. They want to see evidence of original research. This means coming up with your own ideas, engaging with the primary materials, and formulating your own analysis.

Now I'm seeing all of this, I can actually related with some of your issues. School A vs. School B Look, two years go by very fast. It's unbelievable. I was accepted to Schools A and B for my MA. School B had an option for PhD if I did well in the MA portion (it was a MA/PhD program). School A had a separate PhD program in which I would have to start all over again, adding extra 2 years for the coursework. Both had fantastic advisers. But it came down to this: Who did I want to be my dissertation adviser? Who would be the best person on the long run for funding and jobs? I decided that I wanted an opportunity to start graduate school with School A with this adviser, who had a good reputation as a teacher. Sure, there were times during my MA program that I wished I had gone to School B but I knew that in terms of money, it was better this way as I didn't really *want* to pay for the MA in that MA/PhD program. Now it's time for me to apply for the PhD. I contacted School B to see if they were interested, and, hell yes, they are. They were very glad to hear that I had graduated from my MA program and were quick to offer me a year's worth of coursework if accepted. So now I'm applying to School B for the PhD. Point of the story: Use the time you have, make the most of it, maintain good relationships with ALL professors (even at School A, keep them updated on your progress), and stay in the present. Summer funding is never guaranteed unless it's in writing. I hope that you're looking over your budget and making some adjustments if you had anticipated summer funding. Besides, it's just one summer at this point. Most graduate students just work in the labs or find some kind of jobs to keep busy and pay their bills. If you can show ALL professors that you are committed to finishing the MS, they will take you much more seriously than if you drop out now. Professors do talk to each other. If you stay on good terms with all professors at your current school, they will be very supportive of your move to School A. School A will know that they're going to gain a great student if you can get great LORs from your current school. Choosing a project ASAP It's also normal to be pressured into finding a project before your second year, especially if the program has had a record of graduates not finishing in a timely manner. My MA program had that problem. Several MA students ahead of me wasted their summer "exploring the bookshelves" and started researching in their 3rd semester. It took them a minimum of an additional semester or two to finish their theses. One of them handed in her thesis 2 years LATE. When my graduate adviser sat me down in November of my first semester, he asked, "Have you picked a thesis topic yet? Ideally you should spend your summer doing research in the archives." I froze. It was concluded that thesis idea/project = summer funding. I delivered and couldn't have been happier. Yes, it was annoying to come up with a thesis topic so early and quickly but I did already have some ideas of what I wanted to research on but I had wanted to use my second semester coursework for more ideas. It's worth asking your graduate adviser why the pressure now and he just might tell you why. Departments these days are really trying to address the problem of graduate students taking too long because it costs them money in terms of investment and keeping the student around. Besides I had actually finished my MA ON time, first student in a while, really, (and finished a full draft of my thesis by the end of my 3rd semester), I have secured excellent LORs stating that I am capable of finishing the PhD in a timely manner. School A would like that just as my School B did too when I told them of my progress. Hopefully my stories will help you put your issues in perspective.

Yes, talk to that graduate adviser. Seriously. He's going to want to know why you want to leave his lab/program and will want to rectify the situation. That's HIS JOB.

I agree. It's pushing the envelope if you send ANY attachments if they don't ask for them. And it is worthwhile e-mailing professors, especially those who are older or have grant money for labs. Retiring professors and no grant money for labs are not good. It is difficult to come up with questions that aren't already on the site that are related to your application when professors tell you to contact them with any questions. Sometimes, if you can do a little poking around, you might be able to come up with some, depending how serious you want to come off as. If the schools is truly your top choice, you could ask questions about the courses' reading lists, specific opportunities for graduate students (like summer funding, what have they done, etc), questions you might ask on an admitted student visit but only short of sounding like you've been accepted. I don't advise this route unless you are very sure that you will take their offer if they give it to you. Because if you do ask these kind of questions, I can only imagine that they're thinking, "holy smokes, this student is super serious and is dying to come. I'd better pay close attention to his/her application!!!" Of course, we all want to play that game where every school should feel like they're our #1 choice, but we have to remember that professors do fight over applicants and have to make compromises. Are you going to be worth fighting for? You will be, if only you cannot imagine being anywhere else, and this faculty member already loves you. Just my hunch.

A lot of the PhD programs are funded but not MAs. You'll have to look really, really hard for one although they are probably more likely to found in universities that have terminal MA programs and not doctoral programs.

I'll be happy to critique as well.

You're an international student who isn't a native English speaker? Amazing. Focus on other parts of your application.